When people talk about glass printing, they are almost always referring to images on specially printed glass films that are pasted on top of existing sheets of glass. Most glass panels or office panels are already fixed in place. There is no way to cart them off to the print shop for printing on the glass panels. So the solution is to have images or photos printed on glass films which can then be stuck onto the glass panels.

Modern office interiors, restaurants, shops, and other commercial spaces almost always have large proportions of their furniture made out of glass. You have buildings with huge glass facades, offices with glass partitions and cabins and of course, windows. Glass film printing for these myriad surfaces opens up a whole lot of opportunities for branding and interior decoration.

High resolution, wide-format printing is our speciality at Orchid Digitals, Pune. And rendering crisp images on printable films for glass is one of the abilities of our machines. Glass films come in rolls of 3, 4 and 5 feet. These rolls have a self-adhesive backing. Once the printing is done, the release paper / liner from the gummed back of the media is peeled off. Trained fitters then paste this glass film prints on the glass panel with the help of water and a squeegee.

Different types of glass films prints impart different types of properties and look to the glass surface.

For example, a transparent glass film print pasted on a glass partition will enable you to see what is happening on the other side of the partition. And at the same time, you can then brand the glass with assets like your company’s logo.

Alternatively, use a frosted window film to render your images. Your finished sheet of glass now gets a beautiful frosted, sanded effect. This brands the glass, makes it looks beautiful, and provides privacy. This solution is often referred to as window decals for privacy.

Are These Glass Film Prints Removable?

Absolutely yes.

Branding on glass is not a very expensive affair. You can keep changing the look of your glass partitions even on a modest budget. And more importantly, the adhesive / glue of glass films that we supply do not damage the surface of the glass that they are pasted upon. So, you can change the print if it does not meet with your specifications or if you get too bored looking at it. 

Alternatively, if you are vacating the premises, just peel off the film, clean up any residual glue and the glass partition or door gets restored to its original state.

What Are the Different Types of Digital Printing on Glass Films?

There are mainly six types of printed glass films that you can choose from. These films are categorised on the amount of transparency and the kind of look they impart to the glass substrate they get pasted on. At Orchid Digitals, we provide all six of the following kinds of solutions:

1. Transparent glass film prints
2. Frosted glass film prints
3. Printed One Way Vision Films for Glass
4. Opaque Glass Film Prints
5. Reverse pasted glass films
6. White ink film print – opaque & transparent (simultaneously) 

Printing on Transparent Glass Films

If you want to display images on your glass panels, but do not want to restrict views from either side of the same, it is best to opt for prints on transparent glass films. For this application, we stock an optically clear film. The machines print the requisite images on an extremely clear film. This film is then pasted onto the glass panel.

Since the film is optically clear, you can hardly differentiate between the printed film and the actual glass surface. The overall effect is as if the image is directly printed on the glass.

Transparent window vinyl prints are primarily used for branding glass facades or the frontage of commercial buildings. Let’s say you have a road facing showroom with a huge glass frontage. Add images of models or products to this frontage and the look of your showroom gets completely transformed.

Prints on Transparent Glass Films Are a Little Less Vibrant Than Regular Photo Prints

There is one caveat to printing on clear films, which you need to be aware of. Since light passes through both the film as well as the images the vibrancy of the inks gets reduced somewhat. The white area of the image is transparent. This is obvious because otherwise how would you see through the print.

But since the printed image is also transparent, you can see objects or people moving on the other side of the printed area as well. One tends to lose some of the visual details of the print. This image loss can in no way be termed as an inferior print. In fact, it is an effect unique only to transparent prints.

But it might prove to be a surprise to architects or designers, who are new to the applications of transparent glass printing. They generally imagine that the finished job will look exactly like the artwork rendered on their computer screen. This is because, when they create their artwork, the same is fully opaque and viewed on a bright computer screen with very high contrast ratios.

We recommend that when you design artwork for transparent glass printing, add a little transparency to your objects. If you are using design software like CorelDraw or Adobe Illustrator, you can also insert another layer beneath your artwork. Put in visual cues like a room or people walking about, in this lower layer. And when they show through your semi-transparent artwork of the top layer, you’ll get an idea of what your final glass printing job will look like.

Translucent / Frosted Glass Film Printing

Sometimes an architect might want to brand a glass partition and at the same time needs to obscure what is happening on the other side. Frosted glass films printed with the company’s logo or product pictures provide a beautiful solution for this application. Frosted glass film prints, as the name suggests, have a dusted or sand-like effect. They are not transparent. However, though you cannot see through them, light does pass through this film.

