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

In the Black...

Many of you may know that here at Fenner Paper we have one of the largest range of black papers and boards on the market. I wrote about our black ranges back in 2014 when we had over thirty items and we now have over forty different black stock items!

This is the new swatch which includes the latest addition to our range of blacks - BLACKGOLD. The new range of black papers is an intense, deep black. The range is produced without the use of Carbon Black pigment which makes it particularly suitable for hot foil blocking.

Below shows the detail of the new Blackgold, which is available in 120, 190, 290, 340 and 380gsm. All items are available in 720x1020mm (B1)

The surface of Blackgold has been treated to make it more fingermark resistant and more scratch resistant ...that's not to say you can't mark it, it is just more resistant than some other materials!

 

Blackgold joins our other black range, which we have been stocking for many years called NOTTURNO. This range is available in eleven different weights! 90, 110, 140, 170, 200, 250, 300, 350, 390, 450, 700gsm.

 The swatch is about A5 size with a 30mm spine.

 

If you would like one of these new swatches, please get in contact with me and I shall send you one with great pleasure! justin@fennerpaper.co.uk

www.gruppocordenons.com

Posted by Justin Hobson 16.02.2018

Lino King

When I started writing this blog back in 2009, it was because I wanted to share printed projects (mainly on our papers) with a wider audience than I can ever hope to visit personally. As this blog has evolved over time, a rewarding aspect has been showing work which has then inspired designers working in other areas. For example I have had a designer working in fashion promotion tell me they have been inspired by an article about a property brochure ... that's a satisfying feeling!

This project I believe will be one of those that will be of interest to all readers as it combines superb design, digital technology, hand embossing and wonderful use of colour.

Ashley Hutchinson is the designer and printmaker behind Ash Leaf Printmaking Studio. He produces limited edition lino and wood cut prints with a twist, as he incorporates embossing into all of his designs. All of the prints are embossed by hand using his three etching presses including his 1920s proofing press 'GEM'. Ash has been designing and publishing contemporary greeting cards for over 10 years.

This range of eight cards is called the Stardust Floral range. They are all printed on our Stardream range of pearlescent and metallic papers in 285gsm. Colours used are Opal, Rose Quartz, Lagoon, Vista, Azalea, Citrine, Fine Gold and Flame. Stardream is made by Gruppo Cordenons in Italy.

The 4pp cards are 145mm square

Showing anything in relief with my limited photographic abilities is hard, so it's easier for me to show the card printed on Stardream Opal 285gsm above ...and the inside of the same card below:

The embossing of the designs is truly outstanding but you'll have to take my word for it. It's also the colour combination of this range which I find so inspiring...

Production at Linoking is all in house. Printing is on a Canon inkjet printer and they are hand embossed.

As I mentioned earlier, the colour combinations is something I find inspiring - this purply/blue shade printed on the Stardream Azalea (below) is stupendous.

Sarah Glennie is my colleague who deals with our products that we sell into this market. The greeting card "industry" is quite a separate area of the creative world. It's interesting to me that there is so little crossover between the "corporate" design for print market and greeting card publishers who are responsible for putting the cards on the shelves in our shops around the country.

...anyway, I hope this article will inspire all creatives out there!

https://www.ashleafprintmaking.co.uk/stardust-floral-range
http://www.cordenons.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 26.06.2017

New Modigliani Swatch

We now have a brand new A5 swatch for our Modigliani range manufactured by Cordenons in Italy. If you aren't familiar with Modigliani, it is a 'feltmarked' text and cover paper with a texture resembling that of a watercolour paper, it has a wonderful tactile feel. 

The inside of the swatch below:

Click on images to enlarge

Modigliani is available in three shades of white, Candido, Neve, Bianco plus Camoscio (cream) and Perla (grey). All shades are available in 95, 145, 200, 260 and 320gsm.

The above image shows detail of the watercolour texture.

The swatch also incorporates Dore Modigliani which is the same paper but with a pearlescent coating applied, which together with the feltmark gives the sheet an amazing shimmer.

 If you would like one of the new swatches, just email me: justin@fennerpaper.co.uk

http://www.gruppocordenons.com/en/home.html
http://www.cordenons.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 07.04.2017

Patternise 3-D model Christmas Card

A Christmas card that is also a 3-D model!

Patternise is a company based in Uckfield, East Sussex, who specialise in offering creative design and laser-cutting services. They work with a wide range of clients across the UK - managing large volume projects for major corporates and Visual Merchandisers to smaller projects for individuals and weddings ...and this is their lovely Christmas card:

The card is an A5 (148x210mm) tent format and hot foil blocked and digitally printed (HP Indigo) on our Stardream Crystal 285gsm from Gruppo Cordenons. As you can see from the image above, there is a self assembly push out reindeer model, which is superb!

