EXT Metal Prints–ROUNDING UP SOME CREATIVITY!
Everyone is looking for something fresh and fun and different- it’s the draw that drives the retail and commerce in America! Consumers want something they haven’t seen before, and creatives want to be inspired with fresh ideas and perspectives. We love to see things out of the ordinary, or something unique and who doesn’t love the joy of discovery, right? 
If you are dreaming up something for marketing (or even for your own enjoyment), coming up with a fresh idea [that probably hasn’t been seen] is what makes it successful and fun. Plus, the more unique it is, the more attention it gets! Isn’t that the goal of marketing? We are born creators and we all have an appetite for creativity and fresh ideas, regardless of what profession we pursue.
When we started decorating our little Bubble Trailer, we were just going for cute and colorful, lots of circles or bubbles, and definitely photographic, with a few photos of our journeys on the inside. Metal prints were my choice for durability and since they would need to be put up with Velcro, and I also thought the Creative Edge metal circles would be cute. But the idea morphed when we found out about EXT Metal Prints, which are created for outdoor display in the sun! We decided to think outside the box (or the bubble in this case, haha) and put the circle prints on the OUTSIDE of the trailer!
But first, PHASE ONE:
We had already found some wall hangings which were metal ring clusters at Hobby Lobby that would put the “bubbles” over the windows and provide some security as well. Fortunately they were on sale because I bought 4 of them! They were silver/gold/bronze colored, so I had painted each circle a different color and then glazed it all over with metallic champagne glaze so it had a distressed shimmer. I liked the effect a lot, but my thoughts kept returning to how we can put photos all over it!
Of course, everyone thought the whole idea of putting photos on the outside was a little over the top and no one could really envision it. So, I decided to mock it up in Photoshop to plan it out and pre-visiualize before we made the investment in the prints. It also helped identify the sizes and colors that looked best for balance.
First, we took pictures of the trailer sides and cut out black paper circles in 5”, 8”, and 12” sizes so we could have accurate scale. I made digital circles in the exact sizes to use as a clipping mask and “designed” the layout to visualize!
OMG—it looked so cute! I even digitally colored the rings to make sure I liked the look. I was enamored with the look, regardless of what everyone else thought, including Jonny! He went along with the idea, though, and focused in on figuring out adhesive options, as he usually does. Mister ProblemSolver/ResearchGuy!
Once we settled on the design, we cropped each image to a square so the circle crop would be exactly where we wanted it and ordered them all with no hangars and the EXT Glossy Finish. What an exciting day to receive over 20 metal circles of all sizes and start putting them all over the trailer. Printing out our Photohop mockups on paper made it fast and easy with no mistakes and really gave us confidence as we glued them [oh so permantly] onto Ms. Bubble Trailer’s exterior!
Jon used very powerful 2” wide Double Stick Tape chunks [3M VHB Tape #4905] to securely bond the centers, and then we ran a solid bead of silicone around the edges so there was no chance of water getting behind them OR wind lifting them either since we would be flying down the road! It turned out amazing and we were delighted to take her to Burning Man for her first outing, all dolled up!
So…. Since this was over a year ago that we put them on, I can give you a durability report of a 10 on a scale of 1-10!! The images are STILL colorful and bright—no visible fading at all! She has been parked in the CA sunshine the whole time, too—(no garage). AND, the glue job is perfect. No lifting, no shifting, and I actually have no idea how we will ever get them off if we ever decide to do so!
What’s so fun, though, is that she is literally Eye-Candy wherever we go! Such an attention-magnet! We have strangers come up daily to ask about her, want to see inside (how small is it?) and make comments on the images and the whole idea! I think it has been one of the most fun projects we have done in years and it really fueled the idea of doing the Bubble Trailer Light Tour! Now we are on tour and we are just over half way on our 13,000 mile journey! Ms. Bubble Trailer is certainly the star of the show and her celebrity status has brought lots of photographers to the classes and started lots of fun conversations in the campgrounds too!
I’m delighted with the vibrancy of the EXT Metal Prints from Bay Photo and plan to put a few images on the outside of my house on our back patio this fall, now that I see how well they hold up in the weather and light! Follow Ms. Bubble Trailer on IG at @bubbletrailer and see the rest of the journey itinerary on BubbleTrailer.com too!
Check out BayPhotoLab.com to see the Performance EXT Metal Prints too, and if you want to learn more and maybe try them out.
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#GetCreative #thinkoutsidethebubble #bubbletrailerlighttour #getaRoundtuit
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