Screen Printing Guide

Screen printing offers design opportunities that will enable you to create a beautiful, high end look for your bottles. In addition to the branding impact, screen printed labels are extremely durable and resistant to scuffing. The labels cannot be torn or soaked off the bottle. Both the front and back of the label are printed at the same time and you will avoid all the pitfalls of applying paper labels on the bottling line.

This list of guidelines will save you time and money as you make your design decisions. Screen printing offers a huge opportunity for creativity. Please feel free to share your ideas with us as you work through your design concepts. We are happy to provide you with feedback on how the design will lend itself to the screen printing process.

Design Considerations:

  • Your artwork should contain between 1 and 6 colors.
  • If you decide to use precious metal inks in your design, they should not touch or overlap other colors. Where precious metal inks appear close to other colors, please make sure that at least 0.5mm of empty space divides them.
  • The minimum line weight for clear, crisp printing can vary with the type of inks used. A typical minimum line weight is 0.4 pt. If your art contains very thin lines, please consult with us.
  • The bottom of the design can extend down to 5mm from any mould markings on the bottle’s base.
  • The top of the design can extend up to the shoulder of the bottle.
  • Full 360-degree wraps are possible. Please consult with us during the design process.
  • The use of gradients & drop shadows can present challenges for ceramic inks. If you are planning on using either of these in your art, please consult with us.
  • During the printing process, the design can move +/- 0.5mm.
  • Barcodes should be printed in reverse, as they will scan better this way.

Cost Considerations:

  • The more colors you use, the greater the printing costs.
  • There is an additional cost to using precious metal inks depending on how much ink is required for a given design. In addition, purple inks may contain precious metal gold and their use will result in additional costs.
  • Tightly registered colors may require special tooling for a production run. Consult with us to determine whether your design will require the use of special tooling.
  • If you are planning on using a square bottle, please keep in mind that only one color per side can be printed at a time. If you use 2 or more colors on a square bottle, each color will require a separate pass through the oven, and may require special tooling.
  • To ensure even cooling, heavy bottles such as the Saver Aleka (2.5 lbs) have to pass through the oven at a slower pace, resulting in increased production time. This time will be reflected in the pricing.

Other Considerations:

  • Due to high firing temperatures, bottles that have been sprayed with organic color coatings cannot be used with ceramic inks. Organic inks must be used to avoid melting existing bottle coatings. These inks can only be applied one color per pass and do not have the same level of durability as ceramic inks.
  • Though not preferred, filled bottles can be printed. Because filled bottles cannot pass through the oven, they are printed using a non-ceramic ink system then allowed to air dry for 48 hours.
  • Please visit ttb.gov for TTB label requirements.