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Marcano-Welch Signs Luquillo, Puerto Rico
787-889-6608

I believe they sew the graphics on flags and they're quite expensive.

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Wayne Webb
Webb Sign Studio
creators of "woodesigns"
"autograph your work with excellence"
webbsignstudio@digitalexp.com

This is probably a job that's best "farmed out" to a local screen printer who has experience dealing with fabrics. They are most likley to also have the correct drying/curing equipment to properly "set" the ink(s) as well. Take their price and add a decent mark-up.

Hope this helps you out.

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Ken Henry
Henry & Henry Signs
London, Ontario Canada
(519) 439-1881
e-mail kjmlhenry@home.

Nylon requires a particular type of ink that uses a catalyst commonly called "Nylabond". You can find out about it at www.nazdar.com.

I hope this helps.

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Warning: A well designed sign may cause fatigue due to increased business.
http://members.tripod.com/taylor_graphics
walldog@geeksnet.com

I took a job on and it costed 'me' alot in time and money....but I did learn...maybe never to do it again.

Just telling you the process I went through in case you think of doing some or one of these ideas...nothing really was all that great.

Yes, that's what the customer did for me, too...bring their own material...it was nylon, though. I practiced with Createx inks, etc, etc. Createx was not stable, even with catalyst and bond all (that makes it too hard).

What I did was make a mask for each side of the flag...made a frame, stretched the flag on it and air-brushed both sides...then pulled off both masks. It looked OK, but it was hard to make the bars at either end of flag look smooth with no streaks.

It ended up that I bought a huge, expensive screen, used the Nylabond by Nazdar...ordered the proper 'flag material' from a flag company (it must be a mesh type so that the ink can go right through to the other side...incidentally, the flag making companies have huge, costly machines that push the inks through somehow that we could never do).

Again, after doing everything I could possibly do that 'was right'...it still was very difficult. I had a few 'culls' (or throw aways) that would get a bit of ink on it and would ruin the flag.

The satin material that you say the customer brought really scares me. Seems like the ink, paint or whatever would run or bleed. How would you get it on the other side?

Glenn may have a good idea...never thought of it...screening it and then sewing it on. That may be worth a try.

All I can say, Felix, is I hope it all turns out for you. Just telling you what I went through...maybe you can glean something out of it.

PS: The final flag I did get out to the customer didn't look too bad...was hard to get the ink to be dark enough, being a mesh type material....but even that didn't last...the flapping end is in shreds now, I see.

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Bernice Tornquist
Bernice's Signs & Graphics
Nipawin, SK Canada
tornquist@sk.sympatico.ca

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PKing is
Pat King of
King Sign Design in
McCalla,Alabama
The Professor of
SIGNOLOGY

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Marcano-Welch Signs Luquillo, Puerto Rico
787-889-6608

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Jack Davis
1410 Main St
Joplin, MO 64801

To fly properly a flag must be made from the right material which has a very open weave and is specially for this purpose. I have had a couple made by a flagmaker in Brisbane Qld Australia, and when talking to him on the phone he said that they actually dye (sublimation?) the image onto them, which means the print has no feel (hand)to it. Close your eyes and try to feel where the ink is! Also the ink must wrap around the threads but not bridge between them, thus destroying the open weave, and stuffing up the flying characteristics of it. Screenprinting will not acieve this. Cost for the 1st one is much greater than the 2nd or subseqent one produced at the same time. Setting up the job would be the bulk of the time factoring. They are not cheap. I would find a specialist in your area and phone them for a quote with artwork supplied.
That is it for true flags. The opposite side is a mirror image of the first side.

However I have produced several flags which were not intended to fly and they are basically similar to a cloth material banner. I have done several different ones which were made of standard dressmaking satin. Very shiny material that look quite elegant.

Method 1 was to screenprint with a standard waterbased screenprint ink with a catalist added. This worked excellent and looked good. This material flys like a brick, but it was a marching flag that was more hanging and was 2 thickness printed both sides correct reading.

Method 2 was same material but lettering was cut from videoflex (a rubbery thermoplastic material on a clear backing sheet that is reverse cut in the plotter). This is then applied in a heat press onto the matrial.

Method 2 is the best economic solution and looks good but it don't fly. With anything like this always test print first onto a sample of the material and then wash test for colourfastness.

Generally now I try to avoid these types of job, as for the amount of fiddleing around required it is hard to be able to charge the customer for your true time at your standard hourly rate. I like this business but I also have to be a good business opperator and turn a fair profit for my time and have satisfied customers. Sometime the only way to achieve this is to say no, we are not tooled up to do what you want!

Best of Luck
Bob

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Badges2 is Bob Wright from Bundy Badges Screenprinting & Dad to Katie (Kookaburra) located in Bundaberg Queensland Australia
(The land of OZ)