painted bottles?

Anyone have any thoughts about painted on logos? Making new labels for each batch gets expensive with printer ink and paper so i thought maybe make a stencil and paint a permanent logo on my bottles and just ordering custom caps to identify beer styles. Good idea?

Rough sketch of logo i intend to use

Seems like custom caps could get expensive, too. Cool idea about the paint, though.

The only time I label is when giving away bottles or for a special event. I usually don't expect to get those bottles back anyway.

I've seen posts on here about a web site that does custom caps for 12 cents ea. That equals out to just under $6 to cap 2 cases. Full color labels would use up almost a whole ink cartridge which runs about $40....my main concern is i soak my bottles in oxi clean and would the paint hold up to that?

I've been thinking about ordering some screen printed bottles from these guys: http://sdbottleprinting.com/22-ounce-bottle/

They I was thinking about designing it so there would be a place to put the spraypaint chalkboard stuff so I can write on info.

Screen printed bottles would be cool, think there may be a place here where i live that might be able to do that. I'll have to check that out

Lots of people do silk-screening at home, and there are a lot of sources on how to make your own screens, kits for screening, as well as sources that'll make a good-quality screen for you at a good price.

As for standing upto oxy; it'll depend on the paint. Sink screening is used a lot on glass (most beer-glasses with logos are silk-screened), and they stand upto dishwashers pretty well, so I'd suspect the same type paint would have little issue with oxy. T-shirt ink is also durable, but who knows how well it'll stick to glass.

Another option is a stencil and hobby paint-sprayer, although stensils do limit your design options somewhat, as they usually need all parts to be connected.

Bryan

Good info, im gonna check into the do it yourself screen printing

As someone who has screenprinted, has friends who work in screen printing shops and had extensively researched bottle printing let me start right away by saying this is one thing you do not want to do yourself.

• You're printing a rounded surface, which requires special equipment or at least quite an understanding of the craft.
• Glass inks are usually highly toxic and require heat setting, which is a fancy way of you have to bake them to a very specific temperature
• The cost of figuring out how to set it up and testing will cost you far more than just a couple cases of bottles and a few homebrew sessions
• You run the risk of driving yourself mad over it
• A simple stencil spraypainted on would look better than a beginners attempt at printing on bottles

I'm not trying to be totally negative, I just know what's ahead for anyone who ventures down this path. RDWHAH is something you can't rely on this time around. The reason I posted the link above, was because their prices at around 70¢ higher than retail bottles seemed reasonable for the amount of craft and work they would bring to your project. When it comes to tshirts and paper you can get away with a lot. But bottles? Even myself, as an experience screenprinter in many ways (built a press, exposure unit, printed over 10,000 sheets of paper, exposed over 300 screens) wouldn't attempt without the proper gear & training.

Does anyone know if Corona "paints" or screen prints their logos?

I believe they screenprint them on.

I'd have to disagree withmforsman,

I've silk-screened onto both glass and curved surfaces (but not both at once). There are a lot of paints which will screen nicely onto glass, that don't need baking (although baked ones tend to be more durable). Standard painters (as in artists, not the guys who do your house) acrylic paint will produce a nice finish with no baking. I have a glass I did with a scout group I led years ago - it was done with acrylic, has been used hundreds of time, and 12 years later the artwork remains undamaged. Check you local art-supply store; they'll have dozens of options.

Curved surfaces can be a bit more tricky. If you're doing the main body of the bottle (i.e. where its "flat" in the vertical direction) its not too bad - you first need to remove the screen from its frame. Attach the screen to the bottle and hold it in place with tape on either end. Add the smallest amount of paint you can, and wipe with the squeegie. With a bit of practice you can get a nice label without having paint leak off the side of the screen (leaving unsightly lines on the bottle).

The neck of the bottle is another beast; the screen needs to be trimmed to provide equal curvature - not an easy task (if you don't do this, it'll tend to buckle). If you can cut it to lay flat (best bet is trial-and-error with paper, using a successful one as a template on the screen), you can tape and paint as I described above.

I do agree with mforsman point that a stencil is easier, but much more limiting. Multi-colour labels, in either case, are extremely difficult as you must perfectly align a different stencil or screen for each colour.

Bryan

How about etching?...i stopped by Hobby Lobby (art n craft store) and they had a glass etching kit that looked pretty simple to use. Curious how it would look on the amber colored bottles tho. Thoughts?

Warthaug, it's true it is possible I just don't recommend trying it. For the value that another shop can offer, and the years of experience it's clear exactly what you'll get. When attempting it yourself, it's a whole different game. I'm all for DIY, and that's why I recommend printing labels or stenciling. Hell, have some clear stickers printed.

reiffer75 said:

How about etching?...i stopped by Hobby Lobby (art n craft store) and they had a glass etching kit that looked pretty simple to use. Curious how it would look on the amber colored bottles tho. Thoughts?

