Bullish on Backdrops

When the Quentin Road Bible Baptist Church in Lake Zurich, Illinois, wanted a changeable backdrop for its series of Christmas pageants last year, it didn’t have to
go far: It simply turned to its in-house creative director and Epson Stylus Pro 9600 printer.

Kari Kumura, creative director for Victory in Grace Ministries—which comprises not only the Quentin Road church but also television and radio broadcasting facilities as well as a printed magazine and website to reach out to its members—designed the graphic using Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign and a combination of four various stock images.

She then utilized the church’s 44-inch Stylus Pro 9600 and Epson Ultrachrome inks, outputting the image onto Intelicoat Magicleé Torino 17M matte cotton/polyester-
blend canvas.

“The color looked good on the Torino material, and it was durable for rolling and releasing it,” Kumura says. “We also used Premier-Display Universal Polypropylene matte film to create some panels that were attached to the wall and would not be dropped.”

Sections, varying in size from 18 to 44-inches wide, attached using double-sided banner tape, comprised the 13 x 85-foot backdrop. In all, it took a total of 30 hours to
print and three people nearly 12 hours to install. The project totaled more than 1500 square feet of printed material.

The biggest obstacle the project presented to Kumura? “The overall size,” she says. “There were also support structures on the stage that had to be worked around, so making sure the image lined up correctly when installed and when the panels were released” also was a challenge.

The backdrop will again be installed over a three-week period for Christmas 2009. More than 14,000 people attended the seven pageant performances in 2008.