December 21, 2004

1:00 PM

I want a christmas present for myself. Specifically, a Hunter Thompson for Sheriff Poster. It doesn't have to be an original, but I'd like it to be of decent enough quality to justify framing.

I found one on ebay for $150, but I haven't been that good this year. Any ideas about obtaining a reasonably (<$50) priced, decent-sized (bigger than 18" wide) version?
posted by jmevius to (3 comments total)

you might screen it yourself (it looks like the originals were screened anyways).

grab a copy of the poster, blow it up in photoshop so it'll print actual size (this'll make it fuzzy, but that's ok, cause you're just using it as an outline). Then, get a screenprinting kit (non photo emulsion might work better for you, because the shapes are so simple that using photoemulsion would be overkill -- however, maybe you're a little gimpy with an xacto like me. in that case you can go the photo emulsion route and smooth out the edges using a black sharpie). Buy the inks (three colors, i guess, unless you can find some nice black paper), and print. *

sure, it's a complex process, but you'll end up with a nice piece that you made yourself and will have learned a new skill! the cost will maybe be around $50-100 (maybe even $150 anyways) depending on what kind of gear you purchase, but you can reuse it (*and* you can print as many posters as you want, once you finish the screen(s).)

short of that, i guess you could try emailing the guy and seeing if he'd send you a high quality photo of the poster that you could get printed at some shop. that seems a less than ideal solution to me, however.

*this is obviously a less than complete description of how to screenprint, but if you go that route, you're gonna want to have more information than i can give you in a couple paragraphs anyways.
posted by fishfucker at 1:39 PM on December 21, 2004

Screenprinting would be the way to do that image properly, but in this day and age it's pretty labor-intensive and costly. A large format silkscreen at near wholesale prices, coated with photoemulsion and exposed is going to cost more than $50 USD per screen, and you'll need one screen per color.

But, as above, you're going to be able to print multiple copies. Up to a few thousand copies per screen, depending on what ink you're using and such.

But you're also probably going to need access to a vacuum table printing rig to print poster stock. Not to mention drying racks or a curing oven if you're going to bootleg a bunch of them.

The cheapest and least labor-intensive way would probably be to go to a digital print house (AVOID KINKO'S!) that has large format inkjets and a copy of Genuine Fractals - a Photoshop Plugin - which can effectively increase the resolution of some pretty crappy small scale images. (As you would find on the web.)

Find the best and largest source image you can on the web and give them that, explaining that you want them to up-res it in GF as best they can and then print just a piece of it as a proof. If the proof is accetable to you, have them print the poster.

If you're in SoCal, I have access to just such a print shop.
posted by loquacious at 3:12 PM on December 21, 2004

The cheap-ass copout method: The Rasterbator + a printer + a whole bunch of paper.
posted by savetheclocktower at 9:09 PM on December 21, 2004