All Star can help you with your project from start to finish. Give us a call or e-mail your questions.
Selection of your bottle size, type, style and material is very important to you and what you choose is important to your bottle decorator.
To ensure long-term project stability be sure to choose a bottle that will be available the entire term of your project. Spot purchases or “deals” on the internet may work well for a run or two but if that bottle is unavailable 6 months down the road you have lost lots of time regarding your marketing, art, etc.
It is also important to choose a closure, cap or sprayer that will be there for your entire project. Make sure the threads on the closure match the threads on your bottle. Do not assume that the closure or cap that you think you might want will be available when you are ready to print the bottle and fill it. Confirm this early in the project!
Bottle Material/Substrate
1. Are your product ingredients compatible with the bottle material? Not all chemicals and oils are compatible with all plastics.
2. Are the contents of your product compatible with the type of ink that will be used? Some oils and caustic ingredients may require a specific type of ink.
3. Ask your bottle supplier if the bottles you are choosing are “flamed”. If the bottles do not come flamed from the manufacturer, All Star can provide this service. Some substrates do not need to be flamed and we can perform testing on your bottle to determine this as well. See definition of “flamed” at the end of this section.
Artwork and Design
If you developed your art with shading, color transitions or partial transparencies, it may need to be modified slightly to accommodate screen printing. Digital art is not always a one-to-one conversion to spot color printing used in screen printing.
If you are planning to print a multi-color image on your bottle, it must be determined if the bottle has a “lug” or index point that will allow a printing machine to orient the colors on your bottle.
To properly lay out your art so that it fits your bottle properly it is important to have exact measurements of the printable area. Providing a sample bottle is the easiest way for us to determine this information. If you are printing on the front and the back of your bottle it is important to have exact measurements to make sure the front and back panels of the art are placed exactly opposite each other to avoid a “lopsided” appearance. All Star can help you determine these dimensions for your graphics person. Just give us a call and we can guide you with this. All star is happy to work with your graphics artist or we can do the art development from the ground up.
The most commonly accepted art file for your project is a vectorized .EPS file. Adobe Illustrator .AI files are great as well. Some PDFs are acceptable.
All Star can help with your barcode as well. All we need is the registration number you will use. There is no need to purchase photo ready proofs to supply to us. We can take the number assigned to your product, create the barcode, and insert it into your art in the desired location.
Please call us to discuss any of your questions and we will be happy to help with your project.
Definitions:
Flamed – Also referred to as “pre-treatment”. A process by which the surface tension of the container material is elevated to allow ink to adhere to the substrate. The measurement is expressed in “Dynes”.
Lug – A recessed area or protrusion on the bottom of the bottle which allows a machine to locate a precise point on a consistent basis. Lugs are also found in the neck area of many bottles produced in Asia.