Wines & Vines

42 Wines&Vines March 2015 PACKAGING cial effects of the complete package. The inks perform best on coated label stocks, Cunningham said. "Our thermochromic inks are available in more pastel-type colors; so light backgrounds work best, while the bi- chromic effect shows best when printed over a dark background. This also applies to screwcaps." Wineries might consider ink an afterthought or a non-issue, but as with most of the packag- ing process, it is important to include special inks early in design decisions. "It needs to be integrated into the custom- er's creative design process," Cunningham stressed. "This should take into consideration how the standard inks, embossing and foil can be used along with our specialty inks to really make the design stand out. Our specialty inks are at a higher price point than the conven- tional inks we use for our labels and screwcaps. However, the expense is not prohibitive for most projects." The inks can be incorporated later in the process, "as long as it is not just an after- thought," Cunningham said. "G3 would like to be involved in the design efforts in order to make suggestions regarding the best way to get the effect to shine." E. & J. Gallo Winery is among the first to adopt thermochromic ink, appropriately e n o u g h f o r i t s Tu r n i n g L e a f Re f r e s h packages. On the sunny side New Jersey-based SunChemical provides or- ganic and UV-cured inks for direct-on-bottle printing, as marketing manager Bob Nersesian explained during Wines & Vines' Packaging Conference in August 2014. "People all make their initial evaluation of anything by the pack- age," he said. "Many wineries want to increase their brand by direct printing (screen printing)," he said. "Organic inks offer a greater variety of color and special effects versus traditional ce- ramic inks." Organic ink costs are comparable to con- ventional inks, but the curing equipment is different. The high-temperature Lehr furnaces most commonly used for screen-printing are eliminated, adding another green element to the process. "Organic inks allow the designer a much greater palette," Nersesian said. "Application of the effects is the same as for 'standard' colors." According to a white paper from SunChemi- cal, the SunVetro family of organic screen inks is formulated for glass and has "practically limitless color options." "Typically the entire Pantone color range can be made from a base ink range of 12 mono- pigmented colors, and the cured color is fully repeatable time after time," the paper stated. "The SunVetro VTGL UV screen inks are a two- component system designed for printing onto glass, coated metals and ceramics, as well as mirroring applications. These inks offer excellent adhesion to glass substrates, high gloss, excel- lent abrasion and chemical resistance, 100% solids with no heavy metals or VOCs, and addi- tives to provide numerous special effects." These inks are formulated to cure with both mercury vapor and LED UV sources; a color- matching system is available with smart scale and ink-dispensing systems. Sunspray UVSPG is a 100% solids UV spray coating specifically designed for plastic and glass. Sun Chemical also offers thermochromic inks among a wide range of special effect inks, Nersesian said. These metallic, fluorescent, tactile and etch-effects add tactile appeal to the visual. "Thermochromic inks can be applied di- rectly onto glass to indicate the ideal tempera- ture of wines or beers, or (they) can be used as a promotional message that appears at a specific temperature," he said. "Fluorescent and phosphorescent colors can shine brightly in black UV or glow in the dark: great for displays and making labels stand out in a nightclub. Acid-etch or sandblasted effects can be printed onto bottles and cured in the same way colored inks are or, alternatively, frosted bottles can have windows spot printed by using a gloss clear varnish in the desired area. Creating this effect through the use of

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