Hi, I’m Sarah Myer Walsh of Haute Papier and I’m showing you to how to make wedding invitations. Before we get too far, I want to talk a little bit about the four different types of printing. Now while there are many more than four types, these are by far the most popular and easily accessible to the average person. First there is offset of flat printing, this is achieved by cylinders transferring an ink to a paper. It is flat in nature; if you touch it, none of the ink is raised. It’s the least expensive option and this is similar to what you would—the results you would get with your printer actually.
Next is engraving, engraving is by far the most formal means of printing and its achieved when a copper plate is etched in reverse with the pattern that is desired to be printed. Then an ink is applied and it is put through a press with the paper. The results is type that is raised and a bruising is created on the reverse of the paper. You can usually feel or see if you tip the paper at an angle at this bruising and that’s how you can tell the difference between engraving and thermography, which is our next type of printing.
Thermography is very similar in nature to the engraving, the main difference is that it’s much less expensive, about half the price and it’s more glossy in nature. Thermography occurs when an ink is applied to the paper then a powder is applied on top of the ink and a heating device is used to melt the ink into the paper. So again, you get the raised effect of the engraving at much lower cost and finally there is letterpress.
Letterpress is stylistically the opposite of engraving and thermography. It is achieved when a plate is created and ink is applied and the plate is pushed into the paper creating an impression. Letterpress is oldest type of printing and about the same in price as engraving and next; we’ll talk about some basic wedding papery etiquette.
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