Initial Material and Information

• What is the size of or what are the dimensions of your material?
• What contents will go inside the envelope (size and weight)?
• How will your materials be mailed?
• How will postage be paid on your mailing?
• What style envelope would work best with your mailing (open end, Open side, booklet, window envelope, etc.)?

After answering these basic questions, it is time to define the relevant details:

• Size – what o you wish to insert into the envelope/bag ? is it a standard shape/size envelope? Does it have an expansion? You save time and money if you choose a standard type envelope, but special envelopes can be produced upon request without any problems. The envelope you purchase should be at least 1 cm longer and at least 0.5 cm higher than the content of it.

• Sealing method – which sealing method would best suit your needs ?your choice would be between gummed sealing, that seals thru moistening, self adhesive that seal on contact without moisture, peel&seel, a release tape liner is applied over a resin adhesive, or you could choose it to be without adhesive.

• Opening – mailing envelopes usually are open side, and document envelopes are open end. If you wish to use your envelopes for automated inserting or manual one as a fact we suggest open side, but if you wish to use your envelopes for documents the open end ones would be the best suited for your needs.

• Windows – should it have a window or not? How big should the window be and where should it be placed. You can choose to have multiple windows of different sizes, but keep in mind that these windows should not exceed 10 cm width and should be no s that 15 mm from any side. The position of a window is measured from the left side athe bottom side, and its size should be always given width x height.

• Paper used – what is the envelope intended to be used for and what do you wish to print on it? Depending on what you wish to achieve with it you can choose offset paper, kraft paper or special papers.

• Paper weight –how thick should the paper be? we recommend a maximum weight of 135g/m2 for envelopes and minimum 150g/m2 for bags. If you have an envelope of 13g5 paper and a full coverage, we recommend plasticize it in order to protect the print on it

• The printing – depending on what you wish to print on the envelope you can use printing on the envelope or printing in sheets. You can choose printing on the envelope, when you only have a logo and/or an address but when your design covers more than 30% of the surface or it is on the margins should be one by printing the design into sheets, die cutting the envelopes out of these sheets and only after that closing them into envelopes. Don’t forget to mention if the envelope you need has a full coverage and keep in mind that we can print your envelopes inside out, so if you wish to personalize he interior of your envelope with your company’s logo, there is no problem.

Offset Printing
Offset Lithography offers the highest quality of envelope printing. It produces a clear, well-defined image area and provides excellent ink coverage.  It is effective on many different paper surfaces from smooth vellums through laids, embossed finishes and heavily textