Graphic papers & print » printing process/finishing

Suomalainen antique book layouts, covers, typography and ornaments

.3 — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 11:48:30 +0000

I was away on an “old” Finnish summer house a couple of weeks ago for Juhannus, during that time I came across some brilliant old books from the 1900′s and around that era or ealier.

I love variety of typographic ornament found on those books, the attention to details and the perfect clean layouts. Examples below go through 1903′s leather bound bible, featuring gothic typography, book cover’s illustration hot foil stamping, beautifully balanced page layouts to amazing front cover’s title drop cap.

Overall, a beautiful collection of historical typefaces, ornaments, icons and layout inspiration and know how.

Duplexed Gmund Mohair letterpress cards part 2

.3 — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 18:31:30 +0000

Finally received my business card today for colymba. I am really happy with the result and Typoretum has done a great job with the letterpress printing. The Gmund Mohair stock did fantastic with the black on black letterpess with really sharp edges. The reverse on Gmund Color System 43 Color gives it a nice contrast.

Ccredits:

colymba logo set in Triple Condensed Gothic Bold by Red Rooster type foundry
reverse text set in Solano Gothic Bold by MVB type foundry
paper and duplexing by Büttenpapierfabrik Gmund
letterpress by Typoretum

Gmund Mohair duplexed business cards part 1

.3 — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 18:06:47 +0000

I have mentioned in the past this incredible paper stock (in my opinion), Gmund Mohair. I am now producing some self promotional business cards for colymba. The cards will be letterpress black only on both sides, the paper will be a duplexed card with Gmund Mohair Schwarz matt and Gmund Color System 43 Colors.

The only way to get the duplexed stock was straight from the Gmund paper mill, which provided the ready to print A4 sheets, however not too cheap the result looked great. (Note that local printers were not too confident about duplexing a 430gsm Mohair with a 300gsm Color System sheet due to the difference in weight.) The paper came delivered in a beautiful bespoke box made of Gmund Savanna Bubinga, an embossed wooded texture dark brown paper.

Due to the unusual texture of the paper, some letterpress printers were not too confident about the job either (even though the stock is certified with letterpress), but thankfully the brilliant TYPORETUM letterpress studio took on the job and produced some test prints (see below) that looked nice and sharp. The job is now being printed by TYPORETUM in the following week.

More pictures coming soon.

Decades of Design by Antalis-McNaughton

.3 — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 17:25:52 +0000

Antalis-McNaughton has been sending out promotional mailers with postcards featuring their creative papers range. Each mail-out features a decade starting with the 30′s with each card highlighting notable events and creative work from this era, the front graphic of the postcard complement the historic information from the back and showcase different printing processes on various of their fine papers (including Popset, Rives and Curious).

GLitter ink greeting card

.3 — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 16:39:23 +0000

A few years back (2009!) GF Smith was sending out sample greeting cards to promote some of their paper. This one here was actually screen printed with glitter ink on 330gsm Plike. The inside was a text about seaside holiday. The unconventional texture of Plike combined with the glitter ink was striking.

Linotype: The Film

.3 — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 14:00:14 +0000

I love printmaking, and I love metal type. We had Helvetica, Objectified, soon Urbanized, and now we will have Linotype The Film.

Linotype: The Film is a feature-length documentary film centered around the Linotype typecasting machine invented by Ottmar Mergenthaler in 1886. Called the “Eighth Wonder of the World” by Thomas Edison, the Linotype revolutionized printing and society, but very few people know about the inventor or his fascinating machine.

I love it already, it both calls out for the designer in me but also the geek, who always loved machines and crazy technology. Check out the trailer and why not also support them through Kick Starter.

benwells printers

.3 — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 13:27:17 +0000

Just came across the site of the London based printer and print specialit, Benwells.

Passionate about printing perfection

If you are passionate about print, materials and printing techniques, or just like pretty things, have a look at their site. You can also follow them through their blog, which I wish I had known about before, when they had the free paper giveaway, damn!

Iggesung paperboard: INSPIRE Magazine

.3 — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 21:44:48 +0000

Receive the other day the captivating INSPIRE Magazine (#35) from Iggesung Paperboard, paper merchant and mill, manufacturer of Invercote and Incada paperboards. The cover features a cool printing process, cold foil. It achieves similar result than hot foil, but has the advantage to be applied in-line (like Aqueous Coating) on the offset press. This offers greater flexibility and opportunity for overprinting and maybe some cost saving.

Blood Ink

.3 — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 19:36:56 +0000

I am a big fan of printing processes and experimenting with them, I’ve done research on their associated psychological response and I believe each process should be chosen in response to the brief.

With the same concept, Underware, the design collective author of fabulous typefaces, managed to ‘manufacture’ blood offset ink. For the sampler of their typeface Fakir, a book on the theme of voluntary suffering, The book of war, written byRuud Linssen, will be printed with the author’s blood.

A brilliant, concept and execution!

(Image from Underware)

Dorset cereals packaging

.3 — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 17:52:11 +0000

This is no fresh news but it has to be mentioned. You must have came across one of those Dorset cereals packing in your local store… if not go shopping now!

They feature a beautiful design by bigfish, which actually won a dba award in 2007. The packages display vibrant colours, neat die cuts and silver foil blocking of the brand name, the paper stock is a two sided uncoated board on the outside and coated on the inside.

A cool package for good cereals, and if you like packaging, visit thedieline.com