PUBLICATION CENTER

Showing all that can be done with inkjet-printable materials has helped Fine Balance Imaging broaden its customer base

Visitors entering Fine Balance Imaging Studio's space see promotions for the firm’s services as well as small exhibitions of clients’ work, such as the macro-photography of Michael Foley’s Miracles in Minutiae series printed on LexJet’s Sunset Select Matte Canvas.  A front counter sign is printed on LexJet Water-Resistant Polypropylene, and the graphics in the I-Banner Stands are printed on either Water-Resistant Polypropylene or Water-Resistant Satin Cloth. The desk panels are printed on Water-Resistant Satin Cloth and in the corner of the studio is a print on an aluminum sheet made possible with Golden Digital Grounds for Non-Porous Surfaces. Hanging above the desk are paintings enlarged to 400% and printed onto Color Textiles Habotai Silk.

Whether your graphics company is big or small, new or old, you can’t go wrong by continually finding fresh ways to help your customers succeed. That’s why Fine Balance Imaging in Langley, WA has evolved to offer a broad mix of services, a wide selection of print substrates, and customer support that goes beyond printing for artists.

At a trade show for local businesses on Whidbey Island, Joe Menth and Nancy McFarland used a variety of materials to show what Fine Balance Imaging could do. The table drape was printed on Water-Resistant Satin Cloth. The graphics in the I-Banner stands were printed using Water-Resistant Satin Cloth and Polypropylene. And the graphics on the wall were printed with Photo Tex PSA Fabric. According to Joe, using the PhotoTex Fabric for sidewall booth graphics helped make it quick and easy to take down the booth at the end of the show.

The company’s founders, Nancy McFarland and her son Joe Menth, originally moved to picturesque Whidbey Island to open a small art gallery. Nancy and Joe were photographers and artists at heart, but had been working in technology-related careers they weren’t really passionate about. Nancy had been a computer programmer and network administrator; Joe had done marketing work for high-tech and bio-tech companies in the 1990s. So, they decided to make a fresh start on Whidbey, an island 25 miles north of Seattle in the scenic Puget Sound surrounded by Olympic and Cascade mountain ranges. Whidbey Island is a mecca for artists, photographers, vacationers, and the owners of small businesses that cater to tourists.

In the art gallery, Nancy and Joe quickly realized they could use their technology backgrounds to help artists find new ways to succeed. First, they started making small prints for artists. Then, they opened Fine Balance Imaging Studios in 2004 in response to what local artists said they needed.

Today, while much of their work continues to revolve around giclée printing, their business has expanded to include an extensive array of capture, design, printing, finishing, and marketing services for artists, photographers, small businesses, and consumers.

Fine Balance Imaging now offers: high-end film and flatbed scanning; photography services; design and layout for greeting cards, posters, brochures, and business cards; panorama stitching; color correction, retouching, or restoration of photos; offset printing of promotional materials; and wide-format inkjet printing of art, photographs, posters, banners, and displays.

As their services have expanded, so has their client base. Currently about 50% of their customers are artists and photographers; 25% are small business owners and non-profit groups that want help with banners, posters, postcards, business cards; and 25% are walk-in customers seeking help with photo restorations, graphic design, posters, or photo enlargements.

For printing, they use their Epson Stylus Pro 4800, 7600, and 9800 printers, ImagePrint software, and a wide assortment of materials from LexJet, along with other unique art papers and non-traditional materials. They love experimenting with different materials and print processes to help artists discover new ways to reproduce and sell their art.

Idea Showcase and Customer Education: Joe and Nancy have deliberately decorated their studios so that everyone who visits can see that they print much more than giclées, photo enlargements, and marketing materials.

For example, some artists who had originally hired Fine Balance Imaging to produce bookmarks and posters, were so intrigued when they saw prints on silk and cotton in the Fine Balance Imaging studio that they asked Joe Menth to present a seminar to the local chapter of the Surface Design Association, a group of artists who specialize in multi-layered, mixed-media fabric arts. Menth printed out samples on every type of media the studio uses and discussed the basics of Photoshop, digital-imaging, resolution and scanning. After the artists learned more about how to get their images into the computer, they saw how their designs could be printed on silk, cotton, mulberry paper, acrylic skins, aluminum and copper.

