Bottle Decoration: Silk Screen, Labelling, Hot Stamping and Spray Finishing
What each process is, what it looks like, what it constrains and how it is inspected — with the material preparation each one needs before ink will hold.
Decoration is a surface problem before it is an artwork problem
Ink and adhesive do not bond to plastic; they bond to a prepared plastic surface. That is why the first question about any decoration job is not "which process" but what the substrate is. PET and PETG are treated to raise surface energy; PP is non-polar and needs flame or corona treatment to at least 38 dynes/cm before ink or adhesive will hold. Get that wrong and the artwork fails an adhesion test rather than a design review.
Silk screen (up to six colours), hot stamping, pressure-sensitive labelling, spray coating with matte, gloss, frosted, holographic and soft-touch finishes, pad printing and shrink-sleeve labelling all run in-house.
Decoration processes compared
The table is the short version. Each process then has its own block below, covering what it is, what it looks like, where it is used, what the material constrains, what production involves and what is inspected.
| Process | Visual result | Production and minimums | Material constraint | Quality check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Silk screen | Flat, opaque colour; up to six colours | Screen setup per colour per design; quoted per project | Needs surface treatment to at least 38 dynes/cm | Adhesion by ASTM D3359 cross-hatch, target 4B–5B |
| Labelling | Printed self-adhesive or shrink sleeve | Plate and print setup per design; quoted per project | Adhesive system chosen per substrate | Print position, adhesion and abrasion |
| Hot stamping | Metallic foil, gold or silver; sharp edge definition | Foil and die setup per design; quoted per project | Suits smooth, treated surfaces best | Adhesion and edge definition under abrasion |
| Spray coating | Overall colour or effect over the whole body | Quoted per project; complex multi-process decoration may carry a higher minimum | Requires a clean, treated surface; adds a process step | Coating uniformity, colour and adhesion |
| Matte | Soft, non-reflective, premium hand feel | Applied as a spray-coating finish; quoted per project | Reads differently on clear versus opaque bodies | Uniformity of sheen across the batch |
| Gloss | High reflectance, sharp highlights | Applied as a spray-coating finish; quoted per project | Amplifies any surface defect in the moulding | Gloss level and surface defect inspection |
| Holographic | Iridescent, angle-dependent finish | Applied as a spray-coating finish; quoted per project | Best on smooth bodies without deep undercuts | Effect consistency across the batch |
| Frosted | Soft translucent haze over the body | Applied as a spray-coating finish; quoted per project | Works with clear and tinted bodies; obscures fill visibility | Haze uniformity and absence of streaks |
| Soft-touch | Velvet, low-slip tactile finish | Applied as a spray-coating finish; quoted per project | Requires a compatible coating system on the substrate | Tactile uniformity, adhesion and resistance to marking |
We do not publish a decoration minimum order quantity for each process, because it depends on the number of colours, the number of processes on one pack and the artwork. It is quoted per project — not assumed from a table.
The nine decoration routes in detail
Each block answers the same six questions, so two options can be compared on the same terms.
01 · Silk screen
02 · Labelling
03 · Hot stamping
04 · Spray coating
05 · Matte finish
06 · Gloss finish
07 · Holographic finish
08 · Frosted finish
09 · Soft-touch finish
Decoration against the material it sits on
| Material | Surface preparation | Processes that generally suit it | What to watch |
|---|---|---|---|
| PET | Treated to raise surface energy before printing | Silk screen, labelling, hot stamping, spray coating | Thin, stiff walls resist squeeze but show scuffs on a gloss finish |
| PETG | Treated before printing | Silk screen, labelling, hot stamping, spray coating | Highest clarity, and the most sensitive substrate to aggressive coating solvents |
| HDPE | Flame or corona treatment required | Labelling, silk screen, spray coating | Non-polar surface and a soft body; low surface energy is the main adhesion risk |
| PE (LDPE / MDPE) | Flame or corona treatment required | Labelling, silk screen | A pack that flexes will flex the decoration too — adhesion matters more on a squeeze pack than on a rigid one |
| PP | Flame or corona treatment to at least 38 dynes/cm | Labelling, silk screen, spray coating | Non-polar; ink and adhesive will not hold without treatment |
| PCR PET / PCR HDPE | As the base polymer | As the base polymer | Colour cast changes how printed colours and coatings read against the body |
The adhesion test is not a formality. A decoration that survives the factory and lifts in a humid warehouse or under retail handling is a complaint raised against your brand, not against the printer.
