Embossing and covering up the back
Hi guys,
I have a question about embossing. A client wants a blind emboss to make their logo pop out, which is pretty simple, I’ve already done blind embossing.
But the thing is they would like the back to not show the blind emboss recess. This can be done with a duplexing, obviously.
The challenge here is that the back will have the contact info.
The card will be offset printed and then embossed.
So I am having trouble figuring out a good workflow to accomplish this. My main concerns are:
- If the cards are embossed one by one, how to accomplish registration for the back when gluing them together?
- How not to mess up the emboss when doing the final trim?
- Would it be possible to not have to glue each card individually?
What are your wise words on this? How would you tackle it?
Thanks in advance.
Best,
Enrique
Is there any printing at all on the embossed side? If not, I’d think the easiest method would be to cut to final size before embossing, the duplexing after embossing.
Another possibility would perhaps be doing something like a plate deboss on dampened paper. Is the offset card already printed? If not, do you have any say in the stock? Something thick and soft might take a deboss pretty well.
i’d tell the customer it can’t be done without showing something on the back. maybe you could print it in a clear ink then raise print it??? might work.
@Mephits, There is the contact in the back, the stock they selected is pretty hard stock and smooth, very suitable for offset. It is not printed yet, we’re still figuring out what route to take.
@Dick: I’ve seen it done in a magazine cover but the back had no info just a pattern that did not need precise registration.
That clear ink and raise print it.. Can you elaborate more on that please? I’m not sure if you refer to powder and heat raising?
Thanks, I appreciate your input, guys.
Raised printing was a cheaper way to look a little like embossing. why wouldn’t a clear ink like trans white then dust with clear powder and cook it, i think you would get the embossed look with nothing on the back.
Lay the job up one front image one back image , set head to head with a 10mm gutter . print and emboss job on material ,then crease in centre of gutter glue back side and fold ,you should achieve a positioned result !
That’s genius, Peter. Thanks a lot. Pure genius….. wow.
Dick, I will talkt to them about this option too and see wich one they choose. I think they were looking for thicker stock, so Peter’s choice might work very well too.
I would do it in the manner that Peter suggests, but rather than crease, I would have the fold in the middle of a 1/4 to 1/2” gutter then use perf rule to make the fold. The perf rule will allow the stock to lay flat at the fold when you cut off the guttered portion, which when folded, is a 1/8” to 1/4” stub. If the job has trim all around, it could be run through a coater or glued applied multi up with a foam roller.
That’s great advice also, Mike.
I think the perf rule is pure gold also.
I hope to try these techniques soon and show you how it turns out. And hopefully someone else who might need something similar will benefit from this discussion.
Mike …
thats actually a better option to use a perf as there is no wasted matrix ,
theres no reason why you cant fill an SRA2 sheet for the first printing as he mentioned offset on image but embossed as SRA4 sheets after would save the extra time required . If the job can be set out correctly you may be able to glue in long strips that after folding will give you two long lines of cards duplexed ,ready to trim out.
The approach i take to this comes from carton making where stiffened strips along one end of a sheet may be required .
We get requests for jobs like this all of the time. Once you give them the quote they usually disappear. Make sure they have enough $$$ and get a deposit. The average joe/josephine has no idea how much work will go into a card like this. Cheers:)
They mentioned that money is no issue, since it’s for a customer of them and not directly for them. And I always ask for 60% upfront.
Peter, that’s a great idea to streamline and make the process more efficient.
Enrique-
I want to comment that I have also used the score/fold/glue method mentioned to locate the two halves together with great success. I think it’s probably your best bet. Also, I hadn’t considered using perf to do the score, but will try it next time as that sounds like a smart solution!
When you do duplex, you may find there can still be a certain amount of bowing/cupping that happens with the stack though, depending upon the effects of the glue on the stock/what the stock is made out of; anytime paper gets wet obviously the fibers change in character and swell/warp. Drying under weight is a good idea, I use a bookpress to clamp the sheets down lightly, but you have an embossing problem to overcome so you might want to get some scrap sheetrock, cut it into quarters (like 2x3 foot sections) and dry the sheets beneath this loose, if there are few enough of them. This is how I dry paper that has been dampened; it will be labor intensive though, but it may work with your embossing problem.
You probably have thought of this too, but I think you may need to do the final trim in very short stacks to decrease the sway of the pile against the back-gauge if the paper does warp at all from the glueing.
The clamp pressure will also be reduced, lessening the effect it could have on the embossing.
Another thing you could do to lessen that is to find some offcuts of a nice pillowy stock or some softer chipboard to line both the top and bottom of the pile with. A little soft material top and bottom could help with the clamp pressure and it’s effect on the topmost sheet’s embossing.
Best of luck with it.
Would you be keen on…
Hello. I did a job similar to this (but not quite). I still think this method would work for you. It’s exactly what Peter is talking about.
http://pantherapress.wordpress.com/2013/09/05/duplexing/