August 20, 2020
UV white ink printing explained. How to use an opaque 5th colour in addition to CMYK. Create partly transparent & partly opaque prints for glass partitions.
Your logo and graphics in bright, opaque white on clear film: they seem to float on the glass and stay readable even in full sunlight.
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Place your logo, your company name, or your graphics in vibrant opaque white colour on dark, tinted glass panels and partitions
All digital printing inks are transparent. The base on which the inks are printed lends the print its opacity. For example, when an image is printed on a white sheet of paper, the opacity of the paper ensures that you cannot see through it.
On the other hand, if you print the same image on a transparent plastic film, you can see through the image to the other side.
In both the above cases, the printing inks are transparent. But the media that these inks are printed upon decides the job’s final opacity.
While most digital printers use the four colours CMYK, there is a newer breed of machine that prints in a 5th colour, that is…
White Ink for an inkjet printer.
And white ink printing technology makes some pretty interesting printing applications possible. Let us have a look at the inkjet printer that prints white ink.
The CMYK inks in a standard printer are transparent. They have to be so because these four colours mix with each other to produce a wide range of colours. White inks, on the other hand, are opaque. They do not allow light to pass through.
So, using white inkjet inks, in combination with a specialised technique called layering, we can create prints which are partially opaque and partially transparent.
When we print an image on a transparent film with regular CMYK inks, we end up with two distinct areas:
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The image area (where the inks were applied)
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The non-image area (where there were no inks or printed images)
As you saw in our previous example, the entire print (including the areas where the images were printed) became transparent. This happens because, in addition to the base media being transparent, the inks on top allow light to pass through as well.
Now, because you can see through the printed area as well, the image on a transparent film looks slightly dull. Please look at the first column of the second row in the image below and you’ll see what I mean. The light passing through the transparent inks results in a reduction of the vibrancy of the image.
But by using a layer of white inkjet inks, we can solve this problem.
Here is what we do…
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We first deposit a layer of white ink on the transparent film/media. This layer is in the same shape as the final image. For example, if I have to print the letter ‘A’ in red colour, I first print the ‘A’ in the same size, shape, and position, in white ink.
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White inks are opaque. So effectively, I have created a white opaque area on my transparent film in the shape of the letter ‘A’.
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The next step is for me to overprint (print on top of) the white ‘A’-shaped layer. I now print the letter ‘A’ in red colour exactly on top of the white layer.
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The white layer is now fully covered by the red print. It is hidden and cannot be seen.
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But when you hold up the print to the light, you will see that the red letter ‘A’ is now opaque. This is because the lower layer of white ink (although hidden under the colour ink layer) imparts opacity only to the area where the inks are deposited.
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This gives us a beautiful dual effect of a partly transparent and partly opaque glass film.
Look at the examples in the above image.
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In the second image (row 2, column 1) the same image of a flower is printed on a transparent film. Now, while you can see through the glass sheet, you also find that the print itself looks a little faded. Here the red inks, being transparent, are allowing the light to pass through.
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In the third image (row 1, column 2) a white layer is applied exactly beneath the red flower. Here, the image now becomes bright and vibrant. It is also opaque. The non-image area (or the rest of the film) remains transparent and allows vision to pass through.
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The fourth image (row 2, column 2) is just a reverse view of the previous example. We can see the layer of white ink beneath the red flower. This is the layer that lends opacity to the image.
In addition to helping create prints with dual effects of transparency, white ink prints also have other applications. Here are some other reasons people choose white ink printing:
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Decorative Films for Glass: Interior designers look for frosted and transparent film prints to decorate the glass partitions of an office or living space. While regular colour glass film prints on these partitions are common, prints with white inks stand out and look especially rich.
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Reverse Pasting Films / Reverse Pasting Stickers: White inks are used extensively to create stickers that get reverse pasted. For example, the stickers on your car windscreen get pasted from inside the glass. The glue goes on the colour-printed side of the film. The white layer is placed on top of the printed image to lend it its opacity.
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Three-Layered Printing: In this option, we print two layers of different colours with a white layer sandwiched in between. For example, a film showing a red car on one side and a blue car on the other can only be achieved using a white layer.
The images of the office partition (below) are of a project executed for Ms. Shubham of Acuiti Consultants, Baner. She needed white ink printing. She had two office partitions that she wanted to brand with white ink glass film prints.
This client wanted to display a flow chart of her business processes on the partition. There was a workroom on the other side and she wanted to be able to see through to the other side as well.
Moreover, the film had to be pasted from behind the sheet of glass, because she wanted to make notations with a whiteboard marker on the partition, from the front. We used UV white inks for the printing to give her a satisfying solution.
White ink printing technology is relatively nascent in the print industry. In its initial avatar, machine sellers used to retrofit 4-colour eco-solvent machines to run white inks as an additional fifth color. But there were a lot of technical problems and white ink eco-solvents failed to really take off.