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Most that I've seen use the sticker-type stencils, meaning you'd have to make a new stencil for each bottle you'd want to etch. But it should show up as a white-coloured marking after. Etching chemically modifies the glass, making it opaque. It will show up on coloured glass as a white area.

Bryan

mforsman said:

Warthaug, it's true it is possible I just don't recommend trying it. For the value that another shop can offer, and the years of experience it's clear exactly what you'll get. When attempting it yourself, it's a whole different game. I'm all for DIY, and that's why I recommend printing labels or stenciling. Hell, have some clear stickers printed.

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If kids 8-12 years of age can do a decent job, I see no reason why anyone here couldn't. DIY may not be as "perfect", but you could say the same about home-brewed beer as well...

...and I know where we all stand on the later.

Bryan

To each their own. Wish we could put our differences aside over a homebrew, but the internet will have to do!

I made a few ten gallon batches for a friends wedding and we silk screened die cut vinyl. Two ten gallon batches into 12 oz bottles with the exception of one champagne style bottle of each style. Turned out slick. I may do a stock label to have around for special batches.

Just a few more pictures.

Those labels look really slick! Nicely done.

Corona is "fired on". They screen print with a special ink that is then heated up (I believe to 1,200 degrees or so) inside a conveyor oven (a leer) and it becomes "embedded" in the glass. It is impossible to remove the print afterwards, unless you want to take some glass off with it. I doubt that oxi-clean would do anything to it.

There are other printing ink options, most notably so-called "cold inks" that cure using a catalyst, at about 280 degrees F. They have good chemical and physical resilience, but there are chemicals that affect them (notably oils), and you can scrape the print off with a razor, but without damaging the glass. They are not super-toxic, and the latest generation of my favorite glass ink doesn't even contain any VOC's anymore.

I'm an experienced bottle printer (34 years in the business) and I would say that a brewer trying to print their own beer bottles is like me trying to brew my own beer. You'll encounter many variables you had not thought about, and it will quickly turn into an exercise machine. I have to echo mforsman's caution.

IF you're crazy enough to try, attached is a basic functional roller setup. I started building these things myself from hardware store parts, because the OEM ones that come with cylinder presses either suck and/or are really expensive to replace. In the front, you use conical rollers with bearings, in the back just straight bearings. It's a simple but super-adjustable scissor setup. The harder part will be to create a consistent screen slide, and a mount for the squeegee. In cylinder printing, one of the things to keep in mind is that the squeegee needs to hit the screen just right of center in the direction of print, relative to the apex of the cylinder. Also, make sure there's a back stop to keep your bottle in the same plane, and make sure the rollers are not touching the ink you're laying down. Those perforated straps I used are a little flimsy, so I made sandwiches out of them and they support any weight now.

dallasdb, if you're still looking at bottle printing options, let me know, I'm also in Aurora, CO and I have a bottle print shop. I can print beer bottles all day. My equipment supports up to a 32 oz bottle (I can print larger, but my dryer can't handle larger).

BottlePrinter said:

I'm an experienced bottle printer (34 years in the business) and I would say that a brewer trying to print their own beer bottles is like me trying to brew my own beer. You'll encounter many variables you had not thought about, and it will quickly turn into an exercise machine. I have to echo mforsman's caution.

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You know we all brew our own beer here, right?

Your post was very informative about painted bottles, thanks.

Brewing beer is really easy. Anyone can do it with a few basic tools and and a small pamphlet with directions. How good you can be may take a little more experience, but really any average person can brew good beer at home.

DecoArt chalk paints can be painted on glass and cured in an oven. They are available at HD. If you made a sticky vinyl stencil it might work on many if not all the bottles.

My problem is that in 95+ batches over the last 6+ years, I have never brewer the exact same beer twice. So even if I name them it is something like My Brown Ale version 4.

At 50-55 bottles per batch that would be a lot of bottles and stenciling. I would have needed something like 5225 bottles so far....

I use a sharpie and a couple of letters on the cap to tell me what is in the bottle. Like RIS for my Russian Imperial Stout. PA for pale ale... etc.

Homercidal said:

Brewing beer is really easy. Anyone can do it with a few basic tools and and a small pamphlet with directions. How good you can be may take a little more experience, but really any average person can brew good beer at home.

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What if you're not quite average?

passedpawn said:

What if you're not quite average?

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I suppose then you'd be brewing Not Quite Average Beer. At least that's what my friend tell me.