What You Need to Know About Printing on Glassware
to consider when direct-to-object printing on glass.
BY ALLEE BRUCE
Direct-to-object printing on glass comes with its challenges, but the range of customizable products it enables — from wine and spirit bottles to pint glasses — opens new opportunities for brands and decorators.
Printing glass isn't uncommon in the promotional products industry. From specialty pint glasses to commemorate a brewery anniversary to boutique bottles for spirits, the applications and customization possible with direct-to-object printing are worth exploring.
Tom Lang, digital products manager for Inkcups, says its customers use its Helix cylindrical printers to decorate everything from beer, highball, and wine glasses to tumblers, tasting glasses and shot glasses.
"There are also a lot of Inkcups customers using our direct-to-object printing technology to decorate candle holders, some who are decorating glass cosmetics jars and perfume bottles, and many more decorating wine and spirits bottles," Lang adds. "And of course, many of our pad printing customers decorate glassware too, ranging from drinkware to cosmetics bottles and even cannabis tubes.”
What Equipment Is Used for Direct-to-Object Printing on Glass?
Because glass and cylindrical printing is so common in the promotional products industry, equipment on the market is designed to handle these applications, even tapered glassware, which previously posed challenges.
"Most cylindrical direct-to-object printing technologies are not able to print effectively on tapered objects, curved items, or uneven surfaces," Lily Hunter, senior program manager for Roland DG, says. "Roland DG’s VersaObject RC-300 and RC-300c benchtop UV inkjet printers, which will be available in the second half of 2026, are designed for printing on cylindrical objects, including tapered, convex, and concave items. The RC-300c is specifically designed to print on empty or filled clear or translucent bottles. The industrial printheads on both devices can jet primer and inks up to 10 mm deep, including 2-3 mm head gap from the printable object."
Hunter notes that the RC-300 Series printers were purpose-built to fill the need for "short to light production runs, premium customization, and fast set-up for applications" for items like spirits bottles, promotional items, and limited-edition packaging.
Inkcups' cylindrical direct-to-object printing portfolio includes the Double Helix, Helix, Helix+, Helix ONE, and the Helix High Throw, each offering full-color, 360-degree printing on glass. The High Throw was specifically developed to handle challenging and tapered vessels, as well as other hard-to-print shapes.
“One of the major advantages of direct-to-object digital printing in general is the outstanding image quality it enables," Lang notes. "For example, our Helix range can deliver resolutions ranging from 900 dpi up to 1200 dpi. By combining that with specially designed tooling to hold items in place during printing, placement of each ink droplet can be extremely precise, enabling accurate reproduction of even the most intricate designs, all of which are UV cured almost instantly."
In addition to a wide color gamut, some direct-to-object printers on the market can also employ different techniques using varnish, different ink opacities, and base layers to produce an etched look on the glass. These effects pair particularly well with wine and spirit bottles for brands looking for a unique presentation.
“Having outstanding image quality, precision, a wide color gamut and special effects in one dedicated machine gives the user a huge advantage in terms of speed and productivity," Lang says. "In contrast, many of the rotary add-ons that enable cylindrical printing on some desktop flatbed printers don’t enable printing on tapered items, tend to operate at slower speeds, and are also associated with more setup time than a dedicated cylindrical printer. Some are also only capable of handling items with smaller diameters than those achievable with a dedicated device, while others don’t offer a full 360-degree wrapped image on all item sizes."
Additionally, he says automation and efficiency pay dividends for on-demand and high-mix workflows. Any opportunity to eliminate manual job setup – through features like barcode scanning – can streamline file setup, allowing the operator to scan and load.
What separates a decorative print from one that can withstand real use?
Tom Lang, Inkcups:
“It’s important to approach every application by thinking about the end use right from the start. For example, will the product need to withstand repeated washes in a dishwasher, and if so, will that be in a domestic or hospitality environment? Will products rub against each other in transit or on the shelf?
Only when you understand the challenges the print will need to contend with during its use will you be able to choose the right combination of pretreatment, ink and substrate to achieve the right level of adhesion and abrasion resistance. This is why we offer adhesion testing to our customers, and we work in partnership with many of them to help them determine the right balance when they introduce new applications."
How Do You Ensure Ink Adhesion When Printing on Glass?
As with any print process, ink adhesion matters. When working with glass, a non-porous material that inhibits adhesion, durable ink and the appropriate primer are key to preventing scratches and ensuring the print holds up when washed.
One thing to note before even exploring the right ink-primer recipe: Not all glass is created equal.