In the hallway leading clients to Fine Balancing Imaging Studios, Joe Menth hung a 5 x 8 ft. wall mural of a photo he had shot of a local musician. The photo mural is printed on LexJet’s Photo Tex PSA fabric, which is backed with a repositionable adhesive that makes the prints easy to install and remove. The mural has sparked a wave of interest among customers, and led to a custom décor project in which Fine Balance Imaging converted the image from a 4 x 5 in. watercolor postcard into a wall mural for the kitchen of a local bed-and-breakfast.

When an enterprising group of youths wanted to try using their art to create and sell one-of-a-kind wooden skimboards, Fine Balance Imaging helped them try different approaches. First, they inkjet-printed the art onto LexJet Clear polyester films that were then used to create screens for screen-printed graphics. Menth then experimented with an inkjet-print image-transfer technique that proved far too time-consuming. Now, Fine Balance Imaging prints full-color artwork directly onto LexJet’s TOUGHcoat Adhesive Vinyl. When the thin, adhesive-backed vinyl is custom-printed, mounted to the skimboard, and finished with a thick coat of varnish, it looks as if the art has been printed directly to the surface of the wood.

While most Fine Balance customers work in traditional art media, Menth recently started making 18 x 24 in. prints for artist David Hearn who uses his iPhone to create art (Yup! There’s an app for that!). Menth says proofing a digital-art creation is no different than anything else: “When there’s an original, we go for absolute color accuracy; when there’s no ‘original’ (which is just as true with digital photos as with digital art), we sit with the client and make changes on screen and provide immediate proofs so the client can request additional tweaks.”

Ready-to-Sell Prints: For artists and photographers who plan to sell their work at local art fairs, Fine Balance Imaging can deliver mounted prints that have already been shrink-wrapped or poly-bagged. Finishing options include UV-coating, hand deckling, or custom trimming.

A growing number of artists are choosing to print some of their images on LexJet Water-Resistant Satin Cloth because it eliminates the need for a frame. To make it easier for the artists to sell these works, Fine Balance Imaging sells fabric prints with a simple hanging system made from a dowel and satin cord.

Sales and Marketing Support: “We provide resources beyond printing,” says Menth. “If we can help our clients figure out how to market their work or find other resources that can help them be more successful, that helps us all.” Fine Balance Imaging offers artists consulting on pricing, graphic design, and marketing, and conducts classes on Photoshop, digital workflow, and photography.

When Fine Balance Imaging moved into their new studio space, they converted desks into graphic-display fixtures. Each desk now features a removable graphics-panel that is similar to gallery-wrapped canvas. Although the panels look permanent, they are designed to easily slide in and out of the desk space. Whenever Menth wants to insert a new promotional message or display a client’s work, he simply removes the panel, prints the new image or information on LexJet’s Water Resistant Satin Cloth, stretches it onto the display system, and drops the panel back into place. The moon-like images shown here were created by artist David Hearn using an app on his iPhone.

All of this attention to customer service and support is paying off. Even as the economy has tanked, Menth says the studio’s business remains solid. He attributes this success not so much to having the right technology, but rather to building good relationships: “Our clients don’t care what equipment is used to create their prints. They just care that we spend time with them personally to make sure that they’re happy when they leave so they will come back to us again and again.”

Joe Menth and Nancy McFarland are extremely grateful to their clients for letting them do work that they love in such beautiful surroundings. So, they host The Gratitude Giclée Show. Fine Balance Imaging rents the venue, does the marketing and publicity work, caters the event, and hires entertainment for the artists’ reception.

“The only requirement is that the work shown is work that we’ve printed, and that it is professionally framed or otherwise presented,” explains Joe. “Any sales from the exhibition—100% retail—goes directly to the artists.” (www.fbistudios.com)