Digital on wood: A different way to display beloved photos

The Irvine-based company WoodSnap offers a relatively simple product: images printed on thin slabs of wood, with the grain providing a nice texture for that groom’s carnation or surfer’s curling wave.

But the process the company uses to create those prints? Apparently, it’s far from a snap.

Stop by WoodSnap’s headquarters on McGaw Avenue and you’ll see stacks of finely cut birch wood in the shop awaiting use. You’ll also see a quasi-gallery of panels mounted on the walls. Some sport replicated photographs and others feature pop art illustrations or logos of companies — ranging from Google to Sony — for which WoodSnap has filled orders.

Ask co-founder Mike Lastrina or Chief Operations Officer Andy Brown for a guided tour of the printmaking process, however, and they’ll politely demur. According to Lastrina, who founded WoodSnap in 2012 with friend Ricky Anderson, the company’s print process blends four different technologies, and the owners are applying for a patent on it.

“It’s about a 10-step process, and it’s so complicated we haven’t heard anyone try to replicate it,” Lastrina said.

Co-founder Mike Lastrina shows images printed on wood of some of his favorite celebrities at the Woodsnap headquarters in Irvine.

(Don Leach / Daily Pilot)

Whatever those secret chemicals or devices may be, the finished product has amassed a following. The reality TV show “Bar Rescue,” which gives makeovers to bars and restaurants, recently featured WoodSnap when the Los Angeles Brewing Company hung its prints on the wall. “Good Morning America” and the DIY Network show “I Want That” having spotlighted the company as well.

Around Orange County, as well, WoodSnap has become increasingly easy to spot. The owners have launched an art series called Focal Point, which displays works by local artists at The Lab Antimall in Costa Mesa, 4th Street Market in Santa Ana and Union Market in Tustin. The surf apparel company Rip Curl, whose American headquarters is in Costa Mesa, enlisted WoodSnap to create trophies the last two years for a surf contest sponsored by Bethany Hamilton.

Part of that appeal may come from WoodSnap’s hands-on approach to printing. In a medium where the material must be carefully aligned with the image, having a machine do all the work would lead to too many rejects.

The company, which has an array of computers at its disposal in addition to printing materials, takes digital images and applies them to the wood. Customers can email photos to the staff, upload them through WoodSnap’s website or take them in person to be scanned. The finished product gives the image an earthy quality, with the wavy texture of the wood sometimes clearly visible.

Giving a tour — a partial one, anyway — of WoodSnap’s printing shop earlier this month, Brown took down a stack of plain wood panels from a shelf and pointed out the grain of each one. The company uses birch for all its prints because of the color and density, but even still, quirks of nature can get in the way.

Stopping on one panel, Brown pointed out that it would better accommodate a forest scene than a portrait.

“This line, right here, if it’s a wedding photo and here’s the bride’s face, that’s one too many mustaches,” he said.

According to Lastrina, the company uses birch trees that have been harvested specifically for timber, meaning that its products do not cause deforestation. In addition, WoodSnap gives back to the ecosystem by donating money every year to the nonprofit American Forests.

Christopher Horn, the nonprofit’s director of communications, said WoodSnap has helped to plant around 21,000 trees over the last four years, with donations going to specific projects in Minnesota, Oregon and Haiti. That number may not equal the amount paid for by higher-profile partners such as Eddie Bauer, but Horn said every seed helps.

“One large tree can absorb up to 100 gallons of water a day and then extract it into the air,” he said. “Two mature trees can provide enough oxygen for one person to breathe over the course of a year. I believe that one acre of trees can sequester the carbon created by one car annually. So when you look at WoodSnap, that’s quite a bit of climate change mitigation.”

WoodSnap is at 1632 McGaw Ave., Irvine. It is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. Prices range from $10 to $400. For more information: (855) 455-9663 or woodsnap.com