by Scott Pillsbury | May 20, 2020 | Beer Wine Spirits, Technical
High Speed Cold Foil Printing
This amazing technology doesn’t fully replace hot stamp printing, and it isn’t perfect for every application, but it solves many problems. This runs at near full press speed (up to 150 feet per minute) and completely avoids the processing on a separate machine. It takes one full step and station out of process which saves time and money.
First, a special UV-curable adhesive is printed onto the label stock using a standard printing plate – no need for an expensive engraved metal plate
Next the foil is laminated to the label stock with the wet adhesive below it. Then, the UV lamp cures the wet adhesive throught the foil.
Finally, the foil is peeled away from the label. You can see where the printed image was left on the label – held down by the cured adhesive.
Perfect for Labels
This inline high speed cold foil printing is perfect for labels. Here is why:
- Faster press speeds reduce overall cost
- No need for expensive engraved copper plates
- Reduced handling for faster delivery
- Wide variety of foils available
Thanks for considering this relatively new technology for your next project. We are growing more excited about this with every job we run. Call us today!
by Scott Pillsbury | May 20, 2020 | Beer Wine Spirits, Technical
Elegant Hot Stamp Foil Printing
As we come out of COVID-19 every consumer product will be looking to grow their impact. Every bottle of beer, wine, spirits and soda will be vying for new customer eyes. Shopping will be a new beginning and old brand loyalties will largely be forgotten. Getting out of the gate strong, making a huge impact on your ‘new’ customers right away, can be a game changer for many brands. Think of this restart after COVID-19 as a blank slate – a true rebirth of physical products in the marketplace. All the old loyalties and prejudices are gone – everyone is shopping in your category for the first time.
Nothing improves your image more than hot stamp foil printing on your label. Foil pops off the shelf. The lighting in a retail shelf or cold case interacts with the label in a way that catches the consumer. You have read many scientific studies about how consumer eyes track around a shelf – you have milliseconds to grab customer attention. Using elegant hot stamp foil on your label gives you that edge – the slight margin you need to capture new eyeballs and new customers. Don’t waste this opportunity to grab your consumer for the first time.
The Machine
Although we have been hot stamp foil printing for years, we upgraded our machine a few years ago to a full servo-driven, state of the art press. See the machine in action on our YouTube channel. Basically, the process is the same as it 
has always been – you heat a magnesium, copper, or brass plate up to 220 degrees and smash the foil onto the label with tremendous force. The process is the same, but this press is much more precise. These are the key features explained in the video:
- Large image area – 9″ x 9″ image area allows us to run very large labels, or run many at a time for better economy.
- Stable steel frame to transfer needed force with precision.
- Servo driven register for exacting foil placement.
- Modern electronics for reliable production into the future.
- Backed by a world wide company and a US-based service technician.
For all these reasons, the new machine is a fantastic addition to our lineup. We are thrilled to have this technology in house – staffed by our own people – so we can always meet your needs for hot stamp foil label printing. When you need an edge in the market after COVID-19, we are here to help.
Design Considerations
Because this is a bit of a crude printing technology, the design must be appropriate. Fade screens, photos, and extreme detail is not possible with hot stamp foil printing. The printing plate seen in this image is etched or engraved (depending on the metal) and the fine details are not possible. Besides the plate detail, the physical process of smashing foil into paper is not as elegant as our other printing press options. Typically bold logos, sans serif type, and borders are good candidates for hot stamp foil printing. If you have a design in mind, please send it to us for review. We can make suggestions to help maximize the impact of your foil elements without wasting money on areas that won’t print well. Fine lines – especially parallel lines together – can be very difficult. The result can be a crude, blocky appearance that defeats the effect you are trying to create. Send us your file for review – we can help get the foil in the right places for maximum impact.
Call Us Today – We have 35 YEARS of Hot Stamp Foil Printing!
We are experts in this area. For nearly 35 years we have been industry leaders in elegant hot stamp foil printing. Other label printers send jobs to us! We are respected in this area because of our knowlege, experience, and results. This COVID-19 crisis has been brutal on many of our customers. We are here for you and want to see you rise from this with a better business than ever. Elegant Hot Stamp foil printing can make a difference in your recovery. Call us today. We can help!
by Scott Pillsbury | May 15, 2020 | Beer Wine Spirits, Label Design, Technical
Textured Label Varnish
Textured label varnish helps your product stand out. The pictures don’t really do it justice, but we can send physical samples – you will be amazed at the tactile feel of this premium textured label varnish. When it is in yoiur hand, it
just feels different than most labels – you know you are drinking something special. In this case, the front label on the bottle is a deeply embossed placard that complements this label very well. Together, they make a premium package for your product.
How do we do that?
Some customers are fascinated with the technology behind their labels, and some really just want the results. If you like knowing how we get your labels to pop off the shelf, this is the paragraph for you. One of the key components of high quality label printing is the delivery of ink and coating to the label stock. The ink (or in this case, coating) is dispensed by a very expensive, finely engraved roller with microscopic ‘cups’ that carry and release coating onto the printing plate. These rollers have various line screens – numbers of cavities per linear inch. As the number of cells is increased, the volume of ink dispensed is reduced. In this case, we used a very coarse, high volume roller to deliver a very thick coating of varnish to the label surface. The textured label varnish is also enhanced with a fine grain additive – almost like putting sand into the label coating. Together with the proper volume, pressure, and press speed, this label ends up with a very distinctive tactile feel.
