How To Get The Best In Printed Balloons

Introduction

No matter what the event or occasion, the organiser will want attendees to leave their event with a lasting memory or positive message from the event. Whether the event is to celebrate a birthday or wedding, or is a business conference or awards ceremony, the organisers set out to leave a lasting impression and create an event that its attendees will talk about for days or months after and for years to come.

We find ourselves currently, in a difficult economic climate, where controlling finances are a priority, so finding the right accessories for any event has to be managed carefully, to avoid unnecessary expenditure . Selecting accessories for an event can be costly and accessories such as flower arrangements can be a very expensive option. However, all is not lost, as many party organisers are opting to use balloons to decorate the venue.

Today, there are many variations of balloons in terms of shape, size and colour. In recent years, improvements in printing technology have also given rise to the printed balloon. So as well as selecting the shape, size and colour of balloons to create a wow factor at your event, you can now go one step further and print messages directly onto almost any balloon. From simple tailored messages to wish someone a happy birthday, to companies using balloon printing to reinforce specific business messages, almost anything is possible. The great thing is that balloon printing doesn’t have be expensive.

What To Condiser When Choosing to Have Balloons Printed

The most common approach to obtaining printed balloons is to find a specialist balloon manufacturer . Due to the volume of balloon requirements that pass through their business, some have over many years become balloon printing specialists and will have developed techniques for printing vast quantities of balloons. For good quality balloon printing, the techniques have evolved from the relatively simple screen printing process which has been used over many years on a wide variety of materials including, textiles, paper, plastic, glass, metal and wood to name but a few. Using a company which specialises in balloon supply will also ensure that they know what printing processes works best with different types of balloons. As well as advising on the quality of balloon to select, the supplier will be able to offer advice on the recommended number of letters to apply, to ensure that your message is clearly visible . Perhaps the most important consideration is the type of balloon material upon which to print your message. For example, the most popular balloon is the latex or rubber balloon. This type of balloon is less expensive than others such as foil balloons and will stay inflated with helium usually for up to 12 hours. Whereas the slightly more expensive foil balloons usually last fully inflated for a number of days , although there are differences in printing techniques for latex and foil balloons.

What a great idea balloon printing is. You can even have photos printed on them.

How Do You Print on Balloons?

Having selected the type of balloon you want for your event, how does your supplier print your personal message on to the balloon?

For printing on both latex and foil balloons, screen printing produces the most effective results. The key difference however, is that whilst foil balloons, which do not stretch, have the message printed on whilst they are deflated, latex balloons are inflated before they have the message printed on them. After printing they are then deflated. Screen printing will bring back happy school day memories as I am sure that we can all remember taking an old t-shirt into school and screen printing a design or message on to it. (Have you still got yours?)

You will see offered for sale, in pound shops or on market stalls, balloons being sold very cheaply. These may just have a simple message printed on them such as ‘Happy Birthday’ or ‘On Your Wedding Day’. Cheap balloons have often been printed using the litho printing method and are generally found to be of very poor quality. The litho printing technique results in the lettering becoming smudged as the ink used would have been less dense than that used in screen printing. With litho, the general process involves rolling a roller dipped in ink across the design before being positioned on the balloon. However, when the balloon is inflated the image will appear distorted or faded. Latex balloons will be inflated and passed through the screen printing process before being allowed to dry and then deflated to their original shape.

Specialist balloon suppliers will usually be able to print balloons on their own premises. If you consider special events such as the closing ceremony of a major sporting event, or a major charity event, then it is likely that a large number of balloons would be required. Imagine an event which needs several hundreds of balloons. A standard screen printing process is not going to be suitable for printing such large volumes. So many of the large scale balloon suppliers have invested in mechanical balloon printing machines, which will be able to cope with the demand and print around 1000 balloons per hour.

Firstly, the machines need to be capable of inflating the latex balloons with compressed air. The inflated balloons then pass through the screen printing process. From here the machine continues the process by rotating the balloons around under fans to dry the ink. Each balloon can then be removed and deflated. In some cases the customer may require printing to be undertaken on both sides of the balloon, in which case the balloon may need to be turned round to allow printing on the other side to be completed.

Whilst on the machine, ink is forced through a screen placed on each balloon to give the desired design results. It’s important that the ink is dense and the colour will not fade when inflated. For more complicated designs a different printing screen will be need to be created if more colours or designs are required.

