Hacking the Digital Print: Alternative image capture and printmaking processes with a special section on 3D printing

17. Hydrographic Coloration of 3D Printed Objects

Water transfers, popularly called hydrographics, to 3D objects like car wheels, helmets, and gun stocks are not new, but most of the processes are industrial and use toxic chemicals that I wouldn’t want in my home studio. To do those transfers, industry uses gravure printed images rather than desktop inkjet prints. Since I don’t own a gravure printer nor do I have a hazmat suit handy, I developed a safer process to get a highly detailed and richly colored image onto a 3D object. With this process, I’ve eliminated as many of the hazards as I could. With practice you can reliably apply an image to ...