What does it cost?
Now that we have developed this process through trial and error with customrs, all our customers benefit from this knowledge. Because the textured label varnish slows down the press and uses more expensive materials, it is an upcharge from standard varnish, but it is worth it! The cost increase is only 5-10% over a standard flat varnsih. It isn’t for everyone, but if you like the feel in your hand, you will immediately see that it is worth the additional cost.
Call us today!
We have several different special techniques to offer. Hot and Cold foil treatments, embossing, specialty die cutting and this textured label varnish. We love printing, but often it is the other embellisments beyond printing that help your product stand out on the shelf. Call us today for more information. Now more than ever, you need your labels to stand out to the consumer, and we can make that happen for you.
by Scott Pillsbury | Apr 30, 2020 | Technical
We Know Trapping
We know trapping! Trapping is a critical part of making sure all the elements of a label fit together. This is most critical in traditional press printing – it is the compensation for the inherit movement on a mechanical printing press. Read more to see the details of what it is and how we do it, but rest assured that we know trapping!
High quality labels reflect on your brand, and we take this responsibility very seriously, which is why we pay attention to the details like trapping.
Chokes and Spreads
Traditional printing presses have gears and rollers. There will always be a degree of movement between color stations. Because of that, we need to create an ‘overlap’ between adjacent colors. Putting colors next to each other (1:1) with no overlap gives no margin for error and it results in gaps and white lines between adjacent colors. “Chokes and Spreads” are the common terms to describe expanding one color to cover the other. This is all done in prepress before we make the printing plates.
Choke Example
A ‘Choke’ is a contraction or reduction of size of an element. In this example, a full color image is surrounded by a black border. They are designed to fit adjacent to each other with no overlap. However, on a press, holding that perfect alignment isn’t possible, which can result in a white line between the elements, like this (the ‘before’ image). In order to fix this, we ‘choked’ the outside black border into the color image in the center. This addition of a very, very small stroke around the border ensures that even with a bit of movement, there is never a white line showing. We can spot this problem in the graphics phase when plates are being made to avoid a white line like this. We know trapping.
Spread Example
The opposite of a ‘choke’ is a ‘spread’ and this can mean several different things. In the example at left, we could have spread the full color image out under the existing black border, but 
for cost and simplicity, we chose to choke the outside border into the image. The other very common use of a ‘spread’ is to compensate for the expansion of ink as it is transferred from the printing plate to the label stock. Without the sread, small reverse type like this would fill in. Again, this image on the right is a ‘before’ picture of what would happen without proper trapping. By opening up those white letters, we compensate for the natural filling in. Trapping is critical to getting you high quality labels, and we know trapping!
Summary
We know trapping, so you don’t have to! Some customers are very curious about the details of our process, so we like to share our expertise. That is great – we love to share our expertise. If you want even more technical information about our type of printing, click here. But, if you only want to see the final result, and don’t care about the technical steps along the way, that is fine with us too. We are label experts so you don’t have to be. Rely on us and we will always get you top quality labels, delivered on time, at a fair price. Call us today!
by Scott Pillsbury | Sep 20, 2019 | Label Design, Technical
Labels Need a Shape
Nearly all the labels we produce are die cut to a specific shape. Some are simple rectangles, but many are custom shapes. Regardless of the specific shape nearly all our labels to through the process of high speed rotary die cutting before they get to the customer.
Engraved Dies for Long Life
Many of our labels use very flexible, in expensive magnetic dies now. Our off line die cutter used for digital production uses only magnetic dies. Check out the video of this machine here. Even with this rapid growth, engraved (solid) dies are still very popular and useful on our longer run flexographic label presses.
Across and Around
Because the die image is engraved on the rotary tool, we can’t change the orientation on press. The die can only run in one direction on the roll. Once the label is removed from the backing, you can turn it any direction for hand application, but if you are machine applying your labels, then the run direction is critical. Nobody wants labels upside down on their bottle! For clarity, we always refer to the ACROSS and AROUND dimension on a roll label. This image shows the difference, so please be sure your labels are oriented the correct way.
Call Us Today – We Can Help
With 90 years in business and millions of labels printed, we have thousands of cutting dies to choose from. Sometimes (but not often) we have the same label size running in multiple directions on the roll. If the roll unwind is important to you, please clarify that up front before you design your labels to fit a particular cutting die.
Thank you! Call us at 503-777-4711 today!
by Scott Pillsbury | Sep 13, 2019 | Beer Wine Spirits, Technical
Small Rolls are a Pain to Apply!
Many of our wine customers use a mobile bottling service like Signature or Casteel. Mobile bottlers are economical for many reasons, including inline label application. This video shows labels being applied on a Signature bottling line. Because of the speed and cost of these bottling lines, nobody wants down time. One of the things that can kill productivity is having to stop to change a label roll. Therefore, everyone wants rolls as large as possible – often up to 12-14″ in diameter.
