I’ve recently thought about making some bumper stickers for sale. I know quite a few places through which I could sell them and I think I might turn a tidy profit in doing so. The problem is this:
What do I need to do it? Is there any way this can be done cheaply with a standard ink-jet (or is there no way to waterproof the ink without spraying epoxy or using some other half-assed method) or do I need to buy a thermal transfer printer? What are the costs and where do I get the paper?
If I were you, I would look into commercial sticker makers. Printing them out on your printer would be okay, except that the ink will run in the rain. Lots 'o places will make vinyl stickers cheaply (do some internet searches about stickers and add “diy” and/or “punk”). Many a band I’ve been in has had them produced by various houses. I won’t include a link, as commercial links are frowned upon I believe.
You can make em yourself fairly easily. Most professional bumper stickers are silkscreened. You can do silkscreening fairly cheaply and easily, even with amateur equipment. There’s a nice little rig you can buy at most art supply houses called a “print gocco” that is fairly inexpensive. Its main advantage is that it makes the stencils automatically, you just draw (paint, xerox, laserprint etc) the artwork and it “photocopies” the silkscreen stencil from photosensitive material. Then you just get precut sticker sheets, and silkscreen on them with waterproof ink. You can even print them multiple times with different color inks.
Print goccos are really popular in Japan, people often use them to make their New Year’s cards, I’ve seen some really unique and complex designs. The only thing a gocco can’t do is a really big design, its for small works like bumper stickers or cards. Sorry, no silkscreened tshirts. It sounds perfect for what you want, but if you get into this seriously, you’ll probably want professional silkscreen equip. I suggest starting small and see how it goes.
The print gocco definitely sounds interesting and I’ll check it out.
Does anyone know if there is such a thing as waterproof inkjet ink? There must have been a call before this to print something waterproof on your inkjet. That would have other uses aside from bumper stickers.
There is waterproof inkjet ink. Its used for large outdoor advertising displays. Mainly its for the large format (36" - 60" wide) and its expensive, since it is designed for production work. But there may be some for desktop ink jets.
I would start looking at CAD or printer supply houses, or look in a magazine for graphics professionals.
The inks used in the newer Epson printers are quite water resistant. Ink fading from sun exposure might be a bigger concern.
A few years back I had bumper stickers printed a quickie print shop. They printed three or four on a 8.5 x 11 sheet that had adhesive already applied. Was real reasonable.
You can get waterproof ink for just about anything - I know that you can definitely get it for ribbons and laserjet printers. (And pens). The only thing you might want to watch out for is your printer. The printheads can get blocked or damaged with the wrong inks in them, so get some advice before you try it. You local printer servicing place might know what inks you can use.
I’ll reiterate what somebody already said. Check out a local printing company. A few years ago I had 1000 “removeable” (i.e., it was for a political cause and they were meant to be easy to remove after about a year) 2-color bumper stickers printed. It cost $216 - $0.22/unit. What’ll people pay for a bumper sticker, $2-3?
They looked great and I didn’t have feed 1000 stickers through my printer. IIRC, I did the design and gave it to the printer on a floppy in an eps file.
And I’ve never seen waterproof ink for inkjets either.
The cheapest ways to get started have already been mentioned. But if you want to print small batches at home from your computer, you might want to check out what ALPS has to offer.
Their printers use a dye sublimation process that is waterproof and fadeproof. I’ve seen print samples and the quality is amazing. Better than laser. And they’re much cheaper than color lasers.
I’ve never looked into it, but I have a hunch the ribbon cartridges are expensive.
I did a search on google.com for ‘waterproof inkjet cartridges’ and found 360 hits. The first one I looked at had cartridges for the HP 1000, 1100, etc. deskjet printers.
So yes, there are waterproof cartridges for desktop printers available. How waterproof they are is something you’ll have to investigate.
A cheap way is get some blank stock from a printing comp [yes, you can buy them blank]. Use some magnetic letters & spray paint over them. If you did a lot you could make a letter template. This is like dirt cheap & water proof & sunproof too.
The newer Epson inks are waterproof to the extent that they will not run if you hold them under a sream from a faucet. The paper backing is another story.
As beatle said, a local print shop is the way to go for more than a few copies. But if they were just for a joke or something like that, the inkjet might work.
I saw some 8.5 x 11 magnetic backed white setts just the other day. These were made for use in an inkjet printer. Wouldn’t stick on todays plastic bumpers thought.
hey I found some info on the print gocco online, at http://www.gocco.com (of course). Unfortunately they don’t show any pictures of how to use it, or any sample prints. They do have a model that prints 3.5in by 8in, so its big enough to do bumper stickers. But they don’t show the big model either.
BTW, I have seen ads for waterproof inks in Japanese computer magazines. There’s one ad showing a wide format printer (like 6 feet wide) printing on a 20foot long sheet of silk. The sheet goes right out of the printer into a waterbath and emerges without running. But these colors aren’t very permanent, they’re designed for outdoor advertising banners with maybe a 2 week life.