Pantone Matching System

The printing industry works mostly with the Pantone Matching System or PMS colors. Pantone is a standardized color library used all over the world to communicate colors. When a customer designs a product, they generally “call out” the preferred PMS colors for their product. Whether it is digitally printed, or screen printed – these colors must be matched to the customer’s specifications – and when it comes to matching colors there can be some challenges and other things to consider when both choosing a color pallet, and when printing it.

What affects matching colors?

The Process (screen or digital), the material, and the lighting environment in which the product will be viewed are all important things that affect matching colors.

CMY Matching

Another method of specifying color is by a specified percentage of four basic “process colors”, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. These colors are used in production printing of most commercial magazines, newspapers and brochures. These four colors, along with occasionally Orange and Green, when screened down appropriately with halftone screens, allow printing color images which, when printed together give the appearance of full color in illustrations and typographic matter.

These same inks can be used in the same manner with letterpress printing to get the same effect of color, but the process takes very precise printing of the four color plates in exact register, something which is possible with most presses, but takes an inordinate amount of skill and care. Most applications for letterpress printing do not require reproduction of process color illustrations, the printing of “spot color” from a single color plate with mixed color ink is the norm for the modern letterpress printer.

Rotary Embossing

Embossing offers a label effect that provides depth and richness to the design which in turn provides inherent value to the product,” says Andy Schmitz of RotoMetrics, a manufacturer of rotary tooling, including embossing dies. “In addition, embossing provides tremendous pick-up value because of its unique effects which translate into both visual and tactile features.

Our company offers two types of printing technologies :

Flexo printing

A flexible, photopolymer plate is wrapped around a rotating cylinder for each color. Like the letterpress printing process, the graphics and text for each color are raised from the surface of the plate. Only the raised areas of the plate are inked.

The typical flexographic press includes four types of rollers; a fountain roller, an anilox roller, the plate cylinder, and the impression cylinder.

The fountain roller delivers ink from an ink pan to a steel or ceramic ink-metering “anilox” roller and then to the plate cylinder. The ink is applied to the substrate as the paper passes between the plate cylinder and a polished metal impression cylinder. The impression cylinder applies the pressure required to transfer the ink from the plate to the substrate.

In flexography, the anilox roller is used to transfer a uniform thickness of ink to the flexible printing plate. Each anilox roller has finely engraved cells that have a specific ink capacity. An optional doctor blade scrapes the anilox roller surface to ensure that the only ink delivered to the printing plate comes from the ink in the engraved cells.

Offset printing

This is a process used for printing on a flat surface, using plates. An image is transferred to a offset plate which is chemically treated so that only image areas (such as type, colors, shapes and other elements) will accept ink. Water and ink is applied to the plate. Because of the chemical treatment, ink only “sticks” to the image areas, which reject the water. Areas without images reject the ink. The images with ink are transported then from the plate to the surface of blanket. The task of printing blankets that are made of special multi-layer rubber is to convey the image or illustration to the paper and this is repeating on every cardboard that passes through the printing machine. When we print full color job the cardboard is overprinted four times on four separate printing units with different colors.

Similar to printing technologies we also offer different types of foiling technologies

Hot Foil

Printing process in which the image is transferred to a label material by a combination of heat and pressure. Typically a very thin aluminum foil is used in a variety of metallic colors giving that special effect of shine and glam.

Cold Foil

The cold foil application process is relatively new compared with hot foil but offers the same look using a different process. This is done by using a flexographic printing unit which applies an adhesive using a heavier anilox; the foil meets the substrate at the nip point before passing under the UV lamp. Different thicknesses of adhesive are required depending on the image and image size.

Silk Foil

Printing process where silkscreen printing is combined with hot foil and results in 3D elements that are tactile and with metallic shine. As opposed to hot foil, this decoration is felt in relief upwards. Exclusive and chic effect that gives a glamorous and sophisticated feeling to the product.

We offer every kind of of die-cut’s regardless of the size/form.