Of late, UV printing machines come preinstalled with a white ink option. These machines are pretty stable and have gained wider acceptance in the print community. For running white inks on your machine you need to be aware of the following:
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You need an additional printhead to channel the white ink in your machine
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The white ink configuration will cost more than the basic 4-colour option
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The run cost for white inks is higher
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You will need design expertise to create separate layers in files. Layered printing is necessary to produce white ink jobs
If you are a print vendor looking to buy a printing machine, we have two blogs that can help you get started. Do have a look at them when you are free…
While white ink prints are one option for branding glass partitions, we have several other options too. So you might want to have a look at:
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Opaque and transparent glass films: As the name suggests, these films either fully block light or fully let it pass through your glass partition or building facade. They are widely used for branding in corporate offices. Do click here to know more about printable glass film options.
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Frosted glass films: Frosted films impart a rich ‘smoked’ or ‘dusted’ look to your glass panels. They ensure privacy for the people inside the office. And at the same time, these films allow natural light to pass through. These films add a touch of class to your office interiors. Do click here to know more about frosted films for branding on glass panels.
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One-way vision glass films: This is a pretty intelligent idea for branding glass in commercial spaces. You print your branding/product images on the film just as you would on any regular vinyl print. But when you paste it on a glass partition, this film creates a dual effect. Customers on the outside see the printed imagery. But employees working inside the office can see outside. This film serves the dual purpose of privacy and advertising. Click here to learn more about one-way vision films.
White inks, when used judiciously, have the potential to enhance the offerings of a print service provider. Also, such a unique solution will help in generating extra revenue. All you need is a little bit of specialised knowledge and equipment to make it work.
Finally, Dear Reader, I would love to hear what you think about this write-up on white inks. So do email or WhatsApp us and let us know. Cheers.
Most printers do not have a white ink option and their machines are configured with a standard CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) ink set. The additional white ink option adds another dimension to the print. It allows for partially opaque and partially transparent prints.
White inks also enable multi-layer prints.
There are 4 main types of glass film prints we offer:
Transparent, opaque, frosted and one-way vision film prints. Each of these offers a different level of visibility and privacy. Apart from these, we also have speciality films like white ink prints, reverse pastable films, etc.
Yes. White inks are opaque. This allows for multilayered and raised effect prints.
Yes. When you create your artwork, place the object that needs to be printed in white on a separate layer. You can even place it at the same position but on a separate page.
Yes. We can make reverse pastable white ink printed glass film prints. You only need to specifically order this variant before we start production.
OCF or Optically Clear Films are a class of films that are ultra clear. They are so transparent that visually you cannot tell the pane of glass from the film pasted on top.
When you view generic transparent films up close, you can make out faint marks of the glue. Sometimes the film itself has a tint slightly different from the sheet of glass beneath. And a discerning eye can make out that a separate film has been pasted on top of the glass panel.
But OCF films are crystal clear. And differentiating the print from the pane beneath is almost impossible. Optically Clear Film prints also cost more than the traditional transparent film prints. But if you use them, it will seem as if the glass has directly been printed upon.
Some glass prints in the market are made on thin lamination films. Images do not get reproduced very well on these films and they also tend to crack and peel off. In fact, lamination films are not even meant to be used for this application.
At Orchid Digitals, Pune we use films from well-known brands: Wyte™, GCO™, SGM™, LSM™ and Onyx™ as standard, with 3M™ and Avery™ on request. And these films are specially created to brand glass.
They last for years. And the inks on top are fade-resistant. The films themselves are dimensionally stable. They do not crack or peel even at high (or very low) temperatures.
Unfortunately we do not have ready designs for you to select from. We are just processors who print whatever design file the client supplies.
If you are looking for generic designs, I suggest that you source the same from sites like Shutterstock.com or Dreamstime.com. Download the images you like and share the same with us.
If you are looking for a highly customised design, you will probably need to hire the services of a professional designer. Click on the link below for more details: https://orchiddigitals.com/about-us/our-favorite-pune-based-designers/
We can send a team to install this product for our clients in Pune on orders of ₹10,000 + GST and above. This service is charged extra and quoted after we review the job.
Yes. Online payments are accepted at Orchid Digitals. In fact, we try to finish the entire job online. All you need to do is mail us your artwork/design file along with the requisite dimensions, material specifications, copies needed, etc.
After evaluating/understanding your project requirement we send across an estimate for the same. This estimate (in the form of a Proforma Invoice) will also contain an online paylink encoded in a QR code.
Scan the QR code to make the payments.
Once the funds are transferred, we process the job and then ship the same across to you.
Our glass film prints can be delivered anywhere in India. Delivery is free in Pune and across India on orders of ₹3,000 + GST and above.
Additionally, for our Pune-based clients with orders of ₹10,000 + GST and above, we can send a team to install the job (charged extra, quoted after we review the job).
Drop us a line. Send us your query. And we’ll get back to you with solutions and answers.
Mitesh lives, mostly for Saturdays.
But when forced to work, you’ll find him heading Orchid Digitals – a printing press in Pune.
If it’s an emergency, try looking for him in the hills behind his house. You’ll almost certainly find him… lazing under a tree, with a book in hand.
