The effect of a stencil that leaves a printed image that conforms to the mesh of the fabric rather that the desired clean contour of the image.

1) Pattern etched into image on the Plate to stop the doctor blade dipping in. 2) The assembly of frame, mesh and stencil, through which a print is made.

A print defect which causes the print to mark severely when rubbed.

A defect in a varnish caused by small particles which sometime become visible by transmitted light.

A substrate which has been coated with a permanently tacky adhesive.

An ink with the ability to dissolve dry films of itself (or rewetting).

Where undried ink is passed from the image on one sheet to the reverse of the next sheet in the pile See offset.

The deposition of solid constituents, i.e. pigment, extenders, in an ink on standing in a container.

A device used for mixing ink where a closed container is vigorously shaken.

The gloss seen at glancing angles on a surface which when viewed normally appears matt.

The time that an ink will keep in good workable condition when stored in the original sealed containers under normal storage conditions.

An area where printing is done.

A unit of measuring the hardness of the material used to make silicone transfer pads and squeegees.

A material that can be friend or enemy. In the pad it is essential. In the ink it reduces pick up. Silicone used as mould release during the moulding process can cause miss - print or poor adhesion.

The blotchy effect caused by "sinking in" to a printed substrate in the porous areas.

The formation of a surface skin on inks or varnishes in the container.

The ability of a solvent to dissolve materials. A strong solvent will dissolve many materials, a weak solvent will dissolve few materials.

A liquid which dissolves the resin used in the printing ink. Sometimes, synonym for "Thinner".

Used to pull the ink from the ink trough over the Plate. Normally metal, can also be plastic or brushes. Also called a spreader. Also a flat device used for stirring or mixing inks.

Inks are spectral matches if at each wavelength of the visible spectrum their reflectancies are the same, a spectral match holds good for all illuminants and observers.

This is the output shown in nanometres of a lamp usually ultra violet curing lamp.

Reflection of light as in a mirror.

Generated when two dissimilar surfaces rub together. It can cause prints to stick together or printing defects (of cobwebbing).

The point in a gas flame that is the most effective at altering the surface energy of a substrate.

The process of drying and hardening an ink coating by heating, usually at a temperature of above 80o C.

Elongated defects in a printed image.

The process whereby certain dyes change directly from a solid to a vapour and back again to a solid by the application of heat. Inks containing these dyes are used for printing onto polyester materials.

The force associated with the surface of a liquid. If an ink is to adhere to a substrate, the surface tension of the ink must be lower than the surface energy of the substrate. If these get closer the ink will show, as the difference reduces, defects ranging from pinholing to reticulation and finally no adhesion.

Applied to ink it means the adhesive force of wet ink. In screen printing the tension in or movement of the mesh relative to the ink film overcomes the tack. Stickiness.

Property measured by the force required to tear a specimen under specified test conditions.

A measurement of the deformation produced in the material by an applied force.

Impressing a pattern into the surface of a film or paper.

High speed transfer system developed by Avery/Dennison for decorating bottles and closures. (see thermal image)

An image printing technology developed by Fuji Photo Film that requires no water or chemicals to process. The colour dyes are in a special paper and are activated by heat.

Heat-sensitive film that carries an image from a thermal image setter. When this clear film encounters heat, it turns black and is transformed to an imaged positive.

A printer technology that uses heat to transfer coloured dye, wax or resin onto paper.

A medium-resolution colour output device that must first separate the colour information for continuous tone and spot colour into three or four primaries, and are printed in multiple passes, one for each colour. A/k/a thermal wax transfer.

A machine that digitally prints by transferring inks (resin or wax based) from a foil (or ribbon) onto media such as paper or vinyl.

A soft and mouldable plastic when subjected to heat. Hardens on cooling and is able to repeat this process. Most plastics that are decorated are thermoplastics.

Highly resistant plastic that remains a solid during the forming process and cannot be recycled. This starts as a powder and is formed with the application of pressure and heat.

Substance setting permanently when heated.

Inks which polymerise to a permanently solid and fusible state upon application of heat.

Something that is added to an ink in order to lower its viscosity and increase its flow. 1) Retarder: a solvent or other liquid that is added to an ink in order to slow the drying rate. High boiling point. 2) Fast Thinner: a solvent or other liquid that is added to an ink in order to increase its drying rate. Low boiling point.

A full-bodied material which undergoes a reduction in body when shaken, stirred or otherwise mechanically disturbed and which readily recovers the original full-bodied condition on standing. In screen printing the work applied by the action of the flood coater or squeegee is sufficient to allow the ink to flow through the mesh.

A small, low-resolution version of an image.

Tagged Image File Format. A type of image file format, TIFF files can include colour or greyscale The quality of the image is determined by its resolution or dpi. Especially useful for graphics that will be used in many applications or on more than one computer platform.

The process of breaking down an image or page into sections for editing or printing purposes.

Some percentage of a solid ink. Tints are created by using a screen to create the impression of a lighter colour when the ink is printed onto paper or another medium.

A concentrated colour-base which may be added to an ink to alter its colour.

The number of bits per pixel used in the digital representation of an image. The intensity and colour of each pixel in the image are represented by an integer value or set of integer values.

See Gamma curves. A representation of the tonal range of an image showing the progress from black to white. Some image editors allow these to be adjusted for fine tuning of the image.

A coloured powder or liquid used to print onto various materials on non-impact printers, such as electrostatics, and contains a colorant, an electrostatic thermoplastic, charge control agent, and often a magnetic material.

See offset.

A colour-space exchange from one system (RGB to CMYK) to another, or changing from one hue base to another.

Diffuse transmission of light. No clear image can be seen.

An instrument that measures the fraction of light that is transmitted through film from a measured light source, expressed as the inverse log of the percent transmission.

The fraction of the light that passes through an object.

A measure of the amount of light which an ink film allows through; the reverse of obliteration or opacity.

A plastic template or form for holding and positioning transparencies on the scanner copy board glass and for protecting the scanner calibration area.

High-quality reproduction requires copy transparencies made by photographers experienced in art reproduction. Lighting is very important in terms of evenness, colour, and lack of any specular highlights.

Adjective to describe a material that transmits light with minimal diffusion or scattering.

An overlap between abutting colours/elements. Traditionally done by using chokes and spreads, but graphics software gives users the ability to do trapping for type and objects.

The property of a printing ink that makes it possible to superimpose one colour on another.

A process in which a full colour reproduction is obtained with a small number of inks (usually three or four), generally by the halftone process.

1) Of, or consisting of, three stimuli; generally used to describe components of additive mixture required to evoke a particular colour sensation. 2) Colourimeter: An instrument that measures tristimulus values and converts them to chromaticity components of colour.

Amounts (in percent) of the three components necessary in a three-colour additive mixture required for matching a colour; in the CIE system, they are designated as X, Y, and Z.

A colour-matching system similar to Pantone.

1) The metal that lamp filaments are made of. 2) Sometimes refers to the colour temperature in degrees Kelvin that simulates a common photo lamp (3200K).

Where the application of the image occurs during a thermal image transfer.

An ink, the materials for which are supplied in two parts which must be mixed in correct proportions before use. The mixture will then remain in a usable condition for a limited length of time. One of the parts is a catalyst.

A marking with clear adhesive that can be viewed on the first surface or through the adhesive.

Text-only format. This format is useful for text if you do not need to retain the formatting.

The style and design of a particular alphabet.