What’s now called embellishment or special effects used to be a group of purely post-press operations. These included lamination, spot or flood varnishing and foiling (hot or cold). Other eye-catching things have always had to be done in or on the press – if you wanted metallic colours you had to use a special ink or print on a metallised substrate; the same applied for fluorescent or other special colours.

Digital print has blurred those boundaries, bringing a number of ways of achieving the same or ‘close enough’ effects, combined with the flexibility and minimal set-up requirements characteristic of digital print. These also split into in-press effects and subsequently-applied effects.

Before looking at these in detail, it’s also worth noting that a sustainability argument is emerging for digital embellishment as an alternative to more conventional processes. This comes from Scodix, which makes stand-alone ‘embellishment presses’ (distributed in the UK by Friedheim) that can apply a wide range of decorative effects to printed sheets, with full digital flexibility in each.

Scodix carried out a lifecycle assessment of its digital foiling options which found that compared to conventional hot stamp foiling, its version reduces CO2e (CO2 equivalent) by 85%, fossil fuel usage by nearly 85%, and water consumption by 80% per B1 sheet. The study, carried out by EcamRicert, and Mérieux NutriSciences Companies, compared the enhancement of a single B1 sheet through to 100,000 B1 sheets using Scodix foil (175g) versus traditional foiling methods.

That’s only one of the options that Scodix offers and there’s no indication given that any of the other supported techniques offer comparable advantages. However, like any other form of digital printing, it seems likely that overall wastage of materials and energy is likely to be lower simply through the ability to only print or finish the number required.

The main argument in favour of these types of effects though is that they add impact to printed products and therefore margin to your work. Some you can only do if you bought the right press, though they could also be a factor in choosing a new one. There’s an increasing number of toner presses that offer additional colours which may include clear ‘varnish’, white, fluorescent and metallic colours, though usually only one or sometimes two at a time.

Plus-one – or more

Machines that offer a fifth colour include Xerox’s iGen line and Ricoh’s Pro C7200, also sold by Heidelberg as the Versafire EV (and about to be replaced by the Pro C7500, though we’ve not seen any specification for this yet). Kodak’s Nexpress and Nexfinity models could do this too, with options over where in the laydown sequence the fifth colour went, though both are now discontinued. Moving up to six colours brings in the popular Xerox Iridesse, and the more recent Fujifilm Revoria, while most HP Indigos can handle up to seven colours, though of course click charges go up in proportion with all extra colour presses. Xerox also offers a conversion kit for two-pass printing on its entry-level PrimeLink C9065/C9070, which potentially allows the use of up to eight colours, albeit with a complete change of toner cartridges between passes.

The exact choice of extra colours varies by manufacturer, but in addition to white – for use on coloured or transparent substrates – and clear – used to create flood or spot varnish effects – fluorescent or ‘neon’ colours are offered, particularly pink and sometimes yellow. These can replace or be mixed with their standard CMYK equivalents to expand the colour gamut for more eye-catching effects. A few offer metallic toners too, which again can be printed solid or mixed to provide novel colours and finishes.

After the event

Post-press options are more about foiling, spot varnish and various creative lamination processes, often in combination. A good entry-level choice here is foil-over-toner, a two-pass method that uses ‘real’ foil in a laminator like Vivid’s Matrix models or those from Caslon, Foliant (sold via IFS), Komfi (from Friedheim) or Autobond. Similar options also come from GMP and Intec, now part of the Plockmatic group.

An entry-level option for foil-over-toner is Vivid’s Matrix, seen here at a trade show

In these, the initial colour print is first laminated with a clear film, then printed again with the foil pattern in black toner on top of the film, before a second pass through the laminator transfers the foil to the partially melted black toner. It’s a more labour-intensive process but it works with a very wide range of foil types and doesn’t require special consumables.

Then there are the fully ‘digital’ embellishment devices that offer spot UV and/or foiling in a single operation. This category includes devices like Duplo’s B2 DuSense 8000, which is offered in various configurations providing spot UV, digital foiling or both, including a pre-treatment option for expanding the types of print that can be handled. It’s also possible to build up textured ‘3D’ effects with multiple passes, which the smaller B3 DuSense 810 also supports. An alternative is the B3+ Konica Minolta AccurioShine 3600, which uses technology from MGI, in which Konica Minolta holds a significant stake. It too can produce ‘dimensional’ effects.

At the top end of the digital embellishment market are the ranges from Konica Minolta/MGI and Scodix. These are dedicated industrial production devices that offer UV varnish and foiling, with Scodix offering a particularly wide range of foils and finished effects, while MGI’s line goes up to B1 sheet size in the form of the print-and-embellish AlphaJet that was formally launched in October 2022. Kurz is another player at the industrial end of the scale, having bought Steinemann, whose inkjet varnish and foiling systems it was already marketing as Digital Metal. These include the sheet-fed B2 DM-Smartliner for 2D flat varnishing and foiling and the DM-Maxliner for raised and textured effects.

Whether you’re just ready to dip a toe into digital embellishment and cautious with the investment, or know that you’ve got a ready market for it but need to be sure it’s good enough and fast enough to meet your customers’ needs, there should be something to suit and help your work shine.

Preparing files for embellishment

All digital embellishment processes require ‘artwork’ to control where the effects are applied. Usually this means creating additional layers in the originating applications and/or print PDFs, though some vendors offer DFE-based tools to create embellishment guides or colour substitutions from standard PDFs on-the-fly.

Andrew Bailes-Collins of Ultimate Technographics, which makes imposition, nesting and ganging software, has written a handy guide to preparing generic PDFs that should process correctly through most embellishment vendors’ DFEs and thus avoid some of the common pitfalls that require manual reworking in the prepress studio.

Called PDF Creation for Digital Embellishment, it covers the use of spot colours, layers, knock-out and overprint and choice of correct versions of PDF for hand-off. It’s available free from Ultimate Technographics’ website.

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Oasis operates in a wide range of sectors, from small vehicle decals and retail signage to wide format promotional graphics. It offers an array of bespoke print solutions to its clients, often using a number of challenging substrates.

After the pandemic, company directors Lisa and Simon Osborne decided to reset the business and review its target markets, and invested in new talent and equipment. With the support of its existing clients and staff, Oasis has grown to a team of 14, and anticipates a £2 million turnover this year.

The swissQprint Nyala, equipped with six colours, plus white and varnish, and a roll-to-roll option, was instrumental in the company’s production development and growth. Key amongst the new markets for the company is art reproduction, where it is claimed that the Nyala has enabled ‘effortless delivery of high-quality printing’, which combined with the addition of new finishes, such as varnish and texture printing, has allowed the business to provide customers with the results they’ve been looking for.

The Nyala’s 3.2m roll-to-roll option has enabled the company to develop its interior furnishings market with the production of a range of finishes for wallpapers and wraps. Enquiries for bespoke printing have also increased.

‘Confidence in quality and creativity of print from our Nyala has encouraged us to sample and test a variety of new effects and finishes for our clients,’ commented Ms Osborne. ‘Whereas before we’d be showing off samples that were as close as we could get to the client’s idea, we can now provide them with results exactly as they have specified, and in a number of cases, over and beyond what they ever expected.’

Stephen Pridham, sales manager at swissQprint is delighted at the impact the new machine has had: ‘Oasis knew that the Nyala would enable them to open new opportunities and it is fantastic to see how the investment is now truly delivering for the business.’

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The Jeti Tauro UHS is capable of output at up to 905sqm/hr but this drops to 150sqm/hr when using the clear varnish option. Agfa says the capability, which has already been added to the HS model of the H3300, will offer producers of corrugated cardboard PoS and FSDU displays the ability to embellish prints by adding a layer of high-gloss or satin varnish. This can either be applied to the entire surface (flood) or selectively (spot). All models can also use white ink, or white and primer. The inks on the Jeti printers are Greenguard Gold certified.

‘We are excited to present our latest printing solutions at C!Print,’ said Koen Steert, head of sales Sign & Display Europe at Agfa. ‘We look forward to welcoming print service providers at our booth to discuss their questions and needs, and to explore how our integrated offering of printers, inks, software, training and services can fit their growth paths and lead to sustainable success.’

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The JFX 550-2513 and JFX 600-2513 mark Mimaki’s entry into the high productivity flatbed sector. The two models respectively are equipped with eight and 16 printheads with the latter able to reach 200sqm/hr in its high speed mode and 140sqm/hr in ‘production’ mode, with two slower and progressively higher quality modes also available.

Based on the existing JFX 500-2131 model, the new additions both have a maximum printing area of 2.5 x 1.3m and can handle rigid media up to 6cm thick, thus supporting the standard 8x4ft board size. Ink options include white, clear and a primer for difficult substrates such as glass and some plastics and metals, in addition to normal CMYK. All six ink sets, which offer differing degrees of hardness and flexibility, are Greenguard Gold certified.

Workflow has been addressed with a new Mimaki Print Controller operator interface, based on that introduced with the Tiger 1800B textile printer. Industry 4.0-style connectivity with robots for loading/unloading , conveyors or barcode readers for integration into automated production environments is achieved via Mimaki’s MDL Command interface. The printers are driven by Mimaki’s Raster Link 7 Rip software. Mimaki Europe’s general manager for sales, Ronald van den Broek, indicated that the likely price range for the new machines would be from around €150,000 for the 8-head machine, and noted that competing units in this productivity category typically range from €200,000 upwards.

An entirely new addition to the Mimaki portfolio, and possibly unique in the world, though Agfa is working on a dedicated digital leather printer, is the SUJV-160, a 1.6m roll-fed leather printer. Using a combined solvent and UV ink set developed by Fujifilm, and available also with a clear ink for printed surface protection, the new machine is capable of up to 9sqm/hr without the clear coating. The combined curing/drying process requires a large post-cure unit which can handle 25kg rolls.

The clear ink is said to provide a high degree of protection against scratching/rubbing, while being highly flexible and resistant to cracking, yet preserving the touch and feel of the underlying leather, something that Mimaki says is a requirement in the high-end luxury leather goods market at which the printer is aimed. Envisaged applications include vehicle or other seat covers, shoes and handbags.

The third introduction is the 3DUJ-2207, a full colour 3D printer that produces items that fit into a volume of 20 x 20 x 7.8cm (WxDxH). Its print control software supports the use of ICC colour profiles to produce accurate colour reproduction. White and clear print materials are also supported in addition to mixed process colours and suggested applications include scale models, prototyping, figurines and gaming as well as educational and medical purposes. Mr van den Broek indicated that a complete ‘portfolio’ that includes a dedicated cleaning solution will be available for around €50,000, again considerably lower than many other competing offerings which he said typically start at €100,000 without the cleaning system and other necessary accessories.

Mimaki is running a series of rather familiarly-named ‘innovation days’ from 2–4 June 2021, at which more details and virtual demonstrations/factory tours will be offered, and its digital showroom will be running continually with new content added each week.

All the new products described here are to become available in late summer of 2021.

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According to Intec, applications for the clear toner with the 50ppm (A4) press include security-related items such as ID cards, event tickets and wristbands, as well as emulation of spot-UV gloss, while white can be used on coloured or transparent stocks for premium effects for corporate or wedding work.

The ColorSplash CS5000 is a five-colour SRA3 press that offers 1200 x 1200dpi resolution and can print to a maximum sheet length of 1321mm for banner production. A modular system allow the addition of a multiple drawer cabinet, high-capacity feeder, production envelope feeder, shingling conveyor and Fiery XF Rip for enhanced workflow and colour management, in addition to the banner extension tray. Single-sided print on media up to 450gsm is supported, 320gsm for duplex, and a wide range of substrates is supported, including paper, card, film and various synthetic media.

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Running both ManRoland litho and a Canon ImagePress 7011 toner-based digital press, The Printhouse was established in 2003 by a team who had worked together in the print facility of a financial organisation. The Printhouse produces high quality booklets and brochures for universities, colleges and schools as well promotional print for marketing agencies.

