Screen Printing


Gravure

Gravure is a process in which large, heavy, metal cylinders are engraved with the image to be printed for each color or page. The cylinders roll in ink and the excess is wiped off, leaving only the ink in the etching. As the cylinder rolls over the paper, the ink is deposited directly to paper.

Gravure printing is a cousin to long-run web offset. However, in this printing process, the image is not offset onto some type of receiver. These cylinders are extremely durable and last longer than offset plates. Gravure is used frequently for long printing runs for publications that have large circulations, such as magazines. Other long-run items might include wallpaper and some flexible packaging.

Some important aspects of gravure worth noting are that no chemistry is involved with gravure printing and no mixing of ink and water occurs (only ink is used, which means consistent color can be achieved quickly). As you can imagine, etching the page image into hard metal creates a very fine, quality reproduction and is occasionally used for fine art reproduction. However, creating these etched cylinders is expensive, which makes them practical for only long run lengths. These hard cylinders are ideal for long runs also because, once a plate gives out, there are no more impressions left to be made. Make another plate with new chemistry and you risk inconsistency throughout the run. These metal cylinders run for millions of impressions. Money is printed with this process.



Adobe InDesign CS2 @work. Projects You Can Use on the Job
Adobe InDesign CS2 @work: Projects You Can Use on the Job
ISBN: 067232802X
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 148

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