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We get asked a lot of questions about different areas about printing. It can be a confusing or somewhat arcane subject matter for those outside the industry. There are a several that get asked time and again though, and I thought it would be a good time to update our blog so you know too. This is a update of the blog entry written back in January 2015. A lot of things have changed since then so it’s about time we corrected a few of our answers and added a few new questions about how we do things now
A. It costs you more because the paper costs us more. 99.99% of all printing is done on white super smooth paper so the papermakers have sell at the most competitive rate they can because of the demand. With coloured paper having less use in the printing industry theses days, that means less demand so a higher price. If you need colour paper we do carry a small range, and order in at your cost from a bigger selection. Often it’s actually cheaper to print in full colour on white than print on coloured paper. For textured papers, it’s more of a case of demand and complexity. Modern printing systems focus on printing as fast as they can so need the smoothest surface to lay the image on. Textured papers & cards aren’t smooth so extra steps are needed to make sure the image is even when the surface is not. As such it’s less often done, reducing the demand for the paper so it’s more expensive to buy. Processing old used paper to make paper of commercial printing standard is quite an expensive process, far more than from new wood, so naturally the recycled paper cost more too. However if you want to make sure your paper is ‘green’ as you can get it, have a look at the next question.
A. While we get papers from several different suppliers, who in turn source it from many different paper mills, they all conform to several international environmental standards. We would have to work quite hard to find a paper that isn’t sourced from sustainable new growth commercial forests, as covered under the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) or PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes). The manufacturing process of the paper are also environmentally safe methods vetted by various environmental agencies, with some of the new papers we are getting are classed as ‘carbon neutral/negative’ where the carbon the absorbed by the trees as much or more than what is generated by the paper manufacturing process.
A. Yes, but we have the right to refuse to print on it. A lot of papers sold are not designed to handle the commercial toner printers we use. It will warp, shrink, or even discolour (scorch) from the heat. Some papers buckle or tear from the stresses that our equipment puts on it as it feeds through. I’ve had people bring in inkjet photo-paper who are surprised when I say I will only print on it with our more expensive wide format inkjet printer. What they don’t realise that most ‘photo-papers’ have a plastic top coating that protects the water soluble ink of the print. That same plastic coating can shrink or even melt under the high temperatures of our toner printer, which can damage very expensive parts of it. It’s only rarely that I do refuse a paper and often we can match the look of other papers with just a few design tricks own our own papers.
A. A lot of art and craft papers are have textured or have a raw/unfinished surfaces. When you print with an inkjet printer, the ink soaks in to the paper ‘filling in’ the gaps as it were. Our toner printer is designed to handle textured papers to a degree, our own linen and recycled card work well with it. However we can’t promise the same with paper/card you bring in as it may not be designed for use in commercial printing systems. Also some papers/cards will come out patchy no matter what we do because that’s the intended effect and in fact your printer might be printing it wrong. Having said all that, we are willing to test it for you if you give us some sample paper, we can also do some design trickery to simulate some effects too.
A. Yes, with a proviso. Officially 350gsm paper is the heaviest our equipment is rated for, and we put through the 350gsm high-bulk for our business cards. Generally speaking 350gsm has become the standard heavy weight for all small to medium print companies as it means you can use the same card both in digital printers (toner) and offset printers (wet ink). If you were to bring in card heavier than 350gsm we may consider doing it but it’s at your risk and we have the right to refuse to print on it if we think it might cause problems for our equipement. Larger print companies can do much heavier weights, like board used for drink coasters, but that’s a whole different level of price.
A. We still do have a sizable range of papers and cards to print your work on. The reason why the choices are more limited on our web 2 print site is two fold. One, too many options can be confusing and in reality the differences between a 150 and 170gsm paper are only noticeable to people who need to know. If you are one of those people you would be contacting us directly not using w2p. Two, it also falls in line with general print industry standards, which means that if you order flyers through our express (digital) service or our standard/high volume (offset) service they should look and feel the same. Don’t worry thought we can customise any order on our online systems easily. Give us a phone call or email to find out more.
A. We do carry a select range of non-papers for specialty jobs. This includes adhesive label (die cut and flat sheets), ohp sheets, ‘never tear’ plastics, adhesive plastics. We are also looking into other materials that can offer new options for you so keep an eye out on our website, sign up to our facebook page, or join our newsletter. If you are looking for things like magnets, bags, usb drives, mugs, etc, we can’t print them in house but we have partners who do. For such branded items we will work direct with you to get the best option to meet your needs and you only have to deal with us for updates and payments.
This is the first of a series of FAQ’s we will be adding to the blog to answer the common questions we get. If you have one that is not answered by this or any of our helpful blog articles then please do give us a call or email and we will be happy to answer all of your questions in future articles.