Printing on record jacket
I have a potential job to print single color front and back vinyl record jackets and see some potential issues:
A. Printing on a pre-made jacket.
Most jackets that I’ve seen are glossy cardboard.
B. Printing on paper that I and other printers are used to
using.
Then my issue will be constructing the jacket.
Any experience and worlds of wisdom would be great. Thanks!
Some of the companies that sell jackets for printing have more interesting options, like chipboard, and also can sell unglued and flat, but for a fee. Check out Stumptown Printers and Dorado.
What most jacket printers do for record labels is offer what they call “reverse board”. The jackets are already die-cut cardboard and glossy on one side (traditionally the outside), but they print on the flipside and glue it inside out more or less. I just released an LP that I had 2 spot color offset printed on reverse board to get a nice uncoated finish.
As far as buying your own paper, you can always go with the classic punk rock method of simply folding the paper in half and sticking it in a poly sleeve. But maybe somebody that die cuts LP sleeves can do it to your custom paper? A record label friend had some projects printed by Stumptown and they used custom paper, not the chipboard that they sell blank. Maybe they’d only do that for projects they’re printing, but maybe they’d do it custom.
I’m hoping to work with a die-maker and die-cutter in the same building as my small printshop to get an LP die made so I can do this myself, but I have no idea how much it’ll cost or how many LP projects I’d need to do to make it worthwhile.
Anyone see potential issues with printing on these with a proof press?
http://doradopkg.com/product/12—Blank-Jackets
that link isn’t working, but pay mind to whether it’s glued or not. If the jacket is glued, it may be too thick to easily to bend and wrap about a vandercook cylinder. If you’re using a showcard or poco type proof press it wouldn’t be a problem I’d think.
If there’s any amount of coverage the mareready will be difficult. A good amount of impression will be needed to print on the jacket and you will need to make room in the makeready for the 2-3mm spine on the jacket if it’s already glued. Otherwise, it will get crushed under impression.
I’m using a challenge 15mp (like the sp-15)
And I ran one of my already glued album covers through and it tore it apart, bending, creasing and breaking the seam as it bent around the cylinder. So I guess I’m not printing with already glued ones.
What about setting up a registration system on the bed and laying the cover flat on the inked image and rolling over it with the cylinder? Slower and more tedious but less likely to damage the cover.
Bob