I have been printing my logos on rice paper through my printer at home and they turn out fine, but not opaque enough. I have tried a lazer printer but the toner bleed under the glass job, I was told that it shouldn’t have bleed. I heard I could get a screen printer to make them so they will be more opaque. Is this the way most shapers do it? Can you reccommend a good company I can trust that knows what they’re doing so they won’t bleed or get messed up under the glass? Mahalo Andy
A screen printer will provide you with a logo that has a higher degree of opacity. The paper they print to, is thicker and holds more ink without too much of a bleed factor. The colors will be brighter, and will last longer (won’t fade as bad). And they are easier to glass because you don’t have the crinkle factor that you might be use to running thin rice paper through your printer at home. The down size is the cost. For each color you use there is a separate screen setup charge. If you can come up with a logo that you like in one color then it won’t be too bad. But if you start making stuff with a bunch of colors in it then the screen charges add up. For example, you might pick a red, and consider it one color, but in actuality that red is made up values of other colors, like maybe 90% magenta, 10% yellow, 2% black etc. Each color value represents a different screen and a charge to you. I guess what I am telling you is design something in black, and values of black (100% to 0%) and you won’t have any problems, and you will save some money. The money factor is the real advantage of doing it at home. You can go nuts with colors and filters without worrying about how many screens your logo will separate to.
Mike D said it best. However as far as color mixing goes, it ain’t to expensive. Mostly it is the set-up of screens and screen printing x amount of colors. Look at it this way…for the amounut of money you would pay for 4 colors it will be about 4 times as expensive as one color. If you do one color printing…I say do it at home with a screen. California Silkscreening is one of the best in Cali…if they exist anymore. Personally I do my own and I have nineteen colors on my logo…just kidding folks!
Andy…go back into the archives…about two or three weeks ago, we addressed this very thing!..the reason that your image is more transparent than you like - when you wet it out - is that the image must be on a white opaque ground if you want to hide what is underneath (like the stringer{matter of fact, when you access the articles in the archives, use the key words :stringer,opaque white,and logos, and the memory in the computer will probably bring up the article}). I silkscreen my own, but someone mentioned a technique where he opaqued the back of his computer printout somehow. My way for that application…get your printout on rice paper…flip da buggah over ON A LIGHT TABLE to see where your image is on the paper, and white opaque it manually. With the light table, you can easily see where your outlines end…Laters, …Tom V.
Steve: Some time back I believe you posted a note about a line of inks that are far more stable to light and don’t have much of a color shift over time. The ink mfr. name started with an “N”. Can these inks be purchased in a form that you could refill an inkjet cartridge with? (the mfr. name just hit me- Naylor- right?) TS>>> Mike D said it best. However as far as color mixing goes, it ain’t to > expensive. Mostly it is the set-up of screens and screen printing x amount > of colors. Look at it this way…for the amounut of money you would pay > for 4 colors it will be about 4 times as expensive as one color.>>> If you do one color printing…I say do it at home with a screen.>>> California Silkscreening is one of the best in Cali…if they exist > anymore. Personally I do my own and I have nineteen colors on my > logo…just kidding folks!
Can they be used for refilling HP printer cartridges? Cartridges already available with their inks? Thanks! Tom
Those refill kits are notorious for causing blotching, smearing and the output bleeds bad (too much ink). Several of my friends have tried them and it was a disaster. Anything that lays down excess ink will get picked up by the rollers and other moving parts on the printer and you will get ink all over your lam.
Steve:>>> Some time back I believe you posted a note about a line of inks that are > far more stable to light and don’t have much of a color shift over time. > The ink mfr. name started with an “N”. Can these inks be > purchased in a form that you could refill an inkjet cartridge with? (the > mfr. name just hit me- Naylor- right?)>>> TS Tom, As far as I know they don’t, but then new stuff comes out of the woodworks. The brand is Nadar 6100 series inks. These are really stable inks used in sign shops and the like. Most San DIego county lam. screeners use Nadar. I am taking a stab here because I have worked with high end HP Inkjet plotters usd in Drafting, grahics and other applications. The printheads would clog with these inks. To thin them with a chemical…I don’t know how the plastice parts would handle this. Let me know if you find out anything else about this. I may experiment with plotters(just oversized) printers.
Surely someone in the industry must be using a printer…anyone know of such company who makes lams with a printer?
Surely someone in the industry must be using a printer…anyone know of > such company who makes lams with a printer? Seems like I remember Herb mentioning something once about using some sort of special inks or something to do his lams. How 'bout it Herb? Do I remember correctly? Do you wanna share yet another secret with the poor uninformed masses? Please!
Seems like I remember Herb mentioning something once about using some sort > of special inks or something to do his lams. How 'bout it Herb? Do I > remember correctly? Do you wanna share yet another secret with the poor > uninformed masses? Please! …Okay,Okay,you’ve made me laugh so I guess that’s worth the info. exchange.First if you are re-filling ink cartridges DON’T FILL THEM UP ALL THE WAY!!! 1/2 is plenty!!!As far as inks go I use a waterbased textile ink(for printing on clothes)that dries perm.I get mine thru a pro-printer/screener that’s semi-retired.I can as where he purchases it,but I do know it comes in large quanities.Herb. Oh yea…filter your inks before use or refilling!!!
That’s:I can “ASK”…NOW where are my reading glasses…Herb.
I have been printing my logos on rice paper through my printer at home and [snip] your best bet?? speaking from experience - take your designs to your local art store - a store who burns screens for a living [smile] they have pre-built frames and you can specify the mesh of the screen itself. give them the artwork and they’ll burn it for ya - usually in one day. we use the thinnest rice paper they have (i forget the specs), but it is paper-thin stuff (it’s “works” like paper). use acrylic ink or paint (we use liquitex) to print up your labels. we use the liquitex straight (no dilution) out of the bottle and have no opacity problems.
Thanks for all of your responses. I think I will get my logo screen printed. It seems that that will be the most professional way to do it. Thanks again Andy
I’ve been printing lams on my computer for about a year and a half. I use a lexmark 3200 printer with rice paper.Lexmark’s black ink is a pigment ink it works fine.Unfortunatly the colored ink has a tendency to fade after it’s been in the sun for a while.One problem with computer lams is you can’t print the color white.Some Epson printers can use color archival ink which is resistant to fading from the sun.The main thing is to use water base ink or your lams will bleed.It’s the alcohol in inks that cause the bleeding. For custom or single run lams the computer works fine because of the cost factor involved. For lams you use day in and out I say go with a silk screened version.