Take one stroll through the production facilities at Wells
& Drew and you'll be amazed at the variety of machines...
not to mention the quality of the finished product. From single
color engravers to embossers to offset printing
presses, Wells & Drew has the production capacity to handle
your job with ease.
Here are some definitions of the production processes we
utilize at Wells & Drew.
Engraving
Engraving conveys the highest level of professionalism.
It enhances your image, increases brand value and ultimately
puts a consistent, high-quality image in front of your clients.
To boil it down, engraving incorporates a steel or copper
plate, engraved with a logo and/or name. Then, the plate is
filled with ink and pressed onto your stock with literally
tons of pressure. This force is what leaves your design standing
proudly out of the paper, giving it a highly desirable three-dimensional
look and feel.
The high quality look and feel of engraving cannot be achieved
by any other process. Engraving looks its best, when used
on thick quality "cotton paper". Another important
note is that engraving is also compatible with laser printers,
making it ideal for the modern professional.
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Printing
Offset printing is one of the most common forms of
printing, and is often the least expensive for high-volume
jobs. The process requires an image to be put onto a thin
metal plate and then transferred to a rubber blanket. After
that, it is pressed on to the paper providing a flat, clean
image.
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Foil Stamping
Foil stamping is in some ways similar to engraving.
This process requires heated metal dies, with tons of pressure.
Although, instead of using inks, foil stamping uses rolls
of foils which are available in virtually every imaginable
color and variation. The foil is pressed between a sheet of
paper and a metal plate. When the two are separated, you are
left with an extremely clean and unique image.
Foil stamping can also be combined with embossing
to push your image out of the paper and achieve a very distinguished
look.
Other processes that are also foil stamping are hot stamping,
dry stamping, leaf stamping and foil imprinting.
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Thermography
Thermography is more commonly known as false engraving.
It was invented to achieve a finished product similar to engraving
at a lower cost.
Here's how it works. As the job comes out of the printing
press, the ink is wet. The pages move down a conveyer until
another machine applies a special powder to the ink. Shortly
thereafter, excess powder is vacuumed off, and the job continues
on the conveyer through a heated tunnel where the ink/powder
mixture dry to form a raised effect similar to engraving on
the page. A word of caution: traditional thermography is not
safe for typical office laser printers.
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Laser-Safe Thermography
"Laser-safe Thermography" means stationery
produced by this method can safely be used in all laser printers,
without melting or damaging the printer or paper. All thermography
is not laser-safe and some can make quite a mess when put
through a laser printer. Depending on your needs for thermography,
laser-safe is the best option for letterhead or envelopes
or any other item that will be placed through your laser printer.
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Embossing
Embossing or "blind embossing" uses no foil or ink.
It simply uses a die and a press to raise the surface of the
paper leaving a design. First you start with an image that
is etched onto a metal plate. This image is stamped on to
your paper with a tremendous force causing your image, logo
or text to rise. This achieves a three-dimensional look much
like engraving, except without the ink.
Embossing is a subtle way to convey confidence and longevity
to your clients.
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