Custom acrylics with extra flare

Many customers want to create custom acrylic panels that are original and modern. For them, though, our standard acrylic printed panel is not enough. On that panel, we print on the back and the image comes through the front.

Last month, we got a phone call from a customer we had worked with years ago. He tried to explain his vision of various custom acrylics that would float in the air. At the time, he was planning a gallery benefit, so he really wanted to show people something different with his acrylic prints.

He described his vision: acrylics floating from some type of display, with the display in different thicknesses. It was all very confusing to me.

Our Design Idea: Layered Custom Acrylics

We always try to understand a customer’s vision when creating custom acrylics. So, to avoid wasting time, we gave him a cool design idea. Why not create a custom acrylic, print on it, and then add thicker acrylic pieces to the print? First, we would print the larger acrylic on 3/16 inch acrylic. Then we would add various thicknesses to certain areas of the acrylic panel. The smaller panels would be either 1/4, 3/16 or 3/8 inch in thickness.

The idea blew him away, and soon we started working together on the project. He wanted 4 very large custom acrylics with various thicknesses. We would print each custom acrylic panel on 3/16 acrylic, with the cut outs at 1/4 or 3/8 inch thick.

Organizing the Files and Shipping the Panels

The job itself was not that difficult. The real challenge was finding a way to organize the files so we could understand them clearly. That’s because certain images needed different thicknesses within the actual panel.

We didn’t want the panels to come apart during transport. So we shipped the cut outs in a separate box, along with our special tape for the customer to apply. We also numbered each panel to match the acrylic and the box it was in.

The customer loved the product, and it was a big hit at his gala.