Filling the Press Web is Cost Effective
The problem comes with our customers that do many small batches of wine. Some have 3-5 different blocks of grapes that each go into a specific, very special wine. If you only produce 50 cases of something, the label roll will never be very big – but it gets even worse! We try to be as cost effective as possible so we fill the press web (13″ wide paper in the press).
This image of a label in productions shows that we are running the label 3-across the web to save time and money for the customer. The press web is filled, allowing us to print 3 labels at a time. The problem, however, is that this results in even smaller rolls on the bottling line. If you print 900 labels (60 cases of a specialty wine), you will end up with 3 rolls of 300 each and a nightmare on the bottling line.
Wasting Material is Bad for Everyone
Not only does filling the web make the job more cost effective, it also saves the earth by wasting less paper. On our state of the art digital printing press, the machine requires a full 13″ web, regardless of the finished label size. This means if we want to print only one label across the web, we use 3x the paper for the run! And 3x the press time to get the job done. This is wasteful but also more expensive for the customer.
Splices are Bad, too!
Another (bad) option is splicing the three small rolls together. A splice is basically just taping three rolls together. This is bad because these splices frequently break on the bottling line due to high tension on the rolls. And, this also opens the option for a very big problem – accidentally splicing two different items onto the same roll! For these reasons, we don’t recommend splicing these small rolls.
Total Applied Cost
The label job isn’t really done until the label is on the bottle, in the retail store, and sold to a consumer. The cost of packaging is very complicated and much more than just the individual label price. The total applied cost – the final cost of the label on the bottle – is what really matters. For this reason, we have some very specific recommendations for small batch wineries.
You Decide – Our recommendation
Ultimately, the customer decides what is best for their particular situation. But, based on our 92 years of label experience, we strongly suggest you pay a bit more to get full sized rolls, without splices, to maximize your up time on the bottling line. This doesn’t apply to hand applied labels – only machine applied items on a high speed bottling line. Nobody likes to pay extra for labels, or to waste material, but for us, paying a bit more for the label is worth it to keep your total applied cost down.
Questions? Please call us today at 503-777-4711. We look forward to printing for you again very soon!
has always been – you heat a magnesium, copper, or brass plate up to 220 degrees and smash the foil onto the label with tremendous force. The process is the same, but this press is much more precise. These are the key features explained in the video:
Because this is a bit of a crude printing technology, the design must be appropriate. Fade screens, photos, and extreme detail is not possible with hot stamp foil printing. The printing plate seen in this image is etched or engraved (depending on the metal) and the fine details are not possible. Besides the plate detail, the physical process of smashing foil into paper is not as elegant as our other printing press options. Typically bold logos, sans serif type, and borders are good candidates for hot stamp foil printing. If you have a design in mind, please send it to us for review. We can make suggestions to help maximize the impact of your foil elements without wasting money on areas that won’t print well. Fine lines – especially parallel lines together – can be very difficult. The result can be a crude, blocky appearance that defeats the effect you are trying to create. Send us your file for review – we can help get the foil in the right places for maximum impact.
just feels different than most labels – you know you are drinking something special. In this case, the front label on the bottle is a deeply embossed placard that complements this label very well. Together, they make a premium package for your product.
Some customers are fascinated with the technology behind their labels, and some really just want the results. If you like knowing how we get your labels to pop off the shelf, this is the paragraph for you. One of the key components of high quality label printing is the delivery of ink and coating to the label stock. The ink (or in this case, coating) is dispensed by a very expensive, finely engraved roller with microscopic ‘cups’ that carry and release coating onto the printing plate. These rollers have various line screens – numbers of cavities per linear inch. As the number of cells is increased, the volume of ink dispensed is reduced. In this case, we used a very coarse, high volume roller to deliver a very thick coating of varnish to the label surface. The textured label varnish is also enhanced with a fine grain additive – almost like putting sand into the label coating. Together with the proper volume, pressure, and press speed, this label ends up with a very distinctive tactile feel.
A ‘Choke’ is a contraction or reduction of size of an element. In this example, a full color image is surrounded by a black border. They are designed to fit adjacent to each other with no overlap. However, on a press, holding that perfect alignment isn’t possible, which can result in a white line between the elements, like this (the ‘before’ image). In order to fix this, we ‘choked’ the outside black border into the color image in the center. This addition of a very, very small stroke around the border ensures that even with a bit of movement, there is never a white line showing. We can spot this problem in the graphics phase when plates are being made to avoid a white line like this. We know trapping.
for cost and simplicity, we chose to choke the outside border into the image. The other very common use of a ‘spread’ is to compensate for the expansion of ink as it is transferred from the printing plate to the label stock. Without the sread, small reverse type like this would fill in. Again, this image on the right is a ‘before’ picture of what would happen without proper trapping. By opening up those white letters, we compensate for the natural filling in. Trapping is critical to getting you high quality labels, and we know trapping!
