Digital Prints

Printing on Metal, Wood Veneers, and More
You can print directly onto thin substrates that can fit through your printer if you coat
the material first. Bonny Lhotka has printed on thin metals and even tiles by using an
inkAID precoat. This is where printers with wide media clearances are a requirement.
Lhotka and the rest of the Digital Atelier team have used inkjet printers such as the Encad
880, and they are currently experimenting with other “flatbed printers” that can print on
exceptionally thick media.
Dennis Brooker of Imaging Alternatives has created an inkjet-printable, real wood veneer.
Called SMartGRAIN, it can be used with normal inkjet printers and requires no special inks
(see Figure 11.20). In addition to reproducing exotic wood grain patterns, regular images
can also be printed. Applications include: furniture, cabinets, clocks, marquetry, flooring,
wall paneling, signs, displays, and more. You are only limited by the size of the printer.
A related application is with the use of decal paper transfers provided by UK company
Lazertran Inkjet. They have one version of a water-slide decal that must be used with color
laser printers. They also offer another version of the decal paper that is only for ink printers,
including inkjets. These decals can then be transferred to ceramics, wood, paper, cork,
plaster, glass, metal, stone... you name it.
Chapter 11 ■ Special Printing Techniques 371
Figure 11.20 SMartGRAIN is an
inkjet-printable real wood veneer.
Courtesy of Dennis Brooker
www.imagingalternatives.com