for drying. This system has evolved to use UV LED lighting. This
light is colder, which brings a host of benefits. There is no risk of
material distortion, it consumes less energy, it is longer-lasting and
it offers greater frequency control (different colors dry at different
frequencies). According to Tanyà,
a new five-color UV LED machine
will be operational at Quadpack
Impressions from early 2019. The
company is currently testing the
machine first with plastic, then
with other materials, including
glass.
“Digital printing in general is
also taking off, although pricing
is still relatively high for mediumsized
runs,” explained Tanyà.
“For very low or very high runs
or for a very fast time-to-market,
however, it is an excellent option,
especially for photographicquality
decoration. We are getting
extremely good results on wood with
flat or slightly irregular surfaces, as
well as on plastic, metal and glass.”
“Also, there have been great advances in the process of hotstamping
on glass and metal,” he continued.
“Instead of super-heating foils, the latest method uses a UV
primer before applying the foil. This requires careful fine-tuning
of the machinery and trying out different types of foil and inks.
We’re now getting better results than ever in adherence, quality
and finishing, achieving a very fine, complex print.”
UV LED lighting is more environmentally-friendly, thanks to
reduced energy consumption and longer-lasting lights, said Tanyà.
In terms of results, it offers more frequency control and negligible
material distortion. However, he indicated that using metallic inks
for UV LED lighting can be challenging because of the properties
of this type of ink.
Tanyà also noted that the challenge with hot-stamping on glass
lies in calibration. One needs to find the perfect balance between
the tooling of the machine, the primer, the foils and the inks.
Expertise and experience are required to harmonize all of these
elements.
“Digital printing is great for brands that plan to launch many
different designs of one product, or need designs that incorporate
photographic patterns,” Tanyà concluded.
“It’s also often the best option where the production volume
is low. Digital printing jobs are quick and straightforward to set
up, so you can switch designs with ease. The technology handles
photographic images well and low set-up costs make it a better
candidate for low runs. There are now digital printing machines
specifically designed to handle cylindrical surfaces.”
“Hot-stamping on glass using a UV primer is more economical
than using the conventional method of ceramic inks. This new
process doesn’t require extreme heat so less energy is consumed,
which is better for the planet. It also offers a greater variety and
stability of colors.”
Tony Renzi, Sun Chemical, noted that within the glass printing
industry, there has been a move to organic inks due to the growing
focus on environmental friendliness and other health and safety
factors. This was one of the motivators behind Sun Chemical’s
new SunSpray WBSPG range, which is BPA free and a 100%
water-based coating with no volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
Organic inks allow brand
owners to decorate glass
and ceramic packaging
directly with bright,
vibrant effects that can
liven up the shelf presence.
The use of organic
inks, coatings and sprays
significantly expands the
color gamut, meaning
brands are not only able
to produce stand-out
designs directly decorated
on the glass, but they can
do so using real brand colors that
meet the current industry regulations
regarding heavy metals and
VOCs.
One of the greatest challenges
for brands wanting glass has been the limitations in directly decorating
the glass itself, which makes it difficult to represent product
branding and imagery to utilize brand colors. As a result, labels
have often been used as a solution, sacrificing product branding.
According to the company, the SunSpray WBSPG range of
coatings for glass offers all the colors and special effects one would
expect from traditional spray coatings as well as improved adhesion
and film hardness, while being environmentally-friendly. The
range is suitable for indoor applications for personal care products,
as well as candles, craft beers and spirits. SunSpray WBSPG
is made up of various color dispersions and effects, so customers
can mix infinite colors and effects, such as frost, metallic, opaque
and pearlescent, to produce a variety of combinations for unique
packaging.
Heath Luetkens, Director of Technical Innovation, Creative
Edge Software, Minneapolis, MN, agrees that in plastic, and especially
glass spray bottles, the decorating trends that are currently
influencing demand from customers relate mostly to techniques
that elevate the packaging design to a more premium look and
feel. This might be anything from embossing (or debossing) to the
creation of unique and asymmetrical shapes or simply the use of
more exotic, exclusive materials and reflective, holographic and
lenticular finishes. In some cases, a key motivation might be to
improve security, tamper-proofing and to protect brand integrity,
but many of the decorative methods are the same.
Creative Edge Software’s packaging design software application,
iC3D, offers technologies that include advanced shape modeling.
This allows the user to create a new packaging shapes quickly and
easily, no matter how complex. Features such as Point Editor and
UVW Editor provide the ability to easily select points on a 3D
model, and edit shapes, distortions and surface effects. To achieve
embossing effects, iC3D’s “Bump” displacement mapping feature
allows the user to take a line drawing, logo or any shape created in
Adobe Illustrator, and apply it to the surface of the glass or plastic
bottle, working in real time.
The latest enhanced Ray Tracing and Light Map Editor capabilities
help ensure high-quality visualization for more realism and
better market testing of the decorative effects, while the new iC3D
Real-Time Ray Tracer delivers instantaneous high-resolution design
renders. As with all iC3D mockups, the 3D results can then be
scrutinized from all angles by brand owners, production managers
and other stakeholders using iC3D Opsis via any web browser on
any Smartphone, tablet or computer. Spray
Delilah Pure Light Liquid Radiance.
Decorated by Quadpack, the
logo and motif are hot-stamped in
gold with lettering screen printed
in brown.
Packaging design software
application iC3D from Creative Edge
Software helped design
the new bottle for the Daisy
Marc Jacobs fragrance.
February 2019 Spray 21