1. Printing processes

2. Processes Lithography (Litho) Letterpress Flexography Gravure
Screen printing

3. Lithography History Water and grease don’t mix
Toulouse Lautrec drew with a greasy crayon on stone put water on the stone then put ink on stone using a roller
The ink would stick to the crayon not the water and when the paper was pressed on the ink would transfer to the paper

4. Litho today Fast, economic and quality Uses aluminium plates
Offsett image on plate transferred to roller which is transferred to paper
Diluted oily ink which needs time to dry
Sheet fed or web (web means continuous roll of paper)
Economical for between 1,000 and 1,000,000 copies
Colour broken into Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black (CMYK) or spot colours for extra particular colours

10. Draw this diagram and add the lables

13. Colour Bars Registration marks Registration marks
Check Thickness of ink
Registration marks
Check printed in the right position
Registration marks

14. Letterpress
A letterpress works much like a sophisticated rubber stamp.
The raised image area is inked by large rollers and the ink is then transferred directly to the paper sheet.
Draw this diagram and add the lables

15. Letterpress The oldest printing process Relief printing
One colour (usually black) thick layer of ink
Economical for between 500 and 5,000 copies
Limited typefaces available
Used mainly for text only - not suitable for half tone illustrations
Most often used for text pages of books

17. Flexography
Frequently used for printing on plastic, foil, acetate film, brown paper, and other materials used in packaging particularly carrier bags
uses flexible printing plates made of rubber or plastic
The inked plates with a slightly raised image are rotated on a cylinder which transfers the image to the substrate.
uses fast-drying ink, limited quality can be achieved
Economical for between 250 and 5,000 copies using hand fed machinery.
Economical for very high volumes (250,000 to 10,000,000) using fully automated machinery

18. Gravure High quality and expensive
Used for high quality photographic images
Opposite of relief printing printing plate created with engraved image creating cells of ink colour
Ink is spirit based and dries immediately
Gravure printing is often used for high-volume printing of packaging, wallpaper, and gift wrap. Although less common, gravure printing may also be used for printing magazines, greeting cards, and high-volume advertising.
Economical for between 500,000 and 5,000,000

19. Gravure
Draw this diagram and add the lables

20. Screen printing
This is completely different to other printing processes as it uses a stencil through which ink is forced. The stencil is attached to a fine mesh (originally silk) which controls the amount of ink passing through the stencil
Used mainly for T-shirts and unusual shaped plastics
Famously used by Andy Warhol
Good quality can be achieved as long as images are relatively simple - Cannot achieve fine detail
Requires a long drying time

24. Test
1. 2,000 single colour, good quality, leaflets are required. Which printing process would you consider to be most economical to use? ∏ Offset lithographic
∏ Screen ∏ Photocopy ∏ Gravure

25. Are the following statements true or false ?
The ink is held below the surface of the plate during gravure printing. True False
3 Water is used to print with when lithographic printing.
True False
4 Red, yellow, blue and black make up process colours. True False
5 A fine mesh controls the flow of ink in screen-printing.
6 Letterpress gives the best quality print for photographs.
7 Flexography is the most suitable process for printing on to plastic film.