Printing on a sphere

saadn

New Member
Hi,

I have some images that I want to "print" onto a half a plastic sphere and am not too sure how I can accomplish this. I do not want to stick the images on as I don't want to add an extra layer onto the object nor will the finish be as smooth. The images are vector and contain text only.

I do not mind printing the image onto a flat plastic sheet and then mould this into a circle but again am unsure how to do this.

The alternative is to make a stencil of the text and then spray paint onto the half sphere?

Any advice?

Thanks in advance
 
I was working for a mural company and we had to paint an image into a huge, spherical training room at Sky's head office.

This thing was over 7m tall but we had similar issues and it was a real challenge.

It was a mixture of the Sky logo and a photo real image of football players.
The players were projected and freehanded but for the Logo, we plotted out a stencil and sprayed the base on.
The thing with stencils is getting them to fit the curvature without creasing but ours went on okay and they were about 1m tall.

Have you thought of getting a vinyl wrap made?

This is the stuff they use to put graphics on cars and it's mouldable when heat is applied.
They can wrap it around wing mirrors so I guess a sphere wouldn't be too much of a problem.

The other option would be to use a traditional sign painter but again, that'd depend on the image.
 
The dome I want to put the image into is only 15cm so painting will be slightly challenging.

I've ordered some translucent vinyl printing paper and will try to stick it on.

Is vinyl wrapping a better option you reckon? I want the wrap (or stickers) to be inside the dome so it will give the image a glossy look from the outside as well as protect it.
 
The dome I want to put the image into is only 15cm so painting will be slightly challenging.

I've ordered some translucent vinyl printing paper and will try to stick it on.

Is vinyl wrapping a better option you reckon? I want the wrap (or stickers) to be inside the dome so it will give the image a glossy look from the outside as well as protect it.

Gosh, that is small.

I think your main problem would be to get whatever medium to bend to the curvature and vinyl wrap is the only thing I can think of that can do that.

I've never actually used it but there are plenty of instructional vid's on YouTube.

It might be tricky applying it to the inside as the adhesive is on the reverse but it's very durable stuff and I think it can be quite glossy.
 
I'm trying to get at something like thiss-l400.jpgnot sure how they've done it but the printing is on the inside of the dome.
 
Back
Top