Digital Glass Bottom Printing with the X5®

Regardless of whether you call an old-fashioned glass just that, or by any of its other synonymous names: rocks glass, whiskey glass, or even a lowball glass, they are all identifiable by a wide thin brim, and a thick flat base. Stemming back from England in the late 18^th century, the glasses bottoms remain flat to allow non-liquid ingredients in a cocktail to be mashed, prior to the alcohol being added.  For example, an old fashioned is a whiskey-based drink, made by muddling sugar with bitters and water, and topped with an orange slice.

Much like rocks glasses, pint glasses are also characterized by a flat bottom. Pint glasses typically hold 16 ounces of liquid and have tapered straight sides. Primarily used for beer and hard cider, pint glasses are generally made of glass. Shaker glasses are another common name referring to the same vessel, a pint glass.

Digitally Decorate the Bottom of Flat Glasses

These flat bottoms create a perfect opportunity for digitally decorating with a UV flatbed printer. The X5® UV flatbed printer can reverse mirror print in one cycle to create stunning full-color prints visible as the glass is tipped back to be consumed.

Print Innovation Mirror Print

Mirror print is a print technique used to decorate cylindrical drinkware in which artwork is showcased from all angles. In mirror print the artwork is first printed in reverse, next a layer of white is printed over the design, and finally the artwork is printed over the white. For this to work properly the outlines must be the same. But, the inward facing artwork does not need to match the outward facing artwork. Typically mirror print decorates the walls of drinkware.

Flatbed Printers Take on Mirror Print 

To decorate the bottom of clear drinkware we turn to a form of mirror print. In a case like this where the artwork need only be visible to the inside is printed much like the process of traditional mirror print. To begin, the image is digitally printed in reverse on the flat bottom of the substrate. Then, upon drinking from the glass the artwork is in the correct orientation. Reverse mirror print is perfect for displaying the artwork to viewers looking into the glass.

X5® for Printing on the Bottom of Clear Vessels

Digitally print directly on a wide range of substrates with UV flatbed printers, such as the X5®. High-performance flatbeds like the X5® utilize cyan, magenta, yellow, black, white, and varnish UV inks to decorate glass and many other materials. UV printers, like the X5®, take digital images and print them directly onto the substrate of choice.

Much like the rocks glass is characterized by a flat bottom, flatbed printers are characterized by large flatbed printing areas. In under two minutes X5® can digitally decorate an entire 43.3″ x 24″ area. Whether this be one canvas of that size, or a collection of old-fashioned glasses, the X5® will print full-color high quality prints efficiently. Printing with an X5® allows for short-runs, quick customization, and lower production costs.

UV ink specially formulated for excellent adhesion to glass like the DL Series, paired with a primer like MagiCoat promotes adhesion and durability further for the ability to run through the dishwasher.

The X5® can handle near constant use and features a large vacuum table. Printing on the bottom of glasses requires traveling tooling; numerous parts are loaded onto the fixture at once and both travel into the machine for printing. Inkcups offers custom inkjet tooling for those in need.

Elevate your offerings and digitally print on the flat bottom of rocks glasses and pint glasses. Any clear drinkware vessel with a flat bottom make for a perfect surface to decorate or brand. Contact Inkcups today to get started.