Archive for February 2008
Sports mural success
26/02/2008 by conrad.
Today we completed a wall mural for a working mens club that was stunning. The sports wall mural fearured lots of sports figures and the feedback so far has been overwhelming.
See below for before and after pictures of the wall mural
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Athelhampton House & Gardens
26/02/2008 by conrad.
Today we completed a wallpaper restoration project for Athelhampton House & Gardens. The 15th century estate required 2 rolls of vintage wallpaper. We were contacted regarding reproducing the vintage wallpaper by the customer and we got the order.
This is were digitally printed wallpaper wins over conventional wallpaper because if you were going to do this project using a rotary screen engraver in the UK, they would sting you for a bill for a few grand .
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Photos onto canvas new site
20/02/2008 by conrad.
Our sister site Canvas Dezign is launching its new site in the next few weeks. Initial design ideas can be seen, but the main focus will be on the ordering system for your photos onto canvas.
In the meantime if you need your photos onto canvas visit http://www.canvasdezign.co.uk
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Flexography or Surface Printing
20/02/2008 by conrad.
Flexography (also known as surface printing), and often abbreviated to flexo, is a method of printing. Flexo or surface printing is most commonly used for packaging (Labels, Tape, Bags, Boxes, Banners, Etc). Over the last few years surface printing has become very popular as a “high end” wallpaper printing method
A flexo or surface print is achieved by creating a mirrored image of the required image as a 3D relief in a rubber or polymer material. The required amount of ink is deposited upon the surface of the surface printing plate (or printing cylinder) using an anilox roll. An anilox is the same as a Gravure roller but has a much finer screen ruling.The surface print roller then rotates, contacting the print material which transfers the ink.
Originally flexo / surface printing was extremely basic in quality and setup. Labels requiring high quality have generally been printed Offset until recently. In the last few years great advances have been made to the quality of flexo printing presses. Finer screens have been used for flexo engraving and developments in software have meant that the “Dots” are barely visible now.
A great method for removing dot structure from a halftone screened flexo roller is to apply what is called a mezzo dither dot. Mezzo’s have no mechanical structure to them and use clever software techniques to apply the patterns to the artworks. (A full demonstration and instruction manual on this will be published shortly and can be achieved using only Photoshop)
The greatest advances though have been in the area of PhotoPolymer Printing Plates, including improvements to the plate material and the method of plate creation. This is achieved using photographic exposure and some chemical etching technoques. Direct laser engraving is also used.
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Canvas Prints at Canvas Dezign
12/02/2008 by conrad.
Canvas Prints price cut
Canvas Dezign have reduced the prices on quite a lot of the canvas prints they produce. Canvas prints now start at £10 and the most expensive canvas prints are £99.
For more detailed information on the canvas prints price reductions, see here http://www.canvasdezign.co.uk
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Linocut print making technique and wallpaper
07/02/2008 by conrad.
Linocut is a printmaking technique and is a variant of woodcut. In woodcut printmaking a sheet of linoleum (often mounted on a wooden block) is used for the relief surface. The design is then cut into the linoleum surface with a sharp knife or scalpel, with the raised (uncarved or embossed) areas representing a reversal (inverse or mirror image) of the parts to be printed. The cut areas can then be pulled from the backing. The linoleum sheet is inked using a printing roller (known as a brayer), and then pressed onto paper or fabric. This printing method can be done by hand or by a machine.
As the material being carved has no particular direction to its grain and does not tend to split, it is easier to obtain certain artistic effects than with most woods, although the resultant prints lack the wood character of wood block printing. Linoleum is also much easier to cut than wood, which must be carved away, but the pressure of the printing process degrades the image plate much faster. It is also more difficult to create larger image works due to the material’s fragility.
Linoleum as a floor covering dates to the 1860s, but the linocut method was invented by the artists of Die Brücke in Germany between 1905-13. At first they described their prints as woodcuts, which sounded more respectable.
Colour linocuts can be made by using a different colour block for each colour, as in woodcut. But, as Pablo Picasso demonstrated quite effectively, such prints can also be achieved using a single piece of linoleum in what is called the ‘reductive’ print method. Essentially, after each successive colour is imprinted onto the paper, the artist then cleans the lino plate and goes back into the linoleum, cutting away what will not be imprinted for the subsequently applied colour.
Due to ease of use, linocut is widely used in schools to introduce children to the art of printmaking; similarly, non-professional artists often use linocut rather than woodcut. Wallpaper / Wallcovering where made like this once but are now replaced by Flexo Printers and Surface Printers.
More recently digitally printed wallpaper has been used to replicate this effect as with a computer anything can be achieved. The advantage of a digitally printed wallcovering is that you do not have to engrave a single roller, which dependent on where you go can be in excess of £1000.
You could also have a rotary screen engraver engrave you a rotary screen and this effect can be made to look like Surface or flexo printing.
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125 jobs are gone as Keating Group closes
03/02/2008 by conrad.
Engraver Closes
The UK’s “largest” gravure cylinders engraving facility has closed, with “around 125″ jobs across the country left hanging in the balance.
Staff at Keating Group, which also specialises in repro and cylinder production and is headquartered in Mold, Flintshire, were told on Friday morning that they were redundant and would not be paid for the last four weeks.
Ex-owner Mike Keating, who sold the business to Mike Samuel and Paul Musto in July last year, called the collapse “disgraceful”.
He claimed Ernst & Young had been appointed administrators this afternoon, “nearly a week” since the directors “pulled the plug”.
A source at one site said there had been “absolutely no expectation” of the shutdown, which the directors blamed on a bank changing its mind about releasing money for the company.
Keating Group’s sites include a cylinder engraving facility in Bradley Fold, Lancashire, a printer inplant facility in Livingston, Scotland, a repro site in Letchworth, Hertfordshire and a site in Dublin.
According to Keating, he was working with Ernst & Young to “trying to arrange something at Bradley Fold”.
“I’m just looking to see if any jobs can be saved,” he said, but admitted that he had “no power or control” to save “people he’d worked with for 20 years.”
KEATING FACTFILE
Sites
• Mold, Flintshire repro, gravure cylinder engraving and production
• Bradley Fold engraving
• Letchworth design and repro
• Livingston engraving
• Dublin design, repro, engraving
Staff
• 125
Established
• 1987
Customers
• Amcor
• Alcan
• British American Tobacco
Comments
When will the Printing Industry open up there eyes to the real world?
All print companies should take on board the `right` business people and business models to be successful in the 21st century.
There will be more companies going `bust` due to closing there eyes to the 21st century requirements.
Colin Thompson
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