How To Print Your Own Custom Boxes

Why customize the boxes you ship your garments to? It’s really a small, but important way to stand out from the crowd and look super professional. That package is the customer’s first impression of your business, why not turn it into a good one? Fortunately, it’s pretty easy to print on cardboard boxes. Rogue lab owner Lee Stuart breaks down every step of the process – from creating the artwork to handling the ink – so you can customize your own box with ease.

NEEDED TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT

Contents

No, you don’t need a huge, fancy printer to print on the box. If all you have is a screen, that’s okay. Ideally, you should have at least one single-color laminator like the Riley Hopkins 150 to maintain consistency. For now, use what you have Read: how to print on cardboard In contrast, you’ll need a rubber pen, emulsion, screen, and water-based ink.

MEASURE

First, you need to select a box. To ship Rogue Lab merchandise, Lee uses boxes measuring 10″ x 8″ x 6″. That’s the standard size for shipping garments like shirts, sweatshirts, and hats. What works best for you and your store’s needs Once you’ve selected a box, you’ll need to measure the areas you plan to print on. You can print on the top and bottom covers, as well as the side panels. . Take a t-square and measure the outside edges of the box. To measure the side panels, fold the box gently so that the edges are clearer. Flatten the box and use the folds as a guideline when measuring the panels. .

ART

Are those measurements handy? Open your vector-based graphics software and create a file the size of the outside of the box. Make rectangles the size of the panels on the box and place them on the file to mimic the box. Select all the boxes, right-click and select “Create Guide.” It will create a template of the box, now the fun part, creating the artwork. In the video, you’ll see that Lee decided to put art around the side panels and top wings. How you want to customize the box is up to you. If you’re new to creating designs, check out this free online course on Adobe® Illustrator.Lee said: “The final boxes are what fans keep because they look so eye-catching.

CHOOSE SCREEN

Read more: conjugation in Italian For cardboard boxes you will need a screen with a mesh number of 280-305 as you will be printing on a harder and impermeable surface. The higher mesh count ensures thinner ink residue. Besides, printing with water-based inks requires a higher number of meshes, so it’s win-win.

PRINT ON BOXES

So why print with water-based inks? Some reasons. First, the water-based ink will seep into the box a little while the plastisol ink will settle on the top of the box. The ink left on the top of the box is likely to get scratched or damaged during shipping, which is not good. Another reason to use water-based inks is if you’re working with a basic setup. Water-based inks will dry out over time, so if you don’t have any equipment to cure ink stains, you should be fine. Note that the water level can also dry on the screen. With that in mind, don’t leave the screen open for more than 30 seconds, or you’ll have to do more work. Keep the screen submerged!“Printing on a box is the easiest thing on the planet,” says Lee.Set up and register your screen in the press. For pallet binders, Lee recommends using a water-based adhesive as it will overall make the process smoother.Pro tips: To make production more affordable, choose an area to place the box on the pallet. Mark it with tape or a Sharpie. Or, you can do what Lee does and align the box in one of the corners on the pallet. For the box, you don’t need much – an eighth or sixteenth of an inch. Lee pushes his rubber broom in this case because it’s faster. Keep in mind the folds in the box. Place the box down where you will skim the seams. You don’t want the squeegee to get stuck in the crease every time.

TIME TO REPAIR

Read more: How to smoke after a tooth extraction without drying out the socket You can fix the ink stain on the box in 4 ways. One way is to air dry. Fold the box so it has a 3D shape and place it on the ground to dry. It will take a while, but when the ink is dry to the touch, you can use it. Heat guns will work just as well. Apply the gun to all parts of the print until it is dry to the touch.Many printers have flash dryers in their stores. A hair dryer can cure it, but you need to be extra careful. The flash is extremely hot and can cause the cardboard to catch on fire. In the end, a conveyor dryer is the best method. Lee doesn’t adjust the speed or temperature of the straps to anything special, he uses the same settings he uses for the plastisol prints on the shirts. You may notice the end of the cardboard rolls up. That’s totally fine, the conveyor dryer sucks out all the moisture in the box. Leave the boxes alone for a while and they will be flat again. After the ink dries, print the other side.Rogue Lab’s photo.

FINAL TOUCH

When canning is complete, clean and rinse the ink on the display and store it for future use. If you want to go all the way 9 yards, you can invest in custom tape to stick to the boxes to make it look good. Custom cardboard boxes are a simple and fun way to show what your business means to the world. When you have time, try it. It can become part of your routine pretty quickly. [Humanely]