Printing Processes

How it looks.
Almost like offset, but extremely high quality. The cost is prohibitive and it is rare if ever that anyone would consider this method for an invitation job. Harder to find in the United States.

How it is done.
Basically, gravure turns everything in the image into halftone dots. The plate cylinder consists of tiny cells, varying in depth and width, that hold the ink. As the press runs, a doctor blade scrapes excess ink off the surface of the plate, leaving ink only in cells. As the paper contacts the plate, the ink is transferred, reproducing type, rules, graphics, and photographs as composites of very fine dots. Gravure is used only in very long runs, usually for publications and packaging printing.

How it looks.
Ink sitson the surface of the paper. It is often thick and so that the color of the surface does not affect the ink color. Can be used for semi-fine lines and type.

Quality.
Screen printers can show you their work.

How it is done.
Although once thought of as being oriented to short production runs, modern high-speed technology allows for volume production where brilliant, accurate colors, and close tolerance are necessary. Ink is expressed through a stretched fabric mesh by a squeegee blade to reproduce the original image onto the substrate below. Screen printing is not limited to press size or the same of any substrate. A variety of materials such as paper, plastic, metal, fabric and glass can be screen printed. If opaque coverage is important, also see Foil Stamping.

How it looks.
Your image is raised above the surface of the paper. Yields the sharpest image of all the traditional printing methods.

Quality.
Check to see the engraver's work. As with anything, quality varies, but engraving requires such specialized machinery that anyone who does it is likely to begood at it.

Warning.
Engraving will almost always be the most expensive printing choice you can make, due to makeready time and quality requirements. Photographs and illustrations requiring a screen don't render too well.

How it is done.
The most common use of engraving is to print dinero (money), anything that has very fine detail. Plates for engraving are made of steel for very long runs or copper for short runs. In engraving ink is applied to the plate the ink then fills the cavities and the plate is wiped clean leaving the the recessed areas (image area) filled with ink. Intense pressure is used to transfer the image onto the substrate.

How it looks.
Ink is raised above the surface of the paper. It is an affordable imitation of engraving.

Thermography can vary in price and quality greatly. The best thermography can be hard to tell apart from engraving, but even the best cannot reproduce the finest lines that can be achieved through engraving.

Warnings.
Check printer's samples. The main warning we have is a repetition of above. Choose a printer who can achieve fine lines if this is what your art or type requires. If the quality is not there, thermography can be uglier and as tasteless as just about anything.

How it is done.
Thermography is a five stage printing process, the first being the application of a slow drying ink, the four remaining are best appreciated in the illustration above. Not great with detail and very sensitive to quality or lack of quality of the material and the process. Thermography in my opinion is a great process to use in limited conjunction with other processes, namely offset.