Silk Screen
Ink printed flat onto the coated body.
Wears with the coat under it — years of dulling, not months of chipping.
Logo & Branding
Your Mark, On Steel
Eight decoration methods, one comparison, and the artwork questions that decide between them before anyone cuts a screen.
Not sure which of these applies? Start from the whole range
The Decision
Four Families, Eight Methods
Decoration on steel falls into four families: printing, engraving, embossing and plating. The family decides how the mark sits on the body, and the method within it decides the cost and the durability. Cheapest first is rarely wrong — it is wrong when the product is used in a way that eats print.
Compared
How Each Method Sits On The Body, And How It Wears
Heat Transfer
Multi-colour artwork laid down in a single pass.
A cured film on the surface; more colours does not shorten its life.
Water Transfer
Printed film floated onto the body, so it follows a curve or a taper.
Full-coverage; wear starts at the edge of the film.
Air Transfer
Soft-edged, photographic marks.
A thin film — fine detail survives better than a heavy coat would.
3D UV Print
Raised ink you can feel with a thumb.
The relief is the first thing to go; it is a touch feature as much as a mark.
Laser Engraving
Cut into the steel, not laid onto it.
Nothing to wear off, because nothing was added.
Emboss / Deboss
Pressed into the structure as the body forms.
As durable as the body, because it is the body.
UV Plating
A plated finish rather than a printed one.
A metallic layer; abrasion reads as a change in sheen.
Emboss and deboss is the one method here shown without a photograph. It runs on a flat-bed press this factory does not machine, so a picture of some other machine under that heading would be a caption that lies. What the method does, the tooling it needs and how the setup is quoted are all in the table above — and if it is the route you are considering, ask and we will send you a photograph of the actual press before you commit to anything.
The smallest sensible run follows from the artwork rather than from this table: each silk-screen colour is one screen, and each engraved or embossed mark is one tool. Send the file and we will tell you the number that applies to it.
The Rule
What Your Artwork Decides, Before We Do
| What the artwork does | What it rules out | What it points at |
|---|---|---|
| One or two flat colours | Nothing. This is the easiest case there is. | Silk screen — the lowest unit cost, and the workhorse. |
| Many colours, or a photograph | A single screen per colour becomes uneconomic fast. | Heat transfer, which lays a multi-colour image down in one pass. |
| Wraps around a curve, a taper or a rim | A flat print runs off the edge or breaks at the taper. | Water transfer, because the film is floated on and follows the form. |
| Has to survive years of washing | Anything that is laid on top of the steel in a film. | Laser engraving or embossing — nothing was added, so there is nothing to wear off. |
| Is a small mark on a curved lid | Most print methods need flat contact. | A pad or laser route sized to the area, confirmed against the lid geometry. |
| Is metallic or iridescent | Pigment cannot do it. | UV plating, which is a finish rather than a print. |
Bring artwork as vector. We send a printed or engraved sample of your own mark on the actual body before the run, and a mockup on the body you pick before anything is cut, printed or charged.
Before We Start
What We Need From You, And What You Get Back
| Stage | What we need | What you get back |
|---|---|---|
| Artwork | A vector file. Raster artwork is workable but costs preparation time we would rather spend on the sample. | A visual mockup on the body you pick, before anything is cut or printed. |
| Placement | Where the mark should sit: body, lid or base, and how large in relation to the body. | The mockup, adjusted until the proportion is right. |
| Sample | Approval of the sample charge, which is quoted before the sample is made. | A printed or engraved sample of your own artwork on the real item. |
| Approval | A signed sample. | Production is made against that sample. It is the specification, not the file. |
We do not send free decorated samples. A decorated sample is the production method, so it carries real setup cost — and whether the sample charge is credited back once the production order is placed is stated in the quotation rather than assumed.
On The Floor
A decorated sample on the bench, before it goes back to you.
Questions
Logo & Branding Questions
What buyers ask before artwork goes to the bench.
Laser or print — which should I choose?
It depends on how the product is used rather than on how the logo looks. A mark that has to survive years of handling and washing belongs in the steel, cut by laser or pressed by embossing, because nothing was added and nothing can wear off. A flat-colour logo on a volume run belongs in screen printing, which is the cheapest way to put it there and wears with the coat beneath it.
How many colours can a logo have?
As many as the method carries. Screen printing charges by the screen, so each colour is a screen and the cost follows the artwork; heat transfer carries multi-colour and photographic work in a single pass. Send the file and the number that applies comes back with the quote.
Can you put a logo on the lid as well as the body?
Yes, and it is worth deciding early because the lid is a curved, small area and the method that suits it is not always the method that suits the body. The geometry decides, so tell us at enquiry stage rather than at sample stage.
Do we get a mockup before anything is charged?
You get a visual mockup on the body you pick before anything is cut, printed or charged. The physical decorated sample that follows carries real setup cost, and the charge is quoted for your approval before the sample is made.
Send Us Your Requirement
- Email[email protected]
- Phone / WhatsApp+86 178 1550 9886
- Factory
No. 588, Chengxin Avenue, Yiwu City, Jinhua, Zhejiang, China