Does this material exist???

[ericmitchell29]

I was at a restaurant last night and saw placemats that were thin plastic... and it looked like they were digitally printed photos on the mat. My question is... where can I get this and... how in the world does it hold up to repeated washings as it had no laminate on it.

I tried scratching part of the image and it held up really well.
I design for a company that does the local placemat advertising and it got me wondering if this could be a more "green" approach instead of using 10,000 paper mats every 3 months.

I'm rambling now but let me know if there is something out there that I can print on with my roland that would be a plastic material thick enough to work as a placemat and hold up but thin enough to go through my 540.
thanks all
Eric

 

[omgsideburns]

print on thin plastic.. laminate.. cut..

 

[G-Artist]

First piece of advice. Ask the eatery where they get their mats and then sniff around their supplier to get the specs.

While it may not appear to be laminated, it may well be. It could have been a liquid lam used in the litho industry. Years ago we just printed a clear on top. Not only for items such as that but for magazine ad pages as well. And if it was printed on something like a Summa which used Scratch Guard you probably wouldn't notice that either.

A bit of detective work will yield the answers.

 

[signage]

What size were they?

 

[Pat Whatley]

You sure it wasn't sublimation printing?

 

[mshi]

Could be direct pinting on .030 PETG or thicker

 

[GypsyGraphics]

Maybe it's something like 4 Over's waterproof EndurACE.

 

[Vicg]

Sihl Makes a material like that

 

[pointjockey]

Lots of restaurants at one time used these things, but they are germ fest. Most have gone to the disposable ones. I'm working on a program now that we cover the entire table with advertising. We have covered around 100 tables so far.

 

[ericmitchell29]

they were 11x14 with rounded corners.
I actually did try to ask but there was a language barrier (sushi bar).

I'm gonna research it a bit more. thanks for the advice on 4over. Ill see what they can do for me.
thanks again everyone.

 

[ericmitchell29]

point jockey I have thought alot about that as well. I'd like to know more on what you have found works best for material.
Right now we are getting 16 business card sized advertisers on a 11x14 one color disposable mat. 10,000 mats run about 385.

Id love to go full color to attract some of the car companies but... I dont want to waste full color on something that will be thrown away every 45 mins.

Just looking for something new and something I can offer my customers as I design for a few different guys that do this.

Any ideas or past experiences would be awesome.
thanks

 

[signmeup]

Print it in reverse on the back then laminate it.

 

[ericmitchell29]

I've thought about that as well but if they are putting these in a commercial washer (not really sure if they are) then I dont want the laminate to peel.

Looking at these plastic mats, it looked as though they could throw them in the washer/dryer and they would hold up... come to think of it... I hope they did something like that cause if they didnt'... I think germs could become an issue.

 

[HaroldDesign]

Maybe a rigid PVC would work. I use an 18ml once in a while. Not sure how it might stand up to being washed, and eventually it would crack.

 

[TheSellOut]

I just purchased a roll of UltraFlex Ultra Styene and will be printing it on my 540 this week for the first time. It's an 18pt printable styrene that is a lot more rigid than the 14 mil PVC that I have.