“Certain glass types, such as crystal and Borosilicate, can be particularly challenging to decorate digitally due to their surface characteristics," Lang warns. "Most DTO-printed glassware is produced on soda-lime glass, which offers excellent ink adhesion and durability. When paired with the appropriate pre-treatment and inks, soda-lime glass can achieve high-quality decoration that withstands up to 200 commercial dishwasher cycles. On the other hand, with something like high-end crystal glassware, we’d still recommend hand washing to preserve the life of the print.”
Next comes selecting the right pretreatment, primer or adhesion promoter, and ink.
“The coatings used to protect glass in transit also prevent inks from sticking to it, and as a result, pretreatment is necessary to increase the surface energy of the glass and improve its ‘wettability’ to allow for optimum ink adhesion,” Lang explains. “Depending on the application and what kind of durability is required, pretreatment might be a simple primer wipe, it might entail flame pretreatment followed by primer, or it could be done in a standalone pretreatment system such as Inkcups’ MagiCoat."
Because digital inks have limited resin, Lang says ink choice matters just as much as pretreatment. Decorators need to choose an ink specifically made for glass and other non-porous materials to ensure proper adhesion. UV-LED inks that cure instantly, paired with the proper pretreatment, will ensure any glass-printing project stands up to wear and washing.
“Overall, striking the right balance depends on understanding the intended end use of the application and having enough knowledge of the substrate to pair the right pretreatment technique with the right ink and DTO technology," Lang adds.
Do You Need to Fill Glass Before Direct-to-Object Printing?
Some direct-to-object technologies require filling of the glassware before printing. The reason?
The "clear or translucent glass allows UV light to reflect or pass through the object, possibly curing ink in the wrong places, even inside the printheads," Hunter explains. "Often, producers fill clear or translucent vessels with something opaque to prevent this damage."
Direct-to-object equipment manufacturers recognized this was a time-consuming process and created new technology to eliminate this step.
"Inkcups developed our patent-pending Nano Pin Curing technology to change that for Inkcups Helix customers by enabling printing on transparent cylindrical vessels, including glassware without the need to first fill them with a UV-blocking substance or stuffing agent," Lang explains. "This enables them to extend the life of their printheads while also reducing production time and maintaining a sterile environment on the inside of the vessel where necessary."
Likewise, Roland DG's RC-300c, available fall 2026, was specifically developed for printing on clear and translucent bottles either empty or filled.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Printing Glass
From pretreatment choices to incorrect machine programming, there are several potential missteps when printing glassware, but substrate preparation is where many mistakes happen.
“Many mistakes come back to misconceptions about pretreatment," Lang says. "Some people assume pretreatment is optional, or that simply cleaning the glass is sufficient. However, while cleaning removes surface contaminants, it does not increase the surface energy of the glass to create the conditions needed for good ink adhesion."
Pretreatments and primers aren't one-size-fits-all either. Understanding the end use can help guide decorators toward the correct pretreatment method, as each delivers varying levels of abrasion resistance, Lang notes.
"For example, a candle holder won’t need the same abrasion resistance as a photo-printed beer glass, while a spirits bottle may not need to go through the dishwasher, but it will need to stand up to temperature changes and repeated handling," he explains.
In addition to pretreatment missteps, Hunter tells machine operators to pay careful attention to the substrate diameter and wall thickness, as these characteristics can vary from one glass bottle or jar to another.
"Your printing device needs to allow for these imperfections and be programmed to account for any curvature to create a uniform print and avoid damaging the printheads," Hunter explains.
What’s New in Direct-to-Object Printing Technology?
Innovations in direct-to-object printing have made decoration more accessible, efficient, and profitable, according to sources. Equipment manufacturers continue to develop technologies aimed at addressing common production challenges and expanding the range of printable glass applications.
“Many of our recently launched technologies, such as Nano Pin Curing and High Throw, were developed in response to customer need or demand," Lang notes. “For those who want to get started digitally printing on glass, the Helix ONE with LV-R Series inks and a GL Primer wipe is an economical way to enter the market. We’ve already surpassed 50 top-rack dishwasher cycles in ongoing testing of this combination, and the prints have also shown strong adhesion and solid durability for drinkware applications in standard abrasion evaluations, including crosshatch and tape tests."
These types of modern technologies help promotional products printers and decorators expand their capabilities and options for end-users, Hunter says.
"Both the RC-300 and RC-300c feature helical print technology and can print a full 360 degrees," she says. "They can also print spot color, such as adding a brand name to cylindrical items or adding customization to a preprinted item like a beverage can. Both of these printers are also designed to support a wide range of applications such as printing on plastic, glass, or metal, with simple calibration and print workflows and up to 50 presets for businesses that print on multiple products."
And while we’ve focused on the ins and outs of printing glassware in this article, it’s important to note the versatility of direct-to-object printers — a key consideration for modern promotional products decorators.
