OUGD504 - Type In Context - Testing Images and Embossing.

MATT VS GLOSS  (the ultimate showdown)

At this point in my project I have decided on my concept and theme and need to begin experimenting. The first thing I felt would be beneficial to do is print a image in the print room, one on matt and one on gloss just to get an idea of how they compare and then start thinking about embossing. What I found is that the Gloss really showed the images clarity however the Matt seemed to work in the context of my publication the textured style reflected the tactility of the photographs.

With printing I drew around the part of the image I was going to emboss or deboss and using mount board created the cut out for embossing. In my embossing induction I asked many questions about the limitations of embossing for example if it was possible to use photographs, Mike the technician said it should be possible but try it as the paper needs to be soaked in water to get the best impression. Mike also explained that hand made cotton paper would be the best to print with, I would need to ask the digital print technician about what would be possible to print on. 



After I had compared my matt and gloss stocks I decided to have a go a embossing. Using my printing plate I had made I tried embossing. Experimented initially with trying without wetting the paper, this I found didn't make too much of an impression. I showed the technician and he said that the mount board was buckling and not staying strong, I then cut out the shape again and stuck it on top to make a double thickness embossing plate. This seemed to make a better impression but the mound board was still buckling. I subsequently tired wetting the paper, using my matt paper image I soaked it in water for a few seconds then printed with it. I was amazed to see that the ink didn't run and the image stayed in tacked. This left a much better impression but I was unable to get the embossing as deep as I wanted. I plan to continue to experiment with this as I feel this embossing will really stretch my project. I want to see about getting some cotton hand made paper to print on. In the book 'the production manual' it suggested using an uncoated stock so this would be beneficial.  When I showed my final results to the print technician he said that it would work how I wanted but it was just a case of getting the right balance and using some thicker softer stock would be very useful.