Print processes for the Good is... brief

Offset Litho would be an appropriate print process for my Tea envelopes. It's a relatively cheap process and the quality of the print is good. Litho is suitable for print runs of less than 1 million and as my packaging is effectively available for a limited time and only in takeaway outlets this may be the most suitable option. Also, the more you print, the cheaper each print is, and as the print run would probably be at the larger end of the possible print scale, it would probably be worthwhile to print it this way. As a printing process it's extremely quick, but isn't quite as good quality as a gravure print.It basically works by having a positive image on the first roller, which transfers to another blanket roller, which reverses the image. This roller is then applies the image to the stock, which is fed through the press using an impression cylinder. Ink is made up partially of an oily substance and therefore repels water as opposed to the non-image area which absorbs water. The printing plate remains wet thorugh the print in order for the ink to be rejected by the non image area and applies itself to the area of the iage.

Above image :offset litho

Gravure printing could be a possible option for the tea envelopes, but to make the prints viable, over 1 million would need to be produced, and it's a much more costly process as the printing plates cost a considerable amount to produce (have a look at the post on the 2nd October to read more about Gravure print)



I think that Flexographic printing would be more appropriate for the paper cups, as they are effectively a type of food packaging, and as such is non-porous. As food packaging does not ABSORB ink, in the same way that average paper stocks do, flexography is the best option


Screen printing would be the best printing method for the aprons... being fabric, they would need to printed this way or by using iron on transfers...

I had intended the tea packaging etc to be made in starbucks or costa coffee shops... there are between 530 and 700 starbucks in the Uk depending on which figures you believe so... if each one is sent 10 aprons for their staff in order to promote the tetley brand, that would be between 5300-7000 aprons. Judging by the prices below, I think each one would cost £2.07 to produce plus postage plus the £35 screen fee for each colour... (x2 colours = £70)
Screen Printing costs for aprons from www.thecleverbaggers.co.uk in pounds sterling


This is the small print...
"All prices quoted are for the product including a single colour print and do not include carriage which varies with product quantity and destination location.
All prices are in £ Sterling - VAT will be added at the standard rate
Additional charges apply for origination/screens - as a general rule this is £35.00 per colour/design.
ALL PRICES ARE SUBJECT TO SIGHT OF DESIGN"

They also screen print Teatowels, which was something that I'd previously overlooked. It would have been nice to add promotional graphics to these too... here are the costs for these:


Printed cup UK... I like the look of this website. It explains everything very clearly, asking for a minimum order of 10,000 cups etc... however, like just about every flaming printed cup company I've looked at, they only provide tailored quotes with no rough estimated costs... so unfortunately, I can't price this up without hounding a printers for a personalised quote for no good reason...



Tea envelope costs have been a problem to cost up... they aren't a standard form of packaging so it's impossible to get even as much as a similar quote to go by... I'd need a small print complete with 2 folds, die cut and with sealed edges... no luck with that one, however, I have have looked into standard printing costs
www.printing.com obviously do tailored quotes but the closest thing on their website to my tea envelopes were these mailshot things

They are only really similar in that they have 2 folds but sadly this is as close as I can get... These are the estimated costs for the mailshots

However, a more general digital print cost example can be found from the same website... I just looked under "posters" as this seemed to be the only category for large scale prints. I could fit around 28 tea envelopes onto 1 A2 sheet


So... I could have 250 sheets printed for £271 (without cutting and folding etc) which would give me 7000 envelopes
or at the other end of the scale, I could have 10000 a2 sheets printed for £907.00 which would make 280000 envelopes... exciting stuff... This would be printed using litho but would also be printed on really quite heavy stock (170gsm silk), as this pricing relates to posters rather than my packaging... so just the actual printing cost should be even cheaper in reality