The FoilTech FT12 is a mid-market foiling system with digital controls
Caslon is finding that modern demands are starting to draw on traditional production methods, with heat being the common factor in the resurgence in special effects thermography and foiling applications.
Something interesting, it appears, is happening out there. This industry has progressed from letterpress to offset printing, with digital print now gaining in momentum. But the ancient arts have not gone away, and according to the gentlemen at Caslon, they are in fact resurgent.
‘We sell Adana letterpress machines, and a lot of the digital shops are showing interest in that kit, because they cannot cut their prices anymore,’ said Richard Caslon, managing director of the company and direct ancestor of William Caslon, who in 1720 founded the typeface that bears his name. Richard Caslon continued: ‘They are trying to put in a different process that they can specialise in. It seems that people are trying to get back into other processes that are not so push-button, to get an edge on the competition.
‘A lot of the traditional equipment and processes were lost when the industry went to digital, but it is coming back. The same happened when we went from letterpress to offset. There’s nothing new; it’s just people adapting it really.’
For letterpress, you can also read thermography – another long established process that has been picking up for Caslon again. Most familiarly used on greeting cards to add sparkle, the process involves covering wet ink with a powder and then heating it. It was creating raised print long before today’s digital engines were wowing the crowds.
‘Thermography has been there for years, but customers are saying they are getting a lot of enquiries for raised print because of Scodix, and we can do that. We believe our thermography is a lot better with colour work; it doesn’t look like there’s a piece of coloured plastic on top of the ink; it looks like a denser, more solid finish.’
Caslon sells thermography machines ranging from a £2300 entry level system, up to about £30,000 for an automatic machine. From a digital print perspective however, the biggest problem is that thermography only works with wet ink, not with toner. It can however be used with digital duplicators such as those manufactured by Ricoh and Riso.
Digital print has had a direct impact on the foiling market though, according to Caslon. It sells a range of systems (called FoilTech) that work by heating the toner and transferring foil from a sheet to the areas of melted toner as it goes through. The process is incredibly simple and compared to traditional foiling methods very cost effective, and the result is potentially higher margin work. It can also be used as a security feature.
‘It costs just pence to produce an A4 sheet but it increases the quality massively, and the sensible people are still selling it at a high price,’ observed sales director David Ball. The systems range from the entry level FT10, which is hand-fed with analogue controls, costing £1750, up to the FoilTech Professional, which has automatic feed and impression, can lay down three foil colours in one pass, and is priced at £11,000. Caslon has recently introduced some mid-market systems also – the FT12 and FT12F – to fill the gap between these extremes. The FT12 is still hand-fed but has digital controls, allowing temperature and pressure to be set more accurately. The FT12F adds an automatic friction feed to this.
Fundamentally, if the toner image is good, then the foiled image will also be good. There is some variability in terms of the toner that different digital presses lay down, and Caslon is happy to advise customers on this, and do samples with output from the production press in question. The process also does not work so well on textured stock, because the toner sits deeper in the troughs. Caslon supplies a range of different coloured foils, including a special clear foil which produces a denser and glossier effect that it says is similar to spot varnishing. Supplied as standard in 30 cm wide rolls, the foils can be cut to any size that customers desire.
While looking at foiling systems, many customers have also been considering the Maxit adhesive machines that Caslon sells, which are also well-established in the market, but are now getting increasing use for bonding together substrates – especially those of contrasting or complementing colours – to create, for example, thicker and more creative business cards.
All of these systems can help digital printers to differentiate and enhance their margins, said Mr Ball: ‘I think that’s what all printers are looking for at the moment – something that will set them aside.’
