What is ...Wiro Binding?

What is ...Number 25

Regular followers of this blog will know that in the middle of the month, I publish a "What is ....? post. The article covers various aspects of paper, printing and finishing in greater depth. However, many of these subjects are complex, so these posts are only intended to be a brief introduction to the topic.

What is ...Wire-O® Binding

Wire-O ® binding is a popular binding method where the text leaves are punched and held together in a closed metal 'ring' which allows for 360 degree rotation of the pages.

The term "Wire-O"® is actually a registered trademark of a company called James Burn International. Therefore everytime you use the word Wire-O ® it should have a little ® after it. To be honest, this ® thing is getting a bit boring and I'm pretty confident anyone reading this will now know that it is a registered trademark! ...so I'm not using the little ® again! This type of binding is also referred to as twin loop wire, wirebind, double loop wire, ring wire and double-o. To the left is an example of a typical wire-o bound job.

Here is an image of a wire before it is closed to make a ring: 

The below image shows the 'join' when the ring has been closed. You can see the way the two ends "marry" together stopping the cover and text coming apart.  This 'seam' normally appears in the inside back cover.  

Wire-O can either be produced in an office on a 'desk-top' machine or commercially on large fully automated machines where the wires are fed on huge spools. Below is an example of a "desktop" type binding machine.

Firstly the paper must be punched - either with square or round holes. The punched pages are then placed onto the "C" shaped wire. When complete it is placed into the wire closer which squeezes the spine until it is round.

Now there is an important thing that is worth pointing out. There are two common hole patterns used for wiro. 3:1 pitch is 3 holes per inch is most commonly used for binding small sized documents between 2mm and 10mm thickness. Larger documents use 2:1 pitch which is 2 holes per inch. The physical wire is a different thickness. On the left there is an image showing A4 length wire. On the left hand side is a 3:1 pitch and on the right is a 2:1 pitch

Below is a practical demonstration of the difference between 3:1 and 2:1. It is a catalogue for artist Callum Innes at the Ikon Gallery. It was designed by Lucy Richards and printed by Summerhall Press and printed on Neptune Unique Softwhite in 1996. The catalogue on the left is 6mm thick and is bound using a 3:1 wire. The catalogue on the right is 14mm thick and uses a 2:1 wire.

Click on images to enlarge

Below is the birds eye view, showing the thicknesses and the wire.

Click on images to enlarge

One other thing that is worth pointing out here is that there are various styles that can be used to make the cover and text a bit more interesting!

Here is an example of a standard wire-o

Below is a style where the wire is concealed inside a spine in the cover and the wire is exposed on the outside back cover. This format is called a 'half canadian'

...and here is an example of a 'full canadian' where the wire is exposed on both the outside front and back cover

Below is a standard wiro, which has been bound on the end of an 8pp cover which then 'reverse folds' on itself therefore concealing the wire inside the spine.

There is a section in my Size|Format|Stock booklet which includes many of the formats for Wire-O binding. If you'd like one, just get in touch.

http://www.jamesburn.com/
http://www.jamesburn.com/home/pages/wireo_binding.html

Posted by Justin Hobson 18.01.2016

Sad demise of The Colourhouse

On Friday, Printweek reported that The Colourhouse, a London based printing company, has gone into liquidation (in laymans terms that means they've gone bankrupt).

http://www.printweek.com/print-week/news/1140263/runs-colourhouse

It's very sad news as they have been an excellent quality print company in the design and corporate sector. Over the years, they won many printing awards and accolades, including many PrintWeek and Printing World awards as well as a fair share of the various paper company awards that used to take place in the 90's

The Colourhouse was started in 1993 and it's beginnings, certainly were colourful! In the  1980/1990's there was a printer called Litho-Tech based in Bermondsey Street and they were among the printing elite, along with such names as CTD, Oakley Press, Balding & Mansell, Summerhall Press, Westerham Press etc. that were producing really excellent print for the corporate print market, notably design lead, Annual Report & Accounts.

In 1993 a vacant unit opposite Litho-Tech came up for lease and there was much speculation as to who would be moving in. The power was connected, there were rumours that a printers was moving in, but little did Paul Watson (MD of Litho-Tech) realise that it was some of his staff that would walk across the yard and set up The Colourhouse from a standing start!

Scotty (Malcolm Cooper), the owner of repro company Scott Colour (which produced Litho-Tech's repro, film and plates) production director Terry Rudd and salesman David May formed the backbone of the new company which started printing virtually immediately. The Colourhouse quickly gained a reputation for high quality print and produced many annual reports. Litho-Tech who were not happy with their new neighbours, moved to Kennington Park and The Colourhouse ruled Bermondsey for the remainder of the 90's.

David May was ousted in 1997 with Mike Roberts and David Arkell taking over responsibility for sales. Having outgrown the factory in Bermondsey they moved to Deptford in 2002 and expanded with more presses, finishing equipment and a bigger sales force.

In the late 2000's, they commissioned a new identity by Sea with photography by Simon Phipps. Further investments in press technology culminated at the end of last year with a brand new  Heidelberg Speedmaster XL106 being installed. In line with many commercial printers, they have seen tough times in recent years and also had the misfortune of having taken a sizeable bad debt last year with the collapse of a charity marketing agency, CSDM.

Nearly one hundred jobs have been lost which is terrible for all those involved and there will be a long list of creditors who will never be paid. It marks the sad demise of one of the last, large, London based printers.

http://www.printweek.com/print-week/news/1140263/runs-colourhouse

 

Posted by Justin Hobson 04.11.2013