Printed balloons guide

The following guide will go through step by step the process of a balloon order, so whether it’s your first time ordering printed balloons or you just want to check alternative ways you could consider this guide is here to help.

TYPE OF BALLOONS

The two main types of balloons are Latex and Foil. Latex balloons are generally more popular due to the cost and environmentally friendliness of the material (latex is a natural and biodegradable material).

The other area to consider, when choosing your balloon type, is how long you require the balloons to stay afloat for. Latex balloons will remain inflated for approximately 8 hours, whereas foil balloons can stay fully inflated for several days.

Float time, especially with regard to latex balloons, depends on the environment they are in. Ideally room temperature with little movement to the balloons allows them to stay afloat longer, any change in temperature or situation could reduce the length of time. Hi-float, a liquid that is inserted in to the balloons, can be used with Latex balloons to increase the float time and reduce any helium loss.

balony lateksowe vs balony foliowe
rozmiary balonów lateksowych i foliowych

BALLOONS COLOUR & SIZES

We’ve got in our offer a wide range of latex balloons colours: pastel (matte), crystal (transparent), metallic (pearl) and some picked colours of foil balloons. We make imprints on following balloons shape and sizes.

COMMENT: we don’t overstate balloons’ sizes, like the majority of companies in polish balloon market. Due to high purchase price and technical reasons, no one – or almost no one – print on 14” balloons’ size (available on request), especially 16” balloons, no one of mattering european manufacturers (Belbal, Gemar) generate.

Standard round foil balloons are available in 18” size and a few basic colours. Heart-shape foil ballons are available in white and red colour.

If you want to choose the right balloons size, you have to answer following question: how and where I need to use my balloons? To standard use like giving away while promotional activities, parties and balloons’ release, balloons 11” and 12” size will be the most appropriate. During a big outdoor events and trade fairs, latex balloons 24”, 36” will be the most proper to use. Foil balloons keep the air and helium gas longer inside the balloons.

When you choose your balloon colour, or indeed colours, it is often a case of personal taste mixed with corporate branding & design colours (see our colour chart in download section). Depending on your logo or design, a balloon colour may be more appropriate to use so that your artwork stands out and gives off the best effect possible. Send us your artwork through and we will be happy to advise the best ways of printing your design. In order to achieve a replication in colour as well as design we would recommend using white balloons. A note to remember, where possible try to contrast your colours, dark balloons show light coloured inks best and the reverse.

PRINTING METHOD

Our balloons are produced using a screen printing method.

Latex balloons are printed inflated, whereas foil balloons are printed uninflated. A screen is placed on to the balloon and the ink is forced through the screen to give the design required. If the artwork is more than one colour there will be a screen required for each colour and the artwork will be built up in this way. This process results in a true colour representation and dense ink coverage when the balloon is inflated. Screen printing on to balloons creates a crisp, sharp print.

INK COLOURS

When considering what colour ink to select for your artwork, firstly decide what’s more important (if either) the design colour/s or the balloon colour. Once you have made this decision you can select colours that will complement and contrast the other.

Some inks will show up better on some coloured balloons than others, for example lighter inks show up well on darker balloons and dark inks on lighter coloured balloons.

Remember, inks take some part of balloon colour, so they can look a little bit different.

If you would like to order a part of white balloons with black imprint and black balloons with white imprint, using the same artwork, we can produce it for an extra charge. This process can sometimes be useful if you require several coloured balloons that are in your company logo but some are light and others dark.

We would recommend printing a light ink say white or silver on the darker colours and either black or a dark blue on the lighter balloons.

Basic inks colours chart is available on „Download” section on this website.

Pantone® matching system is a set of colour charts that are used by designers and printers worldwide as a standardised system of colour matching. You’ve got possibility to choose more than 1000 different colours.

However in case of balloons, printing colours may deviate from originals. We can print in pantone colours at minimum 1000 balloons for an extra charge.

NUMBER OF PRINTING COLOURS

Present technical possibilities allow to put maximum 8-coloured artworks

HALFTONES PRINTING

“Halftones” is a term we use for a shading effect. What it actually means is less dots per inch of colour printed on to the balloons allowing the balloon colour to show through. This will either make areas of the artwork appear darker or lighter.

We may recommend this process when either the artwork is too fine and complicated to split in to several colours, the file format of artwork is poor quality so this would create the best result or a photograph is required on balloons.

Halftones appear clearer in a darker ink colour and lighter balloon, we would recommend where possible black ink as this holds the definition of the artwork on white balloons, particularly where a photograph is used.

 

When printing halftones on darker balloons, the area that looks lighter in the artwork will appear darker when printed as the balloon colour will show through more than the ink colour. It will appear like a negative of the artwork. Shading does not work well with text as the edges are not crisp, they appear fuzzy no matter what ink colour is used.

PRINTING COLOURS MATCHING

As latex balloons are printed inflated, so there is some natural movement as the balloons pass through the machines, movement between the colours will occur. Depending on how tight the registration in the artwork is will depend how much movement will occur between the colours when printed. If your logo or design has the potential for registration problems we will inform you of this and make suggestions of how to maintain an accurate representation of your artwork.

NECK ORIENTATION

If you intend to fill your balloons with helium or if you use cups & sticks, you will require your balloons printed with the neck of the balloons pointing down towards the floor (neck down). This is the most common way balloons are printed.

If you are going to be filling the balloons with air, to hang them down from the ceiling by their necks, you will require the balloons printed neck up so the neck of the balloons faces the ceiling.

We automatically print all balloons neck down unless stated on the order.

PRINTING SIDES

It is possible to make the imprints on 1 side, 2 sides, 4 sides (all around) or 5 sides (all around + top of balloons). Due to some technical restrictions, ask us for the best solution for your artwork.

BALLOONS PRINTING RESTRICTIONS

Square, triangle, rectangle shape artwork printing on balloons, makes their shape slightly distorted, due to spherical balloon’s surface.

  • Raster imprints are less saturated (raster points are visible) than imprints from vector artworks (full ink covering). We recommend, to use the white background in case of colours of balloons different than white, to better ink colour copy.
  • Maximum printing area is restricted by the circle, depends on balloons size: balloons 11” size – circle is 12cm diameter; balloons 12” size – circle is 14cm diameter.