Printing Graphics Onto Leather

[KandB]

Hi everyone,

We're new on the forum, and have been working with leather for a little over a year now. On etsy, I've seen a few sellers who print designs onto leather (it looks like for the most part they're printing on to vegtan, but I'm not entirely sure..

http://www.etsy.com/listing/98992256/leather-iphone-4-4s-case-dragon-tattoo

http://www.etsy.com/listing/95007066/iphone-4-case-genuine-leather-black

Does anyone know how to do this?

I've tried using t-shirt transfers the way one tutorial said to, but the results were less than stellar.

Would love your thoughts!

[Sylvia]

hmmm.... If I were to attempt something like this I would use a screen print method normally used on Tshirts and banners. The trouble I see with that though is the inks are rather thick.

I did find a few videos on printing on leather at Youtube.

Here's one of them showing printing on a chunk of wood.

here's one of the flat bed printers.

http://www.kmajet.com/leather-printing/

[ironhead13]

I have never used transfers but I do screen print. In a nutshell, the cold peel transfers use plastisol which needs material like a t shirt like material to bond too. Thinking of veg tan leather, the oils in the leather will probably be your enemy here. I don't know, but I would say plastisol may not be the answer here. However, plastisol is a plastic, so maybe coating the leather with acrylic coating may help..... but most if not all brands of plastisol also cure at 320 degrees... which may have a negative result on the leather just thinking off the top of my head. Never thought about it before....

They do make a graphics ink for leather, but again... never used it. Try looking into nazdar, color fx etc. But those inks work different and are solvent baised so they do not require heat. But, you'd have to be willing to put some money into chemicals, screens, a decent press if doing multi color (or you can rig up a simple set up for 1 color), and have a decent understanding of a decent graphics program like photoshop or corol draw, etc.

[Justinicus]

I also have no experience but a couple ideas. If you're not looking for "production" output, you might try a hybrid hand-painting method. Print out the design on a film, stylus (yes, that's a verb now) it into cased leather, then dye the design in with a brush (or more likely several brushes of varying sizes). Some DIYers do this with t-shirts and textile ink rather than just building a frame and buying photo-resist.

I would also probably try proper silk-screening. As Sylvia said, the inks used for screen printing are really more like a paste. Leather dye might need some sort of thickener to keep it from flowing under the screen, feathering and/or smearing the image. I have essentially no experience at all with leather dying (just tried dying and burnishing my first edge last night -- only to figure out it was chrome-tanned leather!), so I don't know if a thickened dye would still be able to penetrate the surface and such, but I don't see the harm in experimentation!

[TomG]

I also have no experience but a couple ideas. If you're not looking for "production" output, you might try a hybrid hand-painting method. Print out the design on a film, stylus (yes, that's a verb now) it into cased leather, then dye the design in with a brush (or more likely several brushes of varying sizes). Some DIYers do this with t-shirts and textile ink rather than just building a frame and buying photo-resist.

I would also probably try proper silk-screening. As Sylvia said, the inks used for screen printing are really more like a paste. Leather dye might need some sort of thickener to keep it from flowing under the screen, feathering and/or smearing the image. I have essentially no experience at all with leather dying (just tried dying and burnishing my first edge last night -- only to figure out it was chrome-tanned leather!), so I don't know if a thickened dye would still be able to penetrate the surface and such, but I don't see the harm in experimentation!

I can think of 2 methods to do this. First, is to use a product called "Picture This" from Plaid. It's seems to be an involved process, but I've seen pictures of some very nice work done on leather wallets with it.

The other method, and the likely one, is that it was printed on using a DTG printer.

A DTG printer is basically a high-end Epson color inkjet printer engine that has been modified/built to print on T-shirts and other items directly. Yo would just place the item on the flatbed table carrier and print.

Drawbacks??? They start at around $15,000. . TO try it, you might check with screen printers who have them and see if they would do a test run for you.

Tom

[katsass]

The only one I know of was unfortunately,( VERY unfortunately) Dave Cole (DCKnives) who was a member on this forum until he passed away. You may look up his website --- it's still active --- and see if there is anything in the tutorial portion there. He would inlay photos etc. in some of his work Mike

[Northmount]

The Canon Pro 9000 Mark II inkjet printer will print on up to 11" x 17" on flat board, etc. Has a special front feed for flat stock, no curves in the paper path.

It doesn't cost a fortune like others, yet will also do real photo quality as well if you like to do that kind of work too. I need to try it on leather one of these days. Have been thinking about it, just always busy doing something else.

CTG

[KandB]

Thanks everyone!

When I searched for other people on etsy who printed on leather, one person tagged their item with "screen print". The only thing is, from my limited knowledge of screenprinting, aren't you restricted to only a few colours? The people who are doing it on etsy seem to have quite the colour array on theirs.

I found this tutorial initially - but when I tried it the print scratched, crackled and rubbed off.. http://justsomething...ing-techinques/

I tried the dark transfers like they suggested, but that didn't look good at all, so I tried the light - which looked good, but didn't stay.

I don't think all the people on etsy doing this have access to printers that cost $15k or complex screenprinting setups, most people on etsy are crafters (like me) who DIY from home.

If anyone has any other suggestions please let me know. I read somewhere that there's a technique called "sublimation" that may work - but no idea what it is or how to do it.

Thanks everyone!

When I searched for other people on etsy who printed on leather, one person tagged their item with "screen print". The only thing is, from my limited knowledge of screenprinting, aren't you restricted to only a few colours? The people who are doing it on etsy seem to have quite the colour array on theirs.

I found this tutorial initially - but when I tried it the print scratched, crackled and rubbed off.. http://justsomething...ing-techinques/

I tried the dark transfers like they suggested, but that didn't look good at all, so I tried the light - which looked good, but didn't stay.

I don't think all the people on etsy doing this have access to printers that cost $15k or complex screenprinting setups, most people on etsy are crafters (like me) who DIY from home.

If anyone has any other suggestions please let me know. I read somewhere that there's a technique called "sublimation" that may work - but no idea what it is or how to do it.

OK, more hunting, found this tutorial: http://www.lilblueboo.com/2011/10/glittery-leather-cuff-w-transfer-a-tutorial-and-download.html

Might be the next thing I try since it looks closer to what they're doing.

[camano ridge]

Here is a site with tutorial that might intrest you. It is a photo transfer method for leather using a product called picture this. The first site is take you to billy 2shews site that has a tutorial for doing things such as pictured below. I have included another web address that show several examples of the process. It is a little bit of work and not as easy as letting a printer do the work.

www.leatherworker.net/whois.htm

[Northmount]

1337898205[/url]' post='249477']

I don't think all the people on etsy doing this have access to printers that cost $15k or complex screenprinting setups, most people on etsy are crafters (like me) who DIY from home.

Canon Pro 9000 Mark II is not a $15k printer. Current US price is $500. They come on sale occasionally for as low as $300. I need to test mine to see what it can do on leather.

CTG