OUGD504: Design Production - Design for Print Printing Primary Research

Today we had a briefing with Phil about finishes and primary research. I took on board what he put across in the session that I had not done enough Primary research into print. I thought about what I could do to rectify this in the short time I had in the morning. I went to look at the facilities which we have at Blenheim walk which are ways of printing.

Firstly, I went to reprographics or the digital dungeon. I spoke to James about the different printers he has in the room and he said that he can very simply explain them as the smaller printers can print up to a2 and the larger ones can print A0 in width but to any length, this is dependant on the length of the roll of paper.

A2 Printer

A0 Width

A2 Printer

A0 Width

Vinyl cutter

This machine is used to create stickers, the cutter follows a line which is placed over the design on the computer. This line will be placed on another layer in either illustrator or photoshop and must be visible on its own. Alternatively it can cut into paper like it is doing above, it can act as a very fine laser cutter which will not have the heat marks which is commonly seen on any design which has been laser cut.

Packing machine

This machine is used to pack something in a clear material. This would be great for someone to use if they have an interest in packaging.

Traditional ways of printing:

I went to the print room to photograph the machines they have in that resource and on my way I came across this stamp as part of a display outside the print room. This is one of the most traditional ways of printing and I think it originated from the traditional way to mark cattle on farms. I will have to look into this in more detail to find out if my concept is true.

Print room:

I went to the print room where the machines for screen print, letterpress and many other processes are kept. This first machine I came across was this press. I have used this before at Vernon Street for lino printing and I would like to try it out for embossing. I saw someone place paper which had been cut into on the machine with another piece of paper onto of it and the emboss which came out was really effective. This process would not work with my wood block because the roller would not adjust to go over the wood.

Screen printing:

These are the screen printing beds. They use a vacuum suction system to keep the paper held down to the table. A screen is secured in place on top of the machine in the device seen above the bed. I have tried screen printing before and did not find that it appealed to my style of working. I would be open to experimenting with it further to show development of the process.

The machine on the left is the newest and the right is one of the old beds. They are both very similar just less worn.

Digital print:

This is the digital print machine, it is used for printing onto fabric. These machines are very similar to the ones in the digital dungeon except for the stock it is printed onto. There are specific steps to take before the print can be processed and these are listed below. I also chose to photograph the inks which are used to print, there are several different types including CMYK which is used for digital printing.

Stock:

There are several different stocks which are available from the print room and these can be printed onto using a variety of different processes. There are not only different paper stocks available but also a range of foils which can be bought. The process of foiling can be done in two ways, which I know of. One using a screen and glue to stick to the paper and two using a laminator. I have tried out the laminator option and it did not work very well but I am yet to try it out with a screen.