In 2014, Newman Thomson installed a top of the line HP Indigo 7600 digital press. Generally considered within the industry to be the very highest quality digital press that money can buy, the HP Indigo has a range of special features which can be applied to the print in line, on the press.
White Ink
Generally the white of the paper is used for any white that’s to appear in the print, and colours are added on top of this. This works great for almost all projects – until you have a specialist material which isn’t white. Surprisingly difficult to achieve before, Newman Thomson can now print white onto any Indigo approved materials. This can be combined with colour print over the top or just left white; enabling the printing of high quality pages on specialised materials – including transparent, metallic and coloured paper.
Clear Ink
Exactly as it sounds – completely transparent ink. This can be used with stunning effect to create watermarks or other very fine subtle details. It can also be layered up to create areas which are slightly glossy – similar to a Spot UV. Finally, if we really pile on the layers, it can be used to create raised effects.
Raised print
By applying 20 – 50 layers of clear ink, we can now create raised print (sometimes called 3D ink or dimensional print). This adds a unique, tactile effect to your print which makes it really stand out.
De-bossing
By layering dozens of layers of ink on the main drum of the printing press, and then letting it dry before running sheets through the press, the area with the ink will create an small impression on the paper. This effectively means we can create small de-boss effects, in line, on the press, without the need for expensive blocks required on longer run embossing and de-bossing projects.