Editor's note: At the Toppan Printing Forum held recently, some questions were raised regarding the convenience of letterpress printing. Judith Berliner, a stamping expert and founder of Full Circle Press, gave us a patient answer. Organize as follows:
1. Question: What are your good suggestions for beginners?
Answer: Everyone can visit related websites, browse Toppan Printing experts' blogs and find all kinds of information.
2. Question: How long is the production cycle of letterpress printing?
Answer: In most cases it will be 2-3 weeks, depending on the size of the printing project.
3. Question: Will the photo metal plate bite the paper?
Answer: Yes, the photosensitive resin plate can leave a deep imprint on the paper.
4. Question: Can I print the same color field and font at the same time?
Answer: Under normal circumstances, we have to go through two papers to complete the printing of the same color and fonts.
5. Question: Why should the background color be placed on a separate plate for printing?
Answer: Because in addition to the solid color patches, most areas of the image do not need to print the background color.
6. Question: Does it print according to spot colors?
Answer: Yes.
7. Question: How to choose the pressure of printing?
Answer: This mainly depends on the actual situation of each printing factory.
8. Question: Can we use soy ink in the embossing process?
Answer: Yes.
9. Question: What is ghosting?
Answer: Ghosting is a printing failure. When the paper is lifted from the blanket, a ghost image appears next to the printed image.
10. Question: Can I use a letterpress printer to print metallic colors?
Answer: Yes, but be careful when printing on non-coated paper, because metallic inks can easily lose their luster in this situation.
11. Question: Have you recently launched a new letterpress printing machine?
Answer: Through a series of investigations, I confirmed my thoughts. I do not believe that some people still produce letterpress printing machines, and they sent an e-mail to Crouch. As a result, as I expected, they are producing hot stamping machines.
12. Question: Can a letterpress printer do double-sided printing?
Answer: Of course, we can reduce the cracking that often occurs in double-sided printing through a variety of methods.
13. Question: Can I print on black paper with white ink? Is the ink transparent?
Answer: Printing white ink on black paper does not have the same effect as printing black fonts or images on white paper.
Although there are some opaque inks on the market, they are not enough to cover black or dark backgrounds. Most Pantone spot inks come with a transparent base.
14. Question: Do we have to use a specific weight of paper?
Answer: You can use any gram of paper for letterpress printing. If you want to print deeper patterns, printing with a heavier piece of paper is definitely better than a lighter piece of paper.
15. Question: Should all jobs be printed on uncoated paper?
Answer: Most letterpress printing is done on uncoated paper, but it can also be done on coated paper. However, because the surface characteristics of the two papers (the surface of the uncoated paper is somewhat rougher) are different, the printed results are also different.
16. Question: Which type of paper is more suitable for letterpress printing?
Answer: All types.
17. Question: Do you use magnesium or polymer? If it is a polymer, how do you deal with the movable type? When we do punching, it often makes the font bigger. If it is you, how will we solve this problem?
Answer: I usually use photosensitive resin printing plates. After years of experience, we have found the most suitable exposure, rinse time and process flow.
18. Question: Is there some color that cannot be copied, such as metallic or opaque white?
Answer: Our company can print metallic and opaque white, depending on your expectations of the final effect of the print.
19. Question: Can you talk to us about the issue of multicolor or multiple printing?
Answer: Our printing presses performed very well in registering. A good press and an experienced press operator are the keys to your success.
20. Question: Compared with other printing processes, what are the advantages of letterpress printing in environmental protection? The film it uses can be recycled?
Answer: Letterpress printing is a very environmentally friendly printing process. We produce very little rubbish, and we also send unqualified paper to local schools for reuse. In addition, we use less ink and chemicals, and we also recycle used chemicals and films.