Let us say that you have a transparent office partition behind the reception or entrance lobby of your office. You do not want the casual visitor to see what’s happening inside the office. At the same time, you do not want to block natural light coming in through the partition.

Print out your company’s logo on frosted film and paste it onto the glass partition. In one go, your interiors are spiffed up, and employee privacy is maintained. Also, and this is a big plus, the frosted glass film you have used does not compromise on the light in your interior spaces. Have a look at the images below to see how great prints on frosted films look.

Glass Printing on One-Way Vision Films

One way vision or mesh films are a unique solution to branding glass panels in offices and corporate interiors. These films allow vision to pass in one direction only. If you are standing on the printed side of the glass partition bearing this mesh film, you see the image or the branding done on the glass. The person standing on the other side can, however, see through the glass.

One way vision films are a boon to the boss’s cabin. The general staff cannot make out what is happening inside the office. But the boss sitting inside the office and behind the printed mesh film can see through and keep an eye on what is happening on the other side of the glass partition. You can read more about exactly how this effect is achieved on the dedicated page for one-way vision glass films.

Opaque Film Prints and Window Decals for Privacy

If you need to block vision and light entirely, you can opt for opaque glass films. We print on self-adhesive vinyl and laminate the same. These vinyls are then pasted onto the glass to make it completely opaque.

The good thing about this solution is that you get an extremely high resolution and vibrant print on your glass panel. However, on the other side of the glass, you end up with a dull and boring white surface. If budgets are not a constraint, you can simply opt for two prints and have them pasted on both the surfaces of the glass panel.

You can read in detail about vinyl printing here.

Printing on Reverse Pastable Films for Glass Partitions

As a general practice, most printed films are pasted on the top or front surface of the glass. But many times, the customer asks for an option wherein the film is pasted from behind the sheet of glass. In this scenario, while viewing the image from the front, the glass comes first and the print afterwards.

In top pasting, you are looking only at the print. The actual glass panel is covered. But in reverse pasted glass films, the gum / adhesive is right on top of the print. This enables pasting on the inside or back surface of the glass partition.

A familiar example of this application is the parking stickers or permits used in cars. These stickers are pasted from inside the windscreen of cars.

The advantage of using a reverse glass film print is that you retain the glass surface and it’s glossy effect on the front. The overall effect is somewhat like a back-painted glass.

White Ink UV Prints for Transparent Films

There is one more type of glass sticker printing. This film is partially opaque and partially transparent. Which means that you can see through the part of the glass where there is no image printed. The part where the inks are applied are opaque. This creates a very neat effect wherein the images seem to be floating in thin air!

We achieve this effect by printing in two layers, using white inks on our UV printer. To know more details about white ink UV printing, please click on this link here.

Direct Digital Printing on Glass

We can print directly onto sheets of glass. We have a flatbed UV machine for doing that. But the size of the glass panel that can be printed is limited to the size of the machine. Currently, our machine takes glass panels of 2 feet by 3 feet in size.

Do click on this link to check out more options about UV printing.

Tiling of Large-Sized Glass Prints

As mentioned earlier, glass printing films are available in rolls having 3, 4 and 5 feet width. Most doors or partitions are no wider than 5 feet. So, they can be easily covered by one continuous print. But there are certain cases where the glass area to be covered is much larger. We have images spanning shop-fronts that are easily 20 – 50 feet wide.

In such cases, we break the image up in tiles of 4 feet width. Each tile is printed and pasted separately onto the glass frontage. But when these tiles are joined together, they form a cohesive image.

How Much Will Glass Prints Cost Me?

Given below are the prices of the various types of glass printing films described above. The prices shown here are only for printing the glass films, and excludes the installation.

Most architects / interior designers get the subsequent pasting done by their own team. However, if you need support in getting the film passed at your premises, do call or write to us and we will get back to you with an estimate for the same.

* Please Note:

• The rates quoted above attract 18% GST.
• Above rates do not include installation. We provide installation services in Pune and if onsite pasting of the film is required, the same will be charged extra.
• The rates quoted above are per square foot. This means you first need to work out the total area of your job to arrive at the final cost. For example, let us assume that you require 2 one way vision prints each of a width of 3 feet and height of 2 feet.
  In this case, the total cost of the job is calculated as follows –

3 feet (width) X 2 feet (height) X 2 copies X  ₹ 70.00 (cost of print, as per the table above) 
= ₹ 840.00 (+ 18% GST)

Shipping and Delivery

• Glass film prints can be delivered anywhere in India in a roll form.
• Delivery charges are extra and will be communicated to you once we receive the delivery address.