Tom Kubinski
Printing Consultant
tkubinski@sextonprinting.com
Direct: (651) 255-1225
Fax: (651) 457-7040
Cell: (612) 760-3700

Mary Albers
Customer Service
mkc@sextonprinting.com
Direct: (651) 255-1255


www.sextonprinting.com
250 East Lothenbach Ave.
Saint Paul, MN 55118
Phone: (651) 457-9255
Fax: (651) 457-7040
Toll Free: (800) 388-2914


Branding - 22 Laws Of
Brand Warfare
Creative Coatings Techniques
Desktop Techniques
Digital / Variable Printing
Direct Mail Raise Response, Lower Costs
Duotones-Tritones-Quadtones
FSC Certification
In House Mailing Capabilities
Ink Tour
Paper Mill Tour
Picking the Right Paper
PDF Formats
PDF Info & Quark vs. InDesign
Postal Increases & Requirement Changes
Post it to the Web vs. Print
Press Check Tips
Save Disk Space
Top File Issues
UV Burn
Ways to Save Money
What Sets Sexton Apart?
Why Work With TK?

December 2005 TK's Korner

Ink Tour

This month's issue will focus on one of the main ingredients in every printed piece, ink. A recent ink tour was very informative and I will try to shed some color on this subject as it pertains to it's basic ingredients: shelf life, special notes about metalics, job continuity, drawdowns and color matching. It should help guide you in making decisions when it comes to your next piece.

The tour was at Flint Ink. Flint was established in 1920 and currently has over 100 locations worldwide. They produce oil-based ink for web heatset, newsprint, offset for both commercial and packaging industries, water-based flexo, solvent-based flexo, gravure and news injector.

>>> See photos from the tour <<<

Basic ingredients of ink:
Varnish, also called the vehicle, is used as a carrier for all the other components of the formulation. Varnish is also an important contributor to fighting water on an offset press, helping with ink drying, gloss, hardness of final dry, etc.

Flushed Pigment, which is pigment predispersed in varnish. Flushed pigment is the colorant portion of an ink formulation.

Compounds, which could be wax, Teflon or any other of the many performance-enhancing materials used in an ink.

Fillers could be different forms of clay, which promote viscosity as well as hold an ink together under the punishment of printing. For matte ink, one could use silica.

Additives can promote drying, fight water on press, give ink a better release from the blanket and less pick on the paper, and fight skin-over in the can. In any case, it's important to choose the correct additives for the job. Your printer needs to be well informed on the stock and its end use.

Oils are used to wet down the formulation and control tack. Linseed oil and tung oil promote a strong final dry. Deodorized petroleum distillates help accomplish a fast set because they flash off quickly in a web oven or under IR lights.

Shelf life of ink:
Regular ink has a shelf life of about one year. After that time, it can start to body up and become more tacky. Also, the driers can become weakened and cause some drying problems.

Metallic ink has a shelf life of about one month or so, depending on the amount of metallic pigment in it. Because of pigment oxidation, the ink color starts to tarnish and the tack/viscosity of the ink changes.

Special Notes About Metallic Inks
When you use metallic inks, you need to be very careful with specialty post-printing procedures. Often, heavy metallic pigmented colors cause major problems with UV coatings, film laminations, foil stamping and some laser applications.

In addition, they can cause grief on press when used in wet traps. Even when the metallic and overlying color are specially formulated to work together in a wet trap, the result is never as good as in a dry trap.

Metallic ink has metal flecks in it to give it its shiny appearance. You need to be aware that metallic inks do not show their true colors until the flecks float to the surface as the ink sets. When the ink sets, the flecks lie at different angles and reflect light. Note that when you overprint metallics with aqueous coating, you disrupt the light reflection and loose some metallic appearance.

For the above reasons, metallics should be bought on a job-specific basis.

Job Continuity:
Keep in mind that ink can vary by lot. On companion pieces, especially with very light colors or tints, you may wish to discuss having enough ink made for all at one time.

One ink can differ in appearance depending on the paper used. .To demonstrate, Flint took 15 different types of paper (recycled news to cast coated) and used the exact same PMS color red. In all, the people thought that at least 10 different colors of red where used.

If you are planning to use different types of paper (substrates), please let your printer know. We may either run the standard ink or make a custom ink based on each different type of paper being used. In either case, drawd owns will come in handy to let you know how each ink will be affected.

Drawdowns:
The ink company calls drawdowns prints or proofs. They are created (pulled) on a lab proof press called a Little Joe. All drawdowns are made one at a time, one color at a time, by hand. It normally takes about 3 to 5 pulls to get an acceptable drawdown. Flint prefers to have ten 8.5"x11" sheets of each paper being tested.

You can even request drawdowns half coated with either a varnish or aqueous. Just remember that they do them as dry traps only (due to the nature of the equipment). The results will be slightly different from what would be produced on press.

Color Matching:
Computer color management is used in matching colors and in quality control. I have used computer color matching on many projects where a client has been varnishing in the past and wishes to go to an aqueous. To avoid UV burn, we need to use high performance inks or UV inks that are not sensitive to the extreme heat produced by aqueous or UV coating. This process has saved many a headache as well as given us a great end product.

For those of you who want to know more about UV burn, the next TK's Korner will cover what UV burn is and what precautions you should take so you don't get burned on your next project.

Referrals are greatly appreciated. If you know someone who I should contact, please let me know.

If you would like to join me on one of our upcoming tours, if there is something that you would like me to address, or if you know of someone who might like to receive TK's Korner, please let me know via e-mail at tkubinski@sextonprinting.com or phone. Take care and have a great day.

Successfully,
Tom Kubinski-Printing Consultant