Hydrographic printing also known as Immersion printing or water transfer printing is a process of applying printed designs to three-dimensional objects. The designs possible are essentially limitless with a chemical applied that dissolves the transfer into a liquid layer of paint, floating on top of the water surface. The object, in this instance car rims, is then lowered into the water and steadily moved through the floating ink layer. In what looks like magic, the ink wraps around the object and is applied instantly.
The process can be used on metal, plastic, glass, hard woods, and various other materials which leaves the designs up to your imagination. In the video, we see stock rims transformed into works of art with carbon-fiber, brand logos, US currency and even Spongebob Squarepants seamlessly transferred to the rims surface.
The video comes form Europe’s premier water transfer printing training facility, http://hgarts.com. It’s wild and I want it. There are some drawbacks to the technology, if you scratch or damage your rims in anyway, there’s no painting it, it’d require a repaint.
