The KaneSterling Architectural Products Blog provides a truly effective, informative communications platform and shows what can be done when you put time, care and thought into your blog.
Lots of information and graphics here — practical, useful information, especially for architects, engineers, designers, owners and specification writers — the blog’s intended audience. ?KaneSterling?fabricates aluminum, glass and stainless steel railings, security window screens, detention products, hurricane storm barriers, living wall systems, louvers, grilles, sunshades and residential fencing. ?Naturally, many of the blog postings relate to the company’s focus. ?However, you won’t sense you are being “sold” anything here — instead the technical advice and insights could be applied in any situation.
Take, for example, this posting: Sublimation Powder Coating: Decorative “Tattoos” for Metal Products:
As wild as it sounds, this pattern and many others are easy to achieve thanks to a finishing technique called “dye sublimation”.
Dye sublimation is a coating process that transfers printed, high-resolution images or wood grain designs to metals such as aluminum and steel, using heat and pressure. ?This process allows inks to be permanently embedded, resulting in the display of an eye-catching image on the final product.
Some popular metal products that typically undergo this finishing process are aluminum railings, window frames, appliances, patio furniture, bathroom fixtures and doors.
The Dye Sublimation Process:
1. ?The metal is cleaned to be sure there is no dirt or oil present.
2. ?A base powder coat is applied to the metal in a light color.
3. ?The non-porous sublimation film transfer is wrapped around the metal.
4. ?Air is removed; heat and pressure are applied to create a perfect print.
5. ?The film is removed once cooled.
KaneSterling provides a link to its general website, but you really can take this information anywhere — and that type of information results in a truly useful blog.
You also should look at the blog’s most popular posting:?5 Architects & Spec Writers You Should Be Following Right Now, just below the invitation to vote for KaneSterling in the 2013 Best Construction Blog competition. ?(The company’s blog, as I write this posting, ranks sixth in the competition — so it may well end up in the top five at the contest conclusion. ?You can vote from the link on the KaneSterling blog or here.)
Note that this blog is hosted on Google’s free Blogger.com service, showing the level of innovation you can achieve even with the public template. ?(I’m also impressed that, while this and other commercial blogs often have some search engine optimization value, I don’t sense that is this blog’s primary objective.)
