New papers and new processes

Kestrel Press are a family owned printing company based in Irvine in Scotland which was founded over 40 years ago. However, unlike many established printers, this is a company that continues to innovate and explore new materials. Their work has appeared on this blog before here.

We have recently introduced two new materials which Kestrel Press have embraced as they realised their potential with the design community. The first product is our BlackGold which is our new range of intense black from Gruppo Cordenons.

Kestrel have produced some A4 folders using BlackGold 290gsm and they are printed using their "seeing is believing" strapline which they are applying to their promotions to demonstrate their innovations in digital printing.

The size of the 4pp folder is 300x215mm, portrait and is printed using clear digital print, which looks like a cross between varnish and clear foil blocking and works brilliantly on the BlackGold.

Click on images to enlarge

The inside of the folder is printed in white, again printed digitally and the result is really crisp and sharp. Both of these processes have been printed on their Ricoh digital press with the special attachments which make white and clear printing possible. Because these are processes which are produced in the normal pass through the press and not an "after" process, it means they are much more cost effective than traditional processes such as foil blocking or UV varnish.

The 4pp folder has a glued flap with a 140mm pocket and slits for a business card. The business cards are also printed on BlackGold but are triplexed with our Colorset Magenta 270gsm as the middle layer. 

Click on images to enlarge

The business cards are also clear printed on the reverse.

The second material used for experimentation is our new SIXTIES paper, which is 60gsm. These sheets are 320x450mm and is also surprisingly printed in white....

The white is printed on the front, but as you can see from the image below, even though it is printed white, you can still see the show through

This new SIXTIES is 60gsm and is a fine quality, similar to our Offenbach Bible in many ways but with one major difference - unlike a genuine bible paper which has a high opacity, this new paper has the same translucency as a tracing paper - but it feels like a normal paper! ...as I hope you can see from the picture below:

...and this further sheet which is printed in black (and a small amount of red) on both sides of sixties making an image out of type.

The results are truly superb and it is great when a printer takes the time and trouble to examine and experiment with new materials that they then show to their customers.

My thanks to Graeme Ferguson at Kestrel for sending me these samples and for taking the time to experiment with their new processes on these new materials.

http://www.kestrelpress.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 27.03.2018