New Printing Media - Directly on Glass

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

Well, new to me. If anybody knows more about the technique and especially longevity, please tell us more.

https://www.fractureme.com/

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

With a name like "Fracture" I have to wonder how fragile they are.

[mstevensphoto]

why print ON glass when you can print on the wonderful and well known substrates of Dura Trans/ Dura Clear and then mount them to glass or acrylic.

[shadowblade]

Well, new to me. If anybody knows more about the technique and especially longevity, please tell us more.

https://www.fractureme.com/

They're using a flatbed printer with UV-curable inks. These can last 5-7 years outdoors uncovered (i.e. much longer indoors, especially since it's being printed behind glass, which may itself be UV-protected). Although glass itself can chip, crack, haze, be dropped, have something thrown at it, etc...

why print ON glass when you can print on the wonderful and well known substrates of Dura Trans/ Dura Clear and then mount them to glass or acrylic.

Less longevity, and an extra layer that can/will eventually fail. Once the adhesive fails, you've likely lost the image.

[shadowblade]

Not sure I would go with these guys, though. The glass they are using is very thin, the backing is only foamcore and they haven't mentioned which printer (4, 6 or 8-colour process) or resolution they're printing at. Also, you're restricted to either a square or a 3:4 aspect ratio. There are far better options out there.

[stcstc31]

from the product pictures its NOT foamcore. it looks more like foamex, which is a rigid sheet and hard, not soft like foamcore


also ink isnt fully  opaque so i would be interested to see the finish, printing on substrate and face mounting give very very vivid colour rendition etc.


i have recently been experimenting with face mounting on anti reflective glass, which gives a very cool look

[shadowblade]

from the product pictures its NOT foamcore. it looks more like foamex, which is a rigid sheet and hard, not soft like foamcore

Fair enough.

It's still hardly the most-durable substrate, though, nor is 2mm glass particularly resistant to breakage.

also ink isnt fully  opaque so i would be interested to see the finish, printing on substrate and face mounting give very very vivid colour rendition etc.

You wouldn't want a colour ink that's fully opaque. That would give you terrible gamut and muddy colours.

Light needs to pass through the coloured inks, be reflected off the white background and through the coloured inks again, before reaching the eye. What you want is maximal absorption of all the wavelengths you don't want, and maximal transmission of those you do want.

[graeme]

I'd be highly sceptical about the longevity of any surface pigment that has been applied to glass without undergoing a firing process. ( At 600 centigrade or higher ).