well my trusty old HP 6 color inkjet has died. Anyone having good luck with their inkjet printer doing color logos on ricepaper? What model are you using? I bought a newer one with only 3 colors of ink and did not like the results as much… just doing normal size logos, don’t need a giant printer…
many thanks for your input…
Well along with Keith; I am now curious in this regard. I still buy lams from a Silkscreener, but occasionally might need to do a one off for a customer. Lowel
I used to use an HP inkjet. I use Laser printers these days. I would bet they still make the same print engine as your old one except with a fancy display and plastic outer shell on it. The guts on those HP printers haven’t changed all that much over the years.
The bad news on inkjet printers is that a color/black ink cartridge set cost more than the printer. The good news is at that price you can toss the printer when signs of wear show. All HP inkjets do the same resolution regardless of price, it’s only the copies per min. that change. Walmart has an HP 1010 for $30, dual cartridge set is $50. I got one; prints lams, T-shirt transfers, everything perfectly. If you need a scanner/copier, HP has one for about $50 but print quality is same as the $30 one. I have no preference to HP other than printers and then only because it’s the most widely available ink.
…no printer tints can do a quality logotype like with silk screening. Pro logos are made with this method; in this method you can use water based tints (mostly used) and epoxy tints (used by a few BUT superior no doubt)
If you do not know how to “burn” a screen or do not want to buy the chemicals, go to a silk screen shop buy a small frame ready to use (or make one yourself, its very easy) with a mesh finer than the ones used for t-shirts; then they can “stamp” ALL your logos and just that; buy rice paper or seda paper (the one similar to the roller paper for cigarettes) and the tints and print them yourself.
Superior quality and for a few bucks. Never fade, etc. Use epoxy tints.
Reverb-- Sounds as though you have done the process before. Maybe you could do a thread and walk us through the process. Pics etc. Seriously.
…hello Mcding, yes I did it for my logotypes; however the last time I added a new small logo was about 2 years ago or so and I did not had the chemicals anymore (due to exp date) so like I mentioned, I went to a shop with my frame to stamp; then I silkscreen the logos myself.
Yes, I can try to evacuate a few doubts in the other process, but I do not have photos.
I use epoxy tints for the main logos and water based for the very small ones.
The Black is really Black water based blacks are a bit less black and printers Blacks are more like dark greys after few Suns…
Hi Keith, Hi Reverb
Keith, I am doing most of my ‘decorations’ on a HP black/white laser, some on a Brother all-in-one inkjet for color, and occasionally acrylic artist inks via screen printing. I have no idea how fast the color inkjet is. I should really make glassed samples and leave them outside to see how they weather.
Reverb, I too have some questions about your screening process. I do some screening with old t-shirt screens for lams but am not getting ‘crisp’ results.
Artwork: how are you making those-by hand? software?
Screens: what stencil technology-photo screens? hand-cut stencils? Mesh size?
Two passes: how are you registering the white pass to the black pass- Targets?
Which rice paper weights work best?
Thanks!
…hello Jrandy; depends on the artwork; for a symmetric logotype or like that you can use a software directly; like Draw, illustrator or similar free programs. I am a rookie with these types of programs but for making logotypes with letters, words and or simple figures are very easy to use.
For logos (like mine) that have a “custom” type of font. I draw it by hand then scanned to the program and re draw it again part by part. That s difficult (not so for a guy that works with these programs but time consuming; however, is a thing to do only one time)
Then you print the image on acetate sheet; there you have the logo to stamp on the mesh.
You have the white part with the targets (use O and a +), after dry put the other color part (you can have these two parts or more in the same frame to cheap the process or if they are small) on top letting to coincide with the other targets and pass the other color.
The mesh for print onto paper should be 200-250 tpi but you can use 120 -180 if the tints are thick.
Try to find the finer paper that you can get; the important stuff is that the paper can turns transparent (test it with water, resin or any liquid)
Thanks Reverb, I appreciate the info. My guess is that the 137 mesh I am using is a bit too large for the ink (paint) and that my stencil edges are not good as I hand-cut it and used old solvent to attach it.
Lam Samples:
Big ‘jrandy’= 15 g rice paper, acrylic paint, hand cut stencil, screened 2 passes, lots of flaws in stencil (see above, see below)
Heart= same paper and ink, old hand-cut screen, some wear showing on screen
Arsenal print (blue/black running off frame)=same paper and ink, old hand-cut screen, rainbow paint (better edges than heart)
86= photo stencil (emulsion coated screen shot with blanck and white artwork) same paper and ink (nice edges)
Small ‘jrandy’ and PolyFoam logo= laser on 15 g paper
Ruler= laser on heavier (Greenlight’s) logo paper…might need to get some more of this since I print through the 15g paper
Swaylocks, Gearbox, Gorilla logos= Brother MFC inkjet printer on tracing paper…just ran out of 15g paper
Two color rig:
This was my goof-off project for the weekend. I made the frame, stretched the screen, did the logo, split it into two colors, cut the stencil, made a mess during adhesion, and got it mounted on an old piece of laminated shelving. I am using + marks for registration. One set is in the screen, another on the bed, and a third is on the clear plastic inc case I cannot see through the paper to the bed. The red marks are nail polish trying to fill in holes in the green stencil. I should have made the screen bigger so I would have more room to ‘squeegee’ before I hit the side or the other set of openings.
…hello man; no need to spend more money on other frame; the trick is to use masking tape underside on the other logos; yes then clean all.
Do not forget that the marks need to be at the same distance in all the colors, To see them make em in all the sides (4) and of course, screen them too.
If you do not use silkscreen tints, try with tempera (without dilute it) instead of acrylics to avoid fill the threads too soon.
for crisp logos use 200 Mesh or better.
300 is good if you have super fine lines.
less is more in logo case in RE to ink
Thanks again Reverb, thanks Acqua! I made a couple more frames and will try to find some finer mesh.
Keith, are you any closer to a new printer? Could I run a sheet out for you in the meantime?
thanks for the offer, but I picked up a new Epson Workforce 3640 for cheap ($120). Once I had it set up (including wifi connections) I ran off a couple dozen logos real quick. They look good, and this one is a lot faster than my old HP. No problems.