What we need to quote and produce a decoration
Artwork and setup inputs
Send the artwork with the process question attached, and we will come back with the process, the colour count and what the run needs to be for the setup to make sense.
Inks, migration and why the ink specification is part of the pack specification
Packaging is not an ingredient, but decoration sits between the consumer and the product, so the ink specification belongs in the pack specification rather than in the print shop.
- ▸Low-migration ink systems. Decoration uses low-migration UV-cured inks aligned with the Swiss Ordinance SR 817.023.21 and published packaging-ink guidance.
- ▸Surface energy before printing. Treatment to at least 38 dynes/cm on non-polar substrates, verified before the run rather than after.
- ▸Adhesion verified objectively. ASTM D3359 cross-hatch testing targeting 4B–5B, so adhesion is a number rather than an opinion.
- ▸Migration testing where the application needs it. We test to EU 10/2011 framing — overall migration of 10 mg/dm² plus specific migration limits and a NIAS risk assessment — and frame cosmetics against EC 1223/2009.
Documentation discipline: ISO 9001 is the certification we hold. Supplier audit reports, material COA, migration test reports and recycled-content documents are issued as documents on request — they are evidence, not certifications.
A migration test report is a report about a specific article and a specific test condition. It is evidence. It is not a certification, and we do not describe it as one.
Related engineering and material reading
Decoration: buyer questions
What decoration options do you offer?+
Silk screen (up to six colours), hot stamping, pressure-sensitive labelling, spray coating with matte, gloss, frosted, holographic and soft-touch finishes, pad printing and shrink-sleeve labelling all run in-house. Silk screen takes up to six colours. Effects such as matte, gloss, holographic, frosted and soft-touch are finishes within the spray-coating family rather than separate processes.
Which decoration process should I choose?+
Silk screen for flat opaque colour and one- or two-colour branding on a curved body; labelling for full-colour or heavy-copy artwork; hot stamping for metallic accents with sharp edge definition; spray coating when the whole body carries the colour or an effect. Where artwork is multi-colour and the volume is moderate, labelling usually wins on setup cost.
Why does my print peel off?+
Almost always surface energy. Ink and adhesive bond to a prepared surface, not to plastic. PP is non-polar and needs flame or corona treatment to at least 38 dynes/cm; PET and PETG are treated to raise energy before printing. We verify adhesion with the ASTM D3359 cross-hatch test targeting 4B–5B, and the fix belongs before the run rather than after it.
What are your decoration minimums?+
Quoted per project, because the minimum depends on the number of colours, how many processes sit on one pack, and the artwork. Complex multi-process decoration may carry a higher minimum. We do not publish a single number for decoration, and we will not quote one without seeing the design.
Does decoration cost more on a coloured bottle?+
A coloured body normally costs more than a clear one in the same material, because pigment is added through masterbatch, and a custom colour has its own minimum. It is a material and masterbatch cost rather than a printing cost, so a decorated clear bottle and a decorated coloured bottle are priced on different lines.
Can you print on the base of a bottle?+
For stock shapes, screen printing on the bottle base is possible subject to curvature constraints. Deeply dished or heavily radiused bases limit how much of the artwork can be printed accurately, so send the shape and we will confirm.
Are your inks suitable for cosmetic packaging?+
Decoration uses low-migration UV-cured inks aligned with the Swiss Ordinance SR 817.023.21 and published packaging-ink guidance. Where the application needs it we test to EU 10/2011 framing with overall migration limits, specific migration limits and a NIAS risk assessment, and frame cosmetics against EC 1223/2009. Ask for the migration report on the finished article rather than a resin data sheet.
Can a pack carry more than one decoration process?+
Yes, and it is common — a spray coating plus a screen print plus a label on the same body. The sequence matters: a coating applied before printing changes the surface the ink sees, so the process order belongs in the specification and not in the production conversation.
Send the artwork and the effect you want
Tell us what the pack has to look like on shelf and what it has to survive in transit. We will propose the process, the colour count and what the run needs to be for the setup to make sense.