Lithography Disadvantages
Belinda
Lithography – The disadvantages
Background:
Invented by Alois Senefelder in Germany, 1798
New technology since the 15th century – Gutenberg’s printing press
How it works:
It is a mechanical planographic process in which the printing and non-printing areas of the plate are all at the same level
Lithography is based on the chemical repellence of oil and water. Designs are drawn or painted with greasy ink or crayons on specially prepared limestone. The stone is moistened with water, which the stone accepts in areas not covered by the crayon. An oily ink, applied with a roller, adheres only to the drawing and is repelled by the wet parts of the stone. The print is then made by pressing paper against the inked drawing.
The different chromolithographic types of printing are adapted to a variety of work: block printing is for commercial work, maps and to copy books, solid colour work is used for cards and posters, chromo or tint work is used for labels and illustrations (Cumming)
Relies on four basic colours: CMYK
The disadvantages:
P.229 of Modern Lithography “100 sheets of waste – initial run to normalise the damping and inking systems.”; 236 pages extra pages wasted -> bad for the environment and against the FSC rules
From the Handbook of Lithography, some listed are: poor sharpness of print, limited colour saturation, limited plate life, high paper demands
Long turnaround time
Small prints are expensive, the costs are higher overall
Requires higher resolution images to print
Setups (premakeready stage) is highly complex
Bibliography:
Bulpitt Print Ltd. (2014). DIGITAL vs LITHO printing. YouTube [Online] Available: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45ax5PAWdDM Last accessed 1 April 2014.
Cumming, D. (1932). Handbook of Lithography. London: A & C Black Ltd.
Faux, I. (1978). Modern Lithography. Plymouth: Macdonald and Evans.
Mortimer, A. (1998). Colour Reproduction in the Digital Age. Leatherhead: Pira International.
Flood, A. (2014).
Lithography – The disadvantages
Background:
Invented by Alois Senefelder in Germany, 1798
New technology since the 15th century – Gutenberg’s printing press
How it works:
It is a mechanical planographic process in which the printing and non-printing areas of the plate are all at the same level
Lithography is based on the chemical repellence of oil and water. Designs are drawn or painted with greasy ink or crayons on specially prepared limestone. The stone is moistened with water, which the stone accepts in areas not covered by the crayon. An oily ink, applied with a roller, adheres only to the drawing and is repelled by the wet parts of the stone. The print is then made by pressing paper against the inked drawing.
The different chromolithographic types of printing are adapted to a variety of work: block printing is for commercial work, maps and to copy books, solid colour work is used for cards and posters, chromo or tint work is used for labels and illustrations (Cumming)
Relies on four basic colours: CMYK
The disadvantages:
P.229 of Modern Lithography “100 sheets of waste – initial run to normalise the damping and inking systems.”; 236 pages extra pages wasted -> bad for the environment and against the FSC rules
From the Handbook of Lithography, some listed are: poor sharpness of print, limited colour saturation, limited plate life, high paper demands
Long turnaround time
Small prints are expensive, the costs are higher overall
Requires higher resolution images to print
Setups (premakeready stage) is highly complex
Bibliography:
Bulpitt Print Ltd. (2014). DIGITAL vs LITHO printing. YouTube [Online] Available: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45ax5PAWdDM Last accessed 1 April 2014.
Cumming, D. (1932). Handbook of Lithography. London: A & C Black Ltd.
Faux, I. (1978). Modern Lithography. Plymouth: Macdonald and Evans.
Mortimer, A. (1998). Colour Reproduction in the Digital Age. Leatherhead: Pira International.
Flood, A. (2014).
Bibliography: Bulpitt Print Ltd. (2014). DIGITAL vs LITHO printing. YouTube [Online] Available: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45ax5PAWdDM Last accessed 1 April 2014. Cumming, D. (1932). Handbook of Lithography. London: A & C Black Ltd. Faux, I. (1978). Modern Lithography. Plymouth: Macdonald and Evans. Mortimer, A. (1998). Colour Reproduction in the Digital Age. Leatherhead: Pira International. Flood, A. (2014). Digital publishing: the experts ' view of what 's next. The Guardian. [Online] Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jan/10/digital-publishing-next-industry-revolution Accessed 1 April 2014 Kincade, K n.a. (2013) What is a Publisher Now? An interview with Random House’s Dan Franklin. Publishing Technology. [Online] Available at: http://www.publishingtechnology.com/2013/12/publisher-interview-dan-franklin/ Accessed 28 March 2014 n.a Thomas, E. (2014) Digital vs. Litho - Which process do you choose?. Bulpitt Print Ltd. [Online] Available at: http://www.bulpittprint.com/blog/823-digital-vs-litho---which-process-do-you-choose.html Accessed 31 March 2014 Willis, J