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Joe Harris uses LexJet materials to create display backgrounds for action-figure collectors
Easy access to low-cost stock photography, affordable pro-model printers, social networking, and a wide selection of inkjet printable materials has made it possible for all sorts of entrepreneurs to quickly create and promote image-centric specialty items.
For example, LexJet customer Joe Harris has launched a new website, D&J Toys, through which he sells a display backgrounds to collectors of action figures. Once a collector has acquired a rare or vintage action figure, he wants a meaningful way to display it. Background scenery that suggests where the action is occurring is the perfect solution.
D&J Toys backgrounds in two sizes. The smaller version features an 8 x 10-in. photo print as the backdrop with a 5 x 10 in. floor, imaged with a complementary texture (e.g. desert sand, grass, water, snow). The larger display (which can hold multiple action figures) is 10 x 25 in. with an 8 x 25 in. floor. Customers can also submit their own designs for larger, more elaborate displays that include walls, roofs, or other features.
Joe Harris understands the collector’s desire for complementary background displays, because he is an action-figure collector himself. He has been collecting G.I. Joe action figures since 1982. The first display he produced was an affordable reproduction Cobra Base for G.I. Joe.
Harris found LexJet online while looking for companies that could supply materials for the HP Designjet printer he had purchased for his screen-printing business.
He has since discovered that LexJet TOUGHcoat™ Water-Resistant Self-Adhesive Polypropylene is ideal for making custom displays: “It’s a great product that produces a really nice, vivid image that holds up very well!” The printed polypropylene adheres well to the lightweight, rigid plastic he uses to fabricate the displays.
Although Harris may not realize it, he’s actually part of an international business trend that Wired Magazine has dubbed the Age of the Instapreneur. Wired writer Ian Mount points out that in today’s digital, interconnected economy, “Amateurs can instantly design and manufacture jewelry, robots, T-shirts, furniture—anything. No warehouses. No minimum orders. And no money down.” No wonder thousands of people like Joe Harris are launching instant businesses, either as a sideline or as full-time careers.
As Harris points out, “I am always looking for new ways to make use of my large-format printer.” He has many other print-related ideas he would pursue if he had the time. For now, he is happy filling orders for the display backgrounds. Other than making a few posts on forums read by collectors, he hasn’t really done any advertising. To check out the full line of display backgrounds offered by D&J Toys, visit: www.djtoys.muchtobuy.com/
If you have any idea for converting an inkjet photo into a new type of product that you could sell online, give your account specialist at LexJet a call. LexJet offers such as a broad range of inkjet-printable materials, that we’re pretty confident we could help you find the one that’s just right for the type of project you have in mind.