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Common Finishings that Complete Your Wholesale Full Color Printing Experience
November 22, 2008 |
A wholesale full color printing project, oftentimes, requires more than just printing. There are the initial steps which includes the design, layout and file evaluation.
During the printing process, your print products do not always proceed directly to packaging and shipping. Depending on the product you ordered or the extent of customization that you need for each print, your printouts are first subjected to certain finishings before they officially become finished products.
Common Finishings
Below are the usual finishings available in printing companies. Some products require one or a combination of additions to the specs. However, do note that not all are applicable to a single product.
1. Die cutting
Die cutting is a procedure done on the paper or stock to give it the shape you desire or to carve out a figure in it with the use of two metal dies, on of which is responsible for cutting.
Common applications are placing round edges on business cards, or adding holes to door hangers. You may also place other outlines like texts and even free-form images. The hollow area becomes evident when placed against a surface with a color that differs from the one on the paper.
2. Embossing
This method employs a somewhat similar process as die cutting except that the metal dies leave a raised impression, which is the case with embossing or a dent, which is the result of debossing, instead of cutting out the desired figure. A popular and simple example of this is the dry seal which can be seen in authentic documents.
A good use of embossing is adding texture the surface of the paper to give it a unique appeal.
3. Binding
Binding is not limited to one option. There are actually several ways to fasten separate sheets together.
For thin piles such as catalogs and reports, wire-o binding with double loop wires, ring binding with plastic combs, saddle stitching with staple wires, and spiral binding with continuous wires are appropriate and favored.
Thicker stacks of sheets like books and magazines require a more complicated binding system, which includes sewn case binding and perfect binding.
4. Punching
Punching is the process of boring holes of equal sizes and distances from each other. This method is usually employed for loose sheets that need to be stored in ring binders that come with standard ring sizes and gaps.
5. Perforating
Adding perforations is one of the most common procedures done on print products related to marketing. By adding these broken lines, sections of the paper become easy to tear. Examples of this are tickets, coupons and rip cards.
Sometimes, instead of the common straight lines, customers may require perforations that follow the outlines of objects or figures, much like die cuts, except that the shapes are not removed immediately.
6. Folding
Brochures and greeting cards are the common products that need folds. Folds actually come with a variety of options. There’s the typical half-fold and letter fold, but there’s also the z-fold, accordion fold, gate fold, map fold and French fold, among others.
Folding is sometimes done to give the paper more panels, or to make the printout handier by shrinking it to a certain size with the folds. Others use folding to increase the aesthetic value of the printout.
7. Scoring
Scoring is a technique in folding thick sheets like cards to prevent uneven or undesirable cracking along the fold. The scored section is actually a dented line that makes the stock easy to fold.
Naturally, such custom jobs increase your printing cost, some significantly while others are almost minimal. To save further on your wholesale full color printing venture, make sure to use only finishings that are necessary and within your budget.
Go for wholesale full color printing jobs to achieve great results at affordable prices. Visit color printing wholesale for more details.
Article Source: Common Finishings that Complete Your Wholesale Full Color Printing Experience