If you want your message to last for longer than a few hours, helium filled foil balloons remain inflated for longer periods of time.

What Can be Printed on Balloons?

Pretty much anything can be printed on balloons these days. Printing technology has developed to such an extent that up to 5 colour designs on 1 or 2 sides of the balloon can be achieved. Taking this even further is another balloon printing technique which can print 4 different designs on 4 sides of the balloon. This can be a multi-colour design, message or company logo.

I remember visiting a print works around 30 years ago, and my memory is of a huge warehouse type building with so many different print machines, that it appeared to be a hugely complicated process. It probably was back then, where you had one machine for red inks, one for blue, one for yellow and so on. However, just recently I visited a design and print company who had just purchased a new 5 colour printing machine which was installed comfortably within a relatively small business unit. One machine which could print almost any colour you are ever likely to require. This proves my point, about how printing technology has evolved, to print not only many colours, but also many on different materials.

As well as improvements in technology, specialist inks have been created for use on different materials, following many years of research and development. For example, the inks used in balloon printing must be able to be used on rubber or foil materials and withstand being used on contracting surfaces. Bearing in mind that a balloon is always likely to be inflated, the inks must also not rub off or flake off when the balloons are blown up. The inks must also not cause any harm if digested. Balloon printers have to be sure their printing inks won’t come off.

Having chosen the colour, shape and size of your balloon, the next thing to consider is the colour of the ink to be used on your selected balloons. Even if you’re not particularly good when selecting contrasting colours, your balloon supplier should be able to help . The last thing you want is to spend money on choosing the balloon colour and ink colour, and then not be able to clearly see your chosen message. Naturally, on light coloured balloons, a dark coloured ink would be most suitable, whereas on dark coloured balloons a lighter ink colour would be selected. Think of it like when decorating the lounge at home. Leave the colour choice to the wife!

For companies wishing to print their company logo on balloons and retain their corporate colours, then the balloon supplier will offer a pantone colour matching system, to ensure as close a match to the company’s corporate colour as possible is achieved. Pantone colours may not reproduce entirely the same due to the colour of the selected balloon and may vary slightly when compared to printing on paper.

To promote your message custom advertising balloons communicate your message effectively.

Different shades of colour can be created which allow the colour of the balloon to show through the design. This actually looks quite effective and makes the balloon colour lighter and darker. If you require images such as black and white photographs to be reproduced on the balloon, then printing on white or very light colour balloons is recommended.

With the advancement of print technology, Laserprint® techniques can be employed to create stunning results. Due to the natural movement of inflated latex balloons and the fact that printing is undertaken on a soft surface, registration of colours and designs need to be stringently checked to ensure that reproduction of designs and logos are as close to how they should be seen. Printers use registration techniques when two or more colours are used in print. It becomes more difficult to line up the colours, the closer registration is. There may be situations where a design or logo is too complex to print on balloons and an alternative solution may need to be found. With some printing equipment printing registration can be achieved with less than 1mm of natural movement.

Which way up you want your balloons printed is important to consider too. Balloons are almost always printed form the neck downwards. When inflated with helium the neck of the balloon will be pointing towards the ground unless forced to hang in a different position. Helium filled balloons will generally be tied to string or a stick. However, remember the cheap balloons you can buy? Well these are most likely to have a simple message printed on such as, happy birthday. It is most common for these balloons to be inflated with a balloon pump or by blowing from the mouth directly into the balloon. These balloons will then hang down with the neck at the top of balloon. The last thing you want is for your message to appear the wrong way round.

Printing on Foil Balloons

Foil balloons are ideal for long lasting requirements, such as point of sale or business events, where the balloons are required to remain inflated for some time. Usually up to 5 colours can be printed on one or both sides of the balloon. As in printing on latex balloons, similar screen printing processes are used. Foil balloons can be required in huge quantities, reaching up to or over 10,000 units.

Balloons for All Occasions

In the current economic climate, there really is little excuse for not having any decorative accessories. Balloons are an easy, cost effective, but very colourful addition to any event. With so many colours, shapes and sizes of balloon to choose from, there is a balloon to match everyone’s taste. If you can afford a little extra, then printing your personal or corporate message or design onto balloons will add the finishing touches to your event. Whatever your message, speak with your balloon supplier for advice on how to get the best out of your balloons.

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