Showing posts with label Thermographic Printing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thermographic Printing. Show all posts

Wednesday 11 May 2022

Stardream - print processes book

Stardream is a market leading pearlescent and metallic paper range produced by the Cordenons paper mill in Italy. Many designers and printers have become fans of the light irridescent finishes and the dual sided deep metallic finishes which do truly shimmer. Stardream is used for a wide range of applications, including cover, presentation folders, invitations, greetings cards and luxury packaging.

This is the new "Print Processes book" which demonstrates the wide variety of print processes that you can achieve using this paper range.
The cover image is printed offset litho in CMYK on Stardream Copper 285gsm and the result is stunning - just look how good a CMYK image can look, even on a relatively deep shade such as the Copper. What many people forget is the litho inks are transparent, what this means is that if you print on a colour, the colour will come through and it also means that if you print on a pearlescent/metallic substrate, the printed result will be pearlescent/metallic and take on the shimmer of the surface printed on.
The size of the presenter is 230x220mm and the wiro-bound inserts are 210mm square. The first page is hot foil blocked using Foilco Ref 6815 copper foil on Stardream Anthracite 285gsm.
Click on images to enlarge
Page two is is printed using Thermographic printing (thermography) in red and black.
Thermo (as it is commonly called) is a great process and can produce a gloss or matt raised surface. In this instance, the result is a gloss finish, printed on Stardream Rose Quartz 120gsm
Stardream is also suitable for digital print processes and the below rainbow image is printed on Stradream Crystal Digital 240gsm on an HP Indigo Press
The next page is french folded and is lasercut...
Click on images to enlarge
The sample printed on the Stardream Silver (above & below) is just the most simple and yet effective sample. It is printed in just 1 colour offset litho as a halftone (or some people refer to it as a montone) and as mentioned before, because litho inks are transparent, the printed result is pearlescent/metallic and takes on the shimmer of the Stardream surface.
and the grand finale of the book, really is amazing at is is the simplest, yet crazily effective process. The below watchface is digitally printed in white using a dry toner press (this was a Ricoh)
...and here is a detail image
...and below shows the deep blue colour (Stardream Lapislazuli 285gsm) that it was printed on.
Digital white (toner) is an incredibly stunning effect and a very economical price, so it's definitely worth looking into.

My thanks to the paper mill, Gruppo Cordenons for supplying us with the tools to show the Stardream range in the very best light. If you would like one of these new books, please email me: justin@fennerpaper.co.uk

http://www.cordenons.co.uk/
http://www.gruppocordenons.com/en/
Posted by Justin Hobson 11.05.2022

Friday 8 July 2016

High Five Friday!

Here is a card from a range of greeting cards called Thefty from London based card publisher Roger La Borde. This is a 4pp card printed offset litho in two colours and I thought it was important to write about this card as it has been further embellished with the addition of thermography on the front of the card.
The size of the card is 147x100mm, which is what Roger la Borde describe as their Petite size. the card is printed on Shiro Echo, Bright White 300gsm, which is 100% recycled and has FSC Mix accreditation.
I wasn't able to catch the thermography in both colours (black and green) against the light with my unsophisticated camera equipment (!) so I've shot the thermo'd areas individually, as you can see below:
I have written about thermography before, so if you are interested to find out about the process, please click on the following link: http://justinsamazingworldatfennerpaper.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/what-is-number-2.html

The cards are published by Roger la Borde and the design is by Helena Maratheftis.

The cards are printed by Lion House Press who are in West London and the thermography is by Graphite Creative who are based in St Albans.

http://www.rogerlaborde.com/
Posted by Justin Hobson 08.07.2016

Friday 14 February 2014

What is ...Thermography?

What is ...Number 2
Regular followers of this blog will know that in the middle of the month, I publish a "What is ....? post. The article covers various aspects of paper, printing and finishing in greater depth. However, many of these subjects are complex, so these posts are only intended to be a brief introduction to the topic.

What is ...Thermography?
Thermography is a print process, also known as thermographic printing. The finished result being a raised image or type produced by the use of heat with a slight 'orange peel' effect.

These days, thermography is based on an offset litho printing process. The image/type area is printed offset litho with a special slow-drying litho ink (it doesn't contain dryers or hardeners so that it remains wet). The sheets are then loaded onto the thermography machines which are usually constructed with three sections connected by a conveyor belt - worth pointing out that it's a continuous process.

The sheet is dusted (while wet) with a fine powdered thermo-polymer followed by a gentle vacuuming to remove the excess powder from the non-imaged and dry ink areas.

The printed and dusted sheet is then carried via a conveyor through a radiant oven system and exposed to temperatures up to 700 degrees Celsius! The conveyor goes through the oven in 2 to 3 seconds during which the powder starts filming at the edges, (in effect bubbling and raising up the powdered areas). It is then fed into a convection cooling section where the polymer becomes 'fixed' (solid/hard)

This process has traditionally been used for letterheads and stationery. Researching this article, I even found out that the menus (1st class) on the Titanic had been thermographed! In those days the ink was applied by letterpress and the powder applied by hand before being placed through the heat tunnel. As I understand it "craft" Letterpress printers still produce thermography manually.
There are different grades (particle sizes) of powder which are suitable for different applications - solid areas to fine type. There are a range of colours and now, also a range of metallic and transparent thermo powders - you can even encapsulate glitter in the transparent ink, so the process is incredibly versatile.
Thermography became popular in the "glossy" 1970's although it was often regarded as just being a cheaper alternative to "engraving/die-stamping". In the 1980's with the advent of laser printers, thermo letterheads became problematical because the inks caused a problem with being re-heated. Since then, the powder manufacturers, Caslon, have developed a laser printer, resistant powder.  
 
Thermography is not a particularly widely used process in commercial printing, although it is a very popular effect used for greeting cards and in some social stationery.
 
Back in the early 1990's (early in my career in paper!) I used to deal with an US paper mill called French Paper based in Niles, Michigan. Back in those far off days, they employed a design agency called Duffy based in Minneapolis, to create their promotional swatches and the designer was Charles S. Anderson. The imaginative and creative use of thermography on the literature is one thing that particularly impressed me. Unlike when I had seen thermo used in the UK, this was used in a much more random way, complimenting the litho printing. Hopefully these pictures will give you an idea of what I mean.  

 
I hope this has explained enough about the process. There are a few specialist thermo printers in the UK and a few general printers with thermo equipment. I am particularly grateful to Brian Frost and Darren Crowe at Abbot Print in Sussex for their guidance and help for this article.
 
Posted by Justin Hobson 14.02.2014