Image showing the inside of the card...

Click on images to enlarge

Patternise use state of the art laser cutters from Trotec and they specialise in cutting “clean” materials such as fine papers, cards, acrylics and plastics (PP/PET). One of the things that particularly impressed me about this card is that the type and signatures are not printed, they are laser engraved. This is a fantastic process and can add a completely different dimension to printed literature.

The card is produced using their brand new "super pulsed" Trotec galvo system (GS1000), which enables extremely high-speed laser cutting and high volume paper finishing. Using this system they are able to cut many 1000's of sheets within very quick time-frames, which would be impossible with conventional lasers. This whole card was cut and engraved in 24 seconds!

I urge you to watch this quick video showing the laser process - it's only one minute long:

Reverse of the card, which shows the unprinted Stardream Crystal with it's superb pearlescent shimmer....

 ..and here is the Reindeer that I made:

Patternise are based in Uckfield, East Sussex. This is a lovely card, a brilliant promotional item and a fantastic example of the creative uses of lasercutting and laser engraving and of course our Stardream board as well! With thanks to the team at Patternise.

www.patternise.co.uk

Posted by Justin Hobson 22.12.2016

Jobs from the past - Number 84

Regular followers of this blog will know that my first post of every month is a "job from the past" so that I can show some of the really good work from years gone by and here's one from 2007.

Barclays Silver Incentive 2007

This project was produced for Barclays Financial Planning in 2007, just one year before the financial crash in 2008. This is an internal promotion sent to financial advisors with an incentive that if they hit a certain target, they would get a luxurious weekend away in Venice. This rather lavish internal promotional item is designed to look like a medieval map....

The size of the map is A1 size (594x420mm) folding to A4. It folds in such a way that it creates a gatefold, so that an imitation wax seal is applied to seal the document.

Detail of the seal, which is a simplified version of the Barclays eagle.

The below image shows the map closed, half open and then fully open...

The map is printed on our Flora Avorio 130gsm. Flora is a  it is a part recycled paper (with FSC accreditation) with natural, deliberately visible, inclusions and fibres. It has a tactile, rough feel and has a character which was just perfect to reproduce this old map.

Click on images to enlarge

The below image shows the reverse of the map, complete with aged water stains and wear marks.

Below are details of the map, which gives you an idea of the inclusions in the paper.



An interesting little adjunct to this story is that Flora is manufactured by an Italian paper mill called Cordenons, which is based close to Venice. In the 15th Century a group of Gutenberg's pupils established themselves in Venice and from then on, the centre of the Venetian empire became one of the most important areas for printing and publishing in Europe. By the 18th century, the records of the Senate of the Doges of Venice show there is documentary evidence of the manufacturer 'Cartiere Di Cordenons' noting the high esteem in which the mill was held. It has been widely known as "the paper mill of the Doges" since then and the winged Lion of Venice is still proudly the company's motif.

It's an excellent use of the right paper for the right job. You could have printed all the specks and flecks along with the aged look onto a white sheet of paper but it would never have had the impact or dramatic feel as this piece has achieved.

 

Design was 'in house' at Barclays Bank. Printing is Offset Litho in CMYK and it was printed by The Midas Press, who went bust in 2011 and who I wrote about here.

 

The project was handled by David Crompton at Midas Press, who sent me some copies and I still have his kind note.

David Crompton is now at Dayfold Printers in Dorset.

Posted by Justin Hobson 03.10.2016

New Flora swatch

We have a brand new swatch for our Flora range manufactured by Cordenons in Italy!

Click on images to enlarge

Flora is available in nine natural shades and it comes in a sensible range of weights: 100, 130, 240 and 350gsm (160gsm is also available from the mill).

For those not familiar with Flora, it is a part recycled paper (with FSC accreditation) with natural, deliberately visible, inclusions and fibres. It has a tactile, rough feel and has a character all of it's own! Below is detail showing the inclusions (and a pencil for scale!):

It really is a lovely range. Muted natural colours and excellent printability. Here are some previous projects which have used Flora to great effect:
http://justinsamazingworldatfennerpaper.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/baines-fricker.html
http://justinsamazingworldatfennerpaper.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/lower-mill-estate.html

If you would like one of the new swatches, just drop me an email: justin@fennerpaper.co.uk

http://www.gruppocordenons.com/en/home.html
http://www.cordenons.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 04.09.2015