Dictionary of Printing Terms

Initial Preparation & Setup –
We take pride in providing you only the best and we make a considerable effort to get your order right. Each order is individually handled and custom watermarked. There are no setup fees or preparation fees unless we need to alter the format of your logo. WE WILL DISCUSS THIS WITH YOU BEFORE WE DO ANYTHING.

Hidden Message

We bury the  word “VOID” or “COPY” or Your Custom Message in a lot of very fine dots and dashes created with an algorithm on the sheet with a very LARGE printing press.  Now the HIDDEN words “VOID / COPY” are for all intents and purposes invisible to the naked eye, but they can be “SEEN by copiers, scanners and cameras.  (See the disclaimer below — after all, NOTHING is TOTALLY counterfeit proof)

25% Rag –
Paper that is made from cotton cuttings . There are two grades, 25% and 100% indicating the percentage of cotton fibre in the sheet. The term “Fine Paper” generally refers to Rag sheets.

Recycled –
Our paper manufacturers use de-inked post-consumer fiber that is 60% recycled with 30% post-consumer fiber – Paper that has reached its intended end-user and then discarded. Paper made at least in part from recovered fibers. There is no universally acceptable definition so requirements vary by specific circumstances.

Acid Free Paper or Archival Quality –
Paper which has had the acid removed from the pulp so that it has a neutral 7.0 pH is known as acid free paper, and is more stable over long periods of time, sometimes lasting for centuries. The alkaline paper process has been increasingly adopted by paper manufacturers because of technological and economic incentives C it results in reduced water consumption, facilitates waste treatment and saves energy and materials costs. It is also cleaner and less corrosive to machinery than acid- based paper making.

Bleeds –
When a  border runs right off the page it’s called “Bleeding” or “Bleeds”.

Job Printing –
In the olden days printers would print books and newspapers, and to supplement their income they would take in “jobs” or orders for other types of printing. So we have “Job Printing”. It’s considered unfashionable for printers to use the term today. Don’s first VERY SMALL Printing Company did Job Printing. You took what you could get. 60+ years ago.

Printer’s Devil –
An apprentice, usually “low boy on the totem pole” who cleaned the ink from the presses,
and got himself covered in black ink in the process. The devil, symbolized as a black creature, became the apprentice’s moniker. Perhaps the most famous “printer’s devil” was Benjamin Franklin. The term dates from the mid- 1700’s, perhaps earlier.