So You're Preparing For Your First National Stationery Show: Fire-retardant

I've received a collection of questions over the years regarding this Big Event. If you're like me, it can feel overwhelming, particularly if it's your first time, so I thought I'd share some ideas and experiences I've had over the years. I don't have all the answers and, obviously, these are just my opinions, not facts. I hope you'll find them helpful:

Question regarding flameproofing:
I was reading in the set-up manual that everything in the booth has to be flame-resistant - from the walls, etc. Does that mean that, for example, the table, chairs, lamps, FLOR carpet tiles, any sort of paper displays (I had been planning to make huge paper collage cut-outs of my designs, either from paper or foamboard) have to be treated with flame-retardants? The manual recommended some outside companies as well as their own flameproofing services in the Javits Center. I was wondering what your experience was with this - do you have a company you would recommend? 

Thoughts:
I know your walls need to be flame-retardant. If you have fabric walls, you'll have to purchase some liquid flame-retardant and apply it to your materials yourself. There are some pre-treated materials out there as well but they can be expensive. If you plan on using foam core, you'll have to purchase a flame-retardant version. Wood walls don't need to be treated, however, they can be heavy which will add to your shipping expense.

Presently, I have fabric walls and have had to apply a liquid flame-retardant myself. Here's the contact information for the company I've used:

West Coast Fire Shield
Attention: John Cherry
1814 Elzworth Street
Bakersfield CA 93312
jcherry@universalfireshield.com
www.westcoastfireshield.com
(661) 588-2183

These guys will also supply a certificate to certify that the fabric has been looked after with their product which is pretty useful.

You don't have to worry about chairs, tables, or lamps if they're made out of traditional materials. The fire marshal won't bother with these items.

I don't believe FLOR carpet tiles will need any flame-retardant treatment but I'm not 100% sure. I've never heard of anyone having an issue with this. There's a lot more that can be said about choosing not only an attractive, but COMFORTABLE type of flooring for your booth, but that's another topic for another time.

I'm not sure about big paper collage cut-outs. I don't think it's an issue and I don't know how you could treat any paper with flame-retardant. If you did, it would curl, thereby rendering it pretty tough to work with. I know of one booth that has had an amazing paper collage for the past two years. I don't know if they treated it or not, nor do I know if they ran into any problems with the Javits fire marshal. I doubt it.

I know of a manufacturer who ran into problems BIG TIME a couple of years ago when they tried to erect a booth made entirely out of corrugated cardboard. They were asked to take it down before the show began. They had to whip up a new booth at the last minute. YIKES! Again, you could treat the corrugated cardboard with flame-retardant, but it would warp and curl.

If you have any additional ideas or thoughts you'd like to add, please let me know. I'm happy to include them here so that we can all benefit from a collection of experiences. 

Thanks!

Midwest Move!

Well, we've done it... we've moved from sunny California to The Gateway To The West: St. Louis, Missouri! My wife took a job at an amazing private school in Town & Country, Missouri, so I packed up our bags, crammed as much as possible into our car (including the sardines, I mean our two dogs) and drove for 26 hours to our new home. It was a "cozy" trip, to say the least, but we arrived in good spirits, ready for a new adventure!

Promotional Piece With Legion Paper and a Lot of Talent!

We've just recently competed a promotional piece with Legion Paper and fifteen very talented letterpress printers and designers.  The project consisted of each printer creating a recipe card in their unique signature style utilizing papers sourced by Legion from around the world.  The recipe cards will be distributed at the upcoming National Stationery Show in New York from May 15-18 at the Jacob Javits Center.


See Legion's press release here:
http://www.legionpaper.com/pub/files/LegionPromoProjectNSS2011.pdf


Our card was done in collaboration with DeFrance Printing, a very fine 100+ year old company located in San Diego.  We chose to transform the Maginating and DeFrance logos into little anthropomorphic characters, wishing all who jot a recipe down on our card to enjoy their meal, or "bon appetit!"  We were fortunate enough to use Somerset Velvet Radiant White 330gsm, a very fine paper indeed.  

Special thanks to Marc Schotland at Legion Paper and Amber Ellis-Seguine of Flywheel Press for developing this project together.  Thanks for including us!

Come stop by our booth for a free card and to say hello - we'd love to see you there!

As Spotted in the Wild...

My sister just sent me this photo of our From the Tools card as spotted at The Papery.  While we love seeing our cards in every store, what makes this particularly special is that The Papery is in Toronto, Canada - my "...home and native laaand" (pardon my "singing" - that's from the Canadian National Anthem).  Anyway, it's a great store - check it out (and many others in Toronto - see our website for a list of them all) if you get a chance!

Thanks Boxcar Press!

A great big THANK YOU to Boxcar Press, specifically their blog division, "Blogxcar," for featuring us on their blog.  We're great big fans of their Deep Relief Boxcar Base as well as their KF152 photopolymer plates! Check the article out at www.boxcarpress.com/us/blog

SOLD!

Well, we sold our Challenge 265 paper cutter... a bit sad that it's gone, but it's a great cutter and we weren't using it - I'd rather it be in use than just sitting around.  So it's now in the hands of Danny Askar - master of all things silkscreen!  You can view some of his fine print work at www.ohdanielsan.com/portfolio

Goodbye little Challenge - off to a new home...

"Still Paper Chasing"

A thousand thank you's to Los Angeles Magazine for including us on their website! You can read a little bit about us at www.lamag.com/article.aspx?id=22691