Silicone keyboard pad printed with SI Series silicone ink (click to enlarge)
Pad printing on silicone objects is easier than ever now with our new line of silicone ink! Take a look at this flexible silicone keyboard. We were able to pad print our logo directly onto the surface of the silicone keyboard…and it looks great!
The process was easy. We first mixed the SI Series ink with the specified thinner and hardener. Once the ink was mixed well, we simply poured it into an ink cup and inserted it into the ICN-B100. The silicone keyboard required no pretreatment. Once the ink cured it was fully flexible and was able to bend along with the keyboard.
What would you print on with silicone ink?
Post your answers below!
Ink used in this project:
Series: SI Series Silicone Ink
Brand: Sapphire
Color: 160 White
Standard applications: IPod Covers, Wristbands, Oven Mitts, Silicone Bakeware
More info: Sapphire Ink from ICN page
SuperWhite Ink from Inkcups Now! (Click to emlarge!)
Printing on dark garments with a white ink can be difficult. Sometimes the tagless label is simply not bright enough and the darkness of the garment shows through. Here at Inkcups Now, we understand your frustration and have provided some great tips for you to get that white bright!
To get a brighter white:
try reducing your thinner mixture by 5%.
The mixture commonly use is:
Add a 1 second delay before pickup and 1 second before print. Adjust front and back delay to see if you get improved results.
Make sure you increase the pad compression on the garment so the pad “over-compresses” or nearly stalls during the printing cycle
Make sure your pads are not worn
Make sure you used enough ink in the cup – it is a common problem to put too little ink into the cup with white because its pigments are so heavy. 50 gram of white ink is a minimum mixture
If you have artwork flexibility, go to all capital letters for size and country of origin
It is common to have to add thinner more frequently to white ink because it has more pigment than all the other colors. The thinner helps keep the pigment in solution.
Try using inks other than standard white ink – Inkcups Now has developed a new product called SuperWhite Ink with pigments especially designed for garment printing.
You may have never heard of Pad Printing… yet it practically surrounds you!
Did you know that many of the colorful and interesting icons and graphics that make up our daily experience are created with pad printing technology? With pad printing, it is easy to add fun graphics and colorful art to almost any object including your own body! See for yourself.
You might start the day off by putting on your new T-shirt and noticing that the tickly-scratchy neck label has been replaced by a neat and unnoticeable printed one. While brushing your teeth you may glance at your dentist’s name on the handle, chances are you owe this friendly reminder to pad printing. How about getting into your car? Changing the radio station or making a left hand turn? Take a good look at the text and graphics on the inside of your car, these are all pad printed. The logo on golf balls you hit into the woods, the graduations on a syringe that take your blood and the souvenirs you buy at a game are all pad printed. Many of the fascinating images you see around you were pad printed.
Are you struggling with keeping opened pad or screen printing ink and hardener fresh?
We have a convenient solution: the VersaCover! Don’t miss our commercial to air at the Super Bowl. Here is a sneak preview, just for you:
The VersaCover hermetically seals nearly all ink and hardener cans available on the market. READ MORE
Everyone in the pad printing and screen printing industry could do with some useful ink tips now and then to freshen up the memory and maybe learn something new! That’s why we want to bring up some common ink issues and how to go about solving them.
• Add a touch of blue to make your white ink brighter
We happen to get calls from customers sometimes asking about how to brighten white screen printing or pad printing ink. To do so you can actually just add a touch of blue color to it. More specifically, #32 from any of our ink series would be the best option.
• How to handle misprints
Removing misprints from plastics is also a issue for some people. The best way to handle it is to use our Ink-Away Remover to clean the substrate and then overprint the shadow before removing the object from the nesting fixture. However, if the ink attacks the plastic it may be impossible to re-claim the item.
These Blackberry keypads were printed using the Mimaki UV ink jet. We made samples in various colors for the customer to choose the ones they like better. Keys were printed altogether; they are in English and Thai (hieroglyphs are not a problem for Mimaki ink jet software).
Imprinted Blackberry covers (click to expand!)
These Blackberry covers stand out, don’t they? Whether you like paisley graphics on your PDA or not, the quality of the image is exceptional.
Among other benefits of Mimaki ink jet is the precise control over the look of the finish. Read more
These are delicious, zesty and… colorful MINTS!
The mints were printed with edible inks using PromoJET inkjet printer. Mmmm, yummy wholesome PromoJET inks! They are good for your business, too.
Imagine what effect these mints can have if you put on them not an exotic flower but something relevant. Like tiny smiling faces of presidential candidates… Read more
Does this image not look laser engraved? Yet it is printed, with all its fine lines. Not only the ink looks great, you can save money with it!
Click on the image to view it closer. Read more
This is Diamond Etch ink again – the ink that imitates laser engraving or sand blasting. Yesterday Pete – ICN’s Ink Master – printed this logo on a glass jar (see one of the posts above). Today, he experimented with printing on clear plastic. Despite the glare on the photo, you can probably see how nice and crisp it came out. Click on the picture to view a bigger image. Read more
