Vinyl Sticker Printing
There are four main types of Vinyl Sticker Printing.
Each printing process usually requires a different type of ink to create print vinyl stickers.
The way that the ink is applied to the blank sticker material also changes; creating printed vinyl stickers with different looks. There is a big difference in the printing quality of the vinyl stickers between each type. We review each printing process below.
Silkscreen Vinyl Sticker Printing
Screen-printing is the most basic form of printing vinyl stickers and is typically limited to very small amounts.
Silkscreen print inks are generally 10 to 20 times thicker than Flexo vinyl sticker print inks.
Screen-Printed materials are weather proof and waterproof.They may be used indoors and outdoors.
Screen-Printed materials effective outdoor capability is 2000-3000% higher than Flexo materials.
Flexo (Flexography) Vinyl Sticker Printing
Flexo-Printed materials for printed vinyl stickers are not weather proof, therefore only indoor use is recommended.
Flexo-Printed materials effective outdoor capability is measured by weeks. Silk-screened materials for vinyl sticker print is measured by years.
Flexo-Printed inks will vary slightly in color from standard screen printed vinyl stickers inks.
Flexo-Printing is environmentally cleaner to print vinyl stickers as well as being faster.
Offset Vinyl Sticker Printing
Digital artwork files are converted into film negatives
The film negatives are then used to create metal plates similar to the development of camera film
Offset uses CMYK color, each plate being a color in the design.
Offset printing is best suited for small medium size orders (250 to 50,000).
Digital Vinyl Stickers
Digital printing allows for a smaller size order of stickers to be made in full color without the high set-up costs, such as printing plates.
A U.V. overcoat can be applied to ensure that these printed vinyl stickers have a 3-5 year effective capability. This makes the print vinyl stickers much more weather proof.
There are also several types of stickers
Bumper Stickers
Rectangular Stickers
Die Cut Stickers
Round Stickers
