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Wraps Don’t Get Much Trickier Than This One

Installers navigate a boom truck misadventure to wrap a tent on a tilted axis of 78 degrees.

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This project won a 2022 Best of Wide Format Award from our sister publication, Big Picture. You can view all of the award-winning projects here.

Print Shop: Ink Monstr | inkmonstr.com
Location: Denver, Colorado
Tools and Supplies: HP Latex 800W printer, 3M IJ180CV3 cast vinyl film, 3M 8518 Scotchcal gloss overlaminate, and Seal 62 Pro S laminator.

THIS JOB WAS borderline impossible,” says Jon White, CEO, Ink Monstr. “Others were asked if it could be done, and they said ‘No’ without venturing to see if it indeed could be done. Countless hours of consulting, surveying, and strategizing went into bringing this wrap to life.”

Ink Monstr was brought in to transform the exterior tent that covers the entrance to the Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit in Denver, Colorado. The tent has an elevation apex of 36 feet from the bottom of the tent to the spire, is on a tilted axis at 78 degrees, and required 10,000 square feet of graphics and 161 panels, “making for a very complex substrate to reach, let alone wrap,” says White.

It took the Ink Monstr team three days to survey the site. “Because of the design of the tent, there was no accessible weight/load bearing point for installation teams to access and, as such, the entire project was installed from lifts,” says White. They rented the largest boom lift they could, but even that brought its own set of issues. “The boom lift blew a hydraulic line while our install team was at elevation installing over the tent, causing the bucket to start dropping elevation,” says White. “Fortunately, they were able to navigate the bucket away from the tent prior to any structure damage being done.”

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Ink Monstr had the tent pressure washed and bathed in alcohol prior to installation. “That alone was a two-day process to prepare for installation,” he says. “It’s a tent/membrane structure. This is not installing on a building or wall; there is give and you must be cognizant of how much heat and pressure are being used to install the wrap.” Installation – in the snow and ice – took eight days to complete and nearly two and a half weeks to finish.

“This piece is truly iconic,” says White. “A Van Gogh sunflower everyone driving into Denver from the south and away from Denver (if heading north) cannot miss.” The wrap is passed by 250,000-plus vehicles every day.

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