Print Shop || Location: Screaming Images || LAS VEGAS
Tools and Supplies: 3M Controltac 180-10, 3M Scotchcal Matte Overlaminate 8520, banner vinyl, Dibond, HP Latex 3000 press, EFI Vutek GS5000r press, MultiCam Digital Express digital finishing system
By now, PSPs are well aware of the endless possibilities of vinyl wraps. Take a scroll through the #WrapEverything hashtag on Instagram and you’ll find thousands of posts boasting wrapped motorcycles, game consoles, vending machines, kitchen countertops, and beyond. Las Vegas-based Screaming Images is no stranger to creative vinyl wraps, but a 2019 project really pushed the team’s creativity to the limits: wrapping a functional Ferris wheel bright magenta – in a week.
When the shop got a call inquiring about wrapping a T-Mobile Ferris wheel for the ninth-annual iHeartRadio Music Festival, their response was, “Yes! When can we survey it?” The answer? A week before the festival.
“Wrapping a Ferris wheel is kind of like wrapping a unicorn,” says Scott Proctor, Screaming Images VP of sales. “There are no templates, it’s made up of hundreds of moving parts, and it is huge! … With string, measuring tapes, and lots of notes, we invented a game plan and kept our fingers crossed.”
When the wheel arrived at the festival grounds, the team got to work wrapping the tops and bottoms of 16 gondolas over the course of two and a half days. Next came the challenge of wrapping the support structure using only white and magenta film. “We ended up printing large sections of magenta banner material and ‘fitting’ the beams and trusses, securing them with zip ties, Velcro, and tape,” says Proctor. The structure wrap was completed around 11:30 p.m. the night before the festival, and the final center “button” was installed in just the nick of time – 20 minutes before the festival gates opened. “The crowd was walking in as we drove off the lot,” says Proctor. Festivalgoers enjoyed two days of photo ops and incredible views of the mega-concert from the iconic wrap.