I recently visited Chromaline in Duluth, Minnesota. Icy cold must make people smart and super nice because folks there are.
This illustrates one of the major achievements of Chromaline. They make the best capillary film in screenprinting, and understandably I was not allowed to show how they do it!
I was allowed however to see a demo of their Hydrokon Water Transfer Film.
I love our industry, no matter how long you are in it and how far you range, you always find something new. Water transfer film allows you to print uneven surfaces and even more importantly to print flexible surfaces. You print their film, place it in a water bath and drop the item on it and voila, a print on some surface you thought was unprintable like a hard hat or ski.
The Hydrokon film is printed, in this case with a birch pattern.The film is then laid in a water tank.
The ski is then placed on top of the film in the tank.and voila the pattern transfers to the ski.In the end you have the pattern printed and permanently affixed and also it can flex with the ski.
All kinds of irregular flexible items can be printed with the water film.
One great thing happened with Saati and Chromaline working together, they got Mick Orr back at Chromaline. He is one of the more humble geniuses in the screenprinting and all around great guy. I’m so glad I met him over 30 years ago and still can consult with him.
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