12.07.06
The Art of Glass Decoration
From laser to lacquer, decoration of glass packaging promotes a quality product.
Ava Caridad, Editor
A beauty product packaged in glass denotes quality, and the heavier the glass, the more luxurious the product. Or so the consumer perception goes, and they’re not wrong. According to the Glass Packaging Institute (GPI), Washington, DC, many companies that use organic and sophisticated ingredients are packaging their products in glass. According to GPI, since glass is inert and nonporous, these product companies can be rest assured that the ingredients inside will remain intact and sustain product integrity.
Joseph Cattaneo, president, GPI, explains “Glass continues to communicate premium, purity and product protection: three key messages for cosmetic and skin care manufacturers.”
HeinzGlasThe Fantasy bottle shows organic spraying of a bottle. |
“Product marketers are constantly trying to find specialty shapes so that their products stand out from the competition. And given glass’s versatility and eye-catching decorating techniques,consumers are always reaching out to touch or hold cosmetic and skin care products that are packaged in glass. Once it’s in their hands, the chances of buying the product immediately increases.”
How Do They Do That?
The effort behind decorated glass is generally taken for granted by the end consumer. A perfume bottle is pretty, sure, but what went into making it so attractive? Various methods exist, and the decoration suppliers Beauty Packaging spoke to had numerous methods to offer.
AQL, Fairview, NJ, currently screen prints using the latest UV inks, pad print and PS label glass packaging.
“We often provide a combination of services to create unique looks,” says Dave Desai, vice president sales, AQL. “UV-only inks for glass eliminate the need for high-temperature lehring and provide a nearly unlimited color palette. A lehr is a heat-curing system, basically an oven with a conveyor running through the center, that is used for curing ink when decorating on glass,” he explains. “For ceramic inks the temperatures need to be up around 1400˚F degrees and about 350˚F for organic inks. These lehrs are typically about six feet wide and at least 60 feet long and expend a tremendous amount of energy; either gas or electric. The latest UV inks use only ultra-violet light to cure; this can be done on the printing machine or in a small UV oven at the end of the production line. Since only a few seconds of exposure is needed, much less energy is required.”
Saint-Gobain Desjonqueres, Courbevoie, France, provide the latest techniques in glass decoration. Among them is laser decoration, which involves vitrifying enamel onto the glass. After the bottle is spray coated with enamel, the laser fuses the material onto the glass in the chosen design. The excess enamel is then washed off. The key advantage is that it enables hitherto inaccessible parts of the bottle to be decorated, e.g. raised and recessed areas and edges. It also allows contouring of complex shapes and offers a wide range of colors and touches.
Lacquering involves spraying on a coat of varnish. After firing, the bottles are sprayed totally or partially using a mask or with a shaded effect. They are then annealed in a kiln at 180˚-200˚C. Lacquering offers a choice of finishes, including clear, frosted, opaque, gloss, matte, multicolored, fluorescent, phosphorescent, metallized, interferential, pearly, metallic glittered or soft in a wide range of colors.
Other new decorating options include new inks with helicone or luster effects, new surfaces with a “skin effect,” new lacquers with hologram or glitter, fusing glass on glass and a new thermoluster color in blue.
“Heinz Glas can metallize with aluminum or with titanium to create a multitude of color effects to the bottle,” notes Thompson. “Recently Victoria’s Secret utilized our titanization process to create a shimmering gold effect for their Very Sexy NOW eau de parfum spray.”
SeaCliff Packaging Inc., Newport Beach, CA, provides options such as screen printing and labeling on clear, colored and frosted glass. They use an epoxy ink which, after it is cured and sits for two or three days, is very resilient.
Thompson believes the current hot trend in glass decoration is still organic spray.
“We have perfected this spray process in compatibility. One of the prettiest cosmetic spray colors that we currently produce is the metallic purple color for the Britney Spears Fantasy bottle for Elizabeth Arden,” he notes. “We have also become experts in providing spot spray on our glass bottles through a sophisticated masking process on the bottles. We have produced the new Mary Kay Affection bottle, the Avon Interact bottle and the Sheer Veil bottle for Vera Wang with this masking process.”
Vonda Simon, president of SeaCliff Packaging, insists most customers are using frosted glass from manufacturers since it hides imperfections in the glass as well.
Deco Chic
Eau D’Issey Collector, a mens’ eau de toilette from Issey Miyake-BPI, comes in elliptically shaped glass with a generous rounded front panel and flat narrow sides. The decoration on the new bottle features a Saint-Gobain Desjonquéres exclusive enamel vitrification laser technique. The design takes its inspiration from the reverberations on the surface of a winter lake—concentric lines of vitrified silver enamel depict the outward spread of surface waves. The visual effect, combined with the distinctive rough/smooth feel of the bottle, adds a touch of elegance and originality and enhances the impact of the material.
Terre d’ Hermés by Hermés, also decorated by Saint-Gobain Desjonquéres, features an imposing rectangular design in chunky glass with broad flat panels. Orange screen printing of the words “Terre d’ Hermés” adorns the front and emphasizes the “H” of Hermés sculpted into the bottle base. The lotion and after-shave bottles come in frosted glass.
The 2006 Glass Packaging Institute’s Clear Choice Award went to Aramis Always for Him & for Her from Estée Lauder. The glass container supplier was Vitro Packaging, and according to GPI, the refined details of Aramis’s curved glass bottles convey fluidity, continuity and grace. When placed together, the six bottles unite to form a circle, the eternal symbol of love. And the gently ribbed texture of the bottles’ sides reinforces the unified effect.
Through Rose Colored Glasses
The Glass Packaging Institute insists another significant trend is brand extensions through color. For example, Estée Lauder’s DKNY’s Be Delicious was initially launched in a light green-colored glass container. Estée Lauder then launched red- and amber-colored glass containers in time for its Valentine’s Day and Father’s Day promotions. Ralph Lauren’s Polo Cologne also wanted to build brand equity through its Polo signature green bottle. It launched a dark blue colored bottle under the name Polo Blue, and positioned it as a cologne for men who embrace casual elegance.
Saint-Gobain also decorated Nina by Nina Ricci. The apple-shaped bottle features a slightly caved-in neck to house its silver leaf collar. An all-over lacquer gives the apple a raspberry/pink hue. A second coat, partial and random, adds a red patch of “maiden-like blush.”
Hitting the Bottle
Cosmetic and skin care product packaging design is often carried over to other industries. Since the cosmetics industry is the leader in luxurious glass packaging designs, the spirits industry is following their lead by adapting previous cosmetic product specialty molds and using them to introduce high-end spirits, such as Bacardi’s Corzo Tequila, according to GPI’s Cattaneo.
AQL’s Desai agrees. “In the past, premium spirit producers looked to the cosmetic industry for packaging ideas, with the elaborate decorative effects on some of the vodkas and cognacs in today’s market, we see the cosmetic industry taking ideas from them as well.”
Harder Than it Looks
Glass is attractive and denotes a certain quality to a product that isn’t perceived in other types of containers. However, packaging in glass poses certain challenges. Among them, according to AQL, are adhesion and product resistance, especially with fragrances. Inconsistency in glass surfaces also provides challenges.
Simon of SeaCliff Packaging agrees that all glass has a very uneven surface and adds, “We can also refrost glass once it arrives, to repair scratches that occur in shipping as well prior to decoration. Glass usually is more expensive, so scrap can become an issue and it requires special packing to avoid scuffing. Glass is also very heavy, so shipping can be expensive as well.”
The Glass is Half Full
It would seem that as technology advances, the possibilities for glass decoration can only grow.
“Ink and new, more efficient application technologies that are just beginning to enter the marketplace will empower package developers and marketers to take glass packaging to new heights,” says Desai. He also believes four-color process using UV inks, innovating spraying techniques and coatings and more extensive use of multiple processes are trends of the future, as well as servo-driven printing and labeling technology that will allow for fully-automatic decorating around shapes of containers that could only be decorated semi-automatically and with multiple pass.
Thompson of Heinz Glas USA explains, “We have just invested in equipment to vacuum metallize glass bottles in house. Vacuum metallizing will enable us to provide a mirror-like reflection to our glass bottles and we will utilize a similar masking technology that we currently use in our organic spray process to provide this mirror-like reflection on parts of the glass bottles.
“We have also proposed to our customers that they can use the bottom spray coat in this metallizing process to provide a color to certain areas that will not be metallized (creating another effect on the bottle).”