Managing director David Mann explained the reasons for the new investment: ‘We were sending out our lamination work to a very good local trade finisher but volumes were growing for fast turnaround short run work. We were getting a bottleneck so decided to bring the process in-house.

‘We did look at another system but the Foliant was most suited to the volumes we were going to be running. Now we can be much faster in turning our lamination work around. We have also been adding it to some jobs as an extra to test it out and this has resulted in customers coming back and asking for it again.

‘We liked its foiling capability too. This is something we are going to be offering more and more.’

The Inprinting unit is being used to add foiling and spot varnish for short run and personalised jobs for which producing a die would be too expensive. Mr Mann expects the unit to pay for itself in two years, but emphasised that the decision was more about providing a responsive service.

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The cover of December’s issue of Digital Printer was both digitally printed and digitally finished, showcasing what is now possible with GMP’s “sleeking” technology, metallic and white foils, and spot gloss.

Printed by Kettering-based Eazyprint on a Konica Minolta sheet-fed digital press on Fedrigoni Symbol Freelife Satin 250gsm, the advent calendar-themed cover design was then turned into a tour-de-force for the finishing capabilities offered by GMP’s Q-topic laminator, using soft-touch lamination, silver foil, white foil and spot gloss. Around 100 copies also features holographic foiling on the magazine masthead – most easily seen on the “printer” part of the logo.

The results really need to be experienced in person, as photos don’t do them full justice (if you didn’t get your copy contact us), but if you’re keen to understand in more detail how it was done, then you can read the digital version here. A video demonstrating the process is embedded on page 14.

We plan to bring you more demonstrations of the development of digital print in 2018.

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Ricoh has concluded a deal at IPEX with Ware-based Direct CDs to supply a top-of-the-line Pro C7100 five-colour digital press in order to provide additional digital printing services to its customers.

Martin Crowson, managing director at Direct CDs, commented, ‘Customers were asking us to take on additional digital print, which I thought would be a great opportunity to expand the business. However, I knew I needed some assistance in setting it up.’

Following his appointment, operations director Fuat Fuat developed new service offerings and the workflows required to meet customers’ requirements. This involved replacing the existing five-year-old Ricoh machine with a new five-colour Ricoh Pro C7100, which brings the ability to print white or spot UV varnish.

Mr Crowson added, ‘Upgrading our machinery with Ricoh’s latest equipment will allow us to meet various other printing requirements for brochures, leaflets and manuals for our current and potential customers.’

Tim Carter, commercial sales director at Ricoh, commented, ‘Martin and his team are clearly looking for technology to grow their business. What we do is continue to work with customers to really understand their business challenges and goals, advising on the best equipment to meet their needs.’

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A new clear ink, LH-100, has been released by Mimaki for the JFX200-2513 flatbed LED UV printer to complement the existing LUS -150 and LH-100 LED UV curable ink sets.

The new clear ink provides the capability to produce glossy and matte finish effects, adding creativity and value to the finished product. The addition of the new ink to the gamut delivers an effect close to that achieved with a spot varnish. Additionally, the clear ink can be output in multiple layers to enhance the vibrancy of colours or to create a more tactile finishing effect. 

Stuart Cole, national sales manager – industrial products for Hybrid, a Mimaki reseller, said, ‘The new generation of flatbed LED UV printers are highly sophisticated and capable production machines that have been breaking new creative ground and the addition of this clear ink to the portfolio really takes the artistic and creative possibilities of the JFX200 to new levels.’ 

Applications such as high end POS, labels, textured finishes and even Braille are all now possible, presenting fantastic opportunities for companies involved in packaging proofing to deliver accurate simulations of finished products in a very efficient and timely manner, with the combination of LED UV ink curing creating a touch dry finish immediately after printing.

Mimaki’s clear UV ink can be retro fitted to existing JFX200 machines with only minor hardware upgrades needed although users should ensure that they have the latest firmware (Version 1.30 or later) and version of Mimaki’s RIP (RasterLink 6 Version 2.10 or later). 

Additionally, one of Hybrid’s demonstration JFX200 printers will be commissioned with white and clear inks alongside the process colours to enable visitors to the showroom to compare the variety of configurations the machine is capable of.

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