Silkscreening CD-Rs? 35
anonymous amateur silkscreener asks: "Here's a question for those Slashdot readers who fall into the intersection of Photographer /
Artists / Computer user. A comment
posted in response to the story on Sneaking Open Source Software Through
the Front Door led me to this company which
makes some cute silk-screened blank CD-Rs.
I send out CDs once in a while with photos or (occasionally) my own graphics. Now for a little
while, I've been thinking about making some home-screened graphics for them, and I wonder if anyone out there has already done some of the experimentation necessary. I have a silk-screen kit which I have successfully used to make T-shirts and other things (on paper and fabric, that is), but with CDs I'm uncertain about the results."
"I am uncertain for the following reasons:
- Disintegration of the graphic - I'm actually afraid to put the results in a drive, because I'm worried that the pigment will be spun right off the disk and foul the mechanism, and I don't have a dozen replacements sitting around. Is there special pigment I should be using for this? If I spray a sealant on a CD, will the result be too heavy, or too thick, or possibly damage the drive? Yes, I know there are factory-produced screened disks all over the place, but I don't know if they're doing anything special to protect / seal their graphics. They seem to have a nice smooth surface, and I've never seen one to separate graphics from disk from wear or anything.
- Balance: If I screen on an asymmetric design, will I unbalance the disk too much? I suppose not, because there are those wacky shaped CDs, too.
More generally, can anyone point to their own successes / failures / HOWTOs on creative CD embellishment? (and packaging for that matter!) I'd like to avoid the expensive 'buy our special CD-sized stickers' approach if possible, but there are probably things I've overlooking.
No Batik, please."
Beware (Score:3, Informative)
Call a screenprinter shop (Score:1)
Have you ever silked a large batch of anything though? The only thing that can be said about it is that it can you put you in a state of zen, it is not easy work.
Re:Call a screenprinter shop (Score:1)
I have mass produced several different projects t-shirts and posters mainly. And I agree it isnt easy work, but I dont know if I would go so far as to say it was Zen like.
Maybe I just didnt have enough poke enough smot.
Re:Call a screenprinter shop (Score:1)
Re:Not silkscreening, but what about this hack? (Score:2)
I know it's not silkscreen (Score:1)
I have one of these [cdstomper.com] and the results are decent, even with my cheapish inkjet printer.
I've had stomps printed with a colour laser (at 300dpi) with great success. There's also a clear/glossy version that works very well, and looks great.
Re:I know it's not silkscreen (Score:1)
Re:Read the post! (Score:1)
Just relaying my opinion. that IS what the poster was looking for, after all.
Plus, they're not that expensive. You can pick them up at Staples / Business Depot in bulk.
S
You're worrying too much (Score:1)
I have one hell of a dusty house and my aging 2X cdrom works as good as my brand new CDRW. Plus I have opened it several times in the past. There were actual dog hairs in there, hehehe.
Also, the weight of the CD should not be that much of a problem. I have successfully used homemade CD-sized stickers which were rather thick, and had no trouble at all.
On top of all that, well, is there anything cheaper than a CD-ROM drive, if by means of some mysterious planetary alignment you manage to break something?
Wacky shaped CDs? (Score:2)
I put up a web page on my CD silkscreen adventures (Score:4, Informative)
Although I'm still waiting to get some of the chemicals to get my emulsion formula right, ie chromium tartrate, I painted silver CDRs (uncoated twenty cents a piece) with acrylic and had no problems with either damaging the CDs or drives.
Check the page [toefl.ath.cx] if you want to see a down and dirty DIY effort.
There's also this earlier Slashdot [slashdot.org] thread that was supposed to be on automating CDR duplication but went into various other aspects of the job as well such as silkscreening and some debates about media pricing.
Re:I put up a web page on my CD silkscreen adventu (Score:2)
The first page there you have me making silkscreening frames that are suited for CDs. The frames you buy at silkscreen shops are usually square and made for T-shirts. So, that's where I cut my thumb.
The next shot is the pivotal step where you use a bright light to expose the emulsion and devlop it by placing a transparency that was printed on an ink jet over the pattern.
Finally, you see the finished product.
The next page is just talking about various formulas for emulsions ans showing pictures of emulsions settting up. If you're not a big chemistry fan, I'd recommend just buying a product called Liquid Light which I hear comes with instructions and you can also google it to find lots of T-shirt instructions.
My own technique was to purchase silver nitrate salts and experiment with different substrates and activators but it was partly for educational purposes that I went this route. If you just want the CDs done and done quickly then I'd recommend just buying a pre-mixed batch of emulsions.
When I do finally get all the details on the chemistry worked out so I can take someone from metallic silver to hardy silkscreen emulsion, I'll be sure to share with anyone interested.
In the mean time, you can also use a stamp technique and a few stickers with reflective backgrounds to get a pretty cool looking CD that you can kick out by the thousands at low cost.
printable cds (Score:2, Informative)
(1) customized rubber stamps with regular inkpad ink -- these can be ordered online by submitting a graphic file for as little as $10 for a 5" by 5" stamp
(2) layered bicolor woodcuts with substantially heavier pigments -- these were a bit messy, but after the initial loose bits came off after drying, all seemed fine
i think you should be concerned about loose pigment as it must be more abrasive than dust. the sealant route, imho, is ill-advised, most i inspected contained serious solvents, which (again i presume) could harm the cd. if you must cover up the ink, a clear label might be better, but i realize you don't want labels, plus they are generally more expensive than the cd.
i have published roughly 600+ using the rubber stamps and 300+ using the woodcuts and so far the only complaints have been about the music
weight balance (Score:1)
In the event that it does, would a clear coat of paint/acrylic that has the same density as the ink smoothed flat over the printing work? Think of using putty to fill in a bumpy piece of wood, or filling in potholes. The clear cote should fill in the low spots where there is less ink (lower weight areas) and not stick to the high spots.
Nifty Idea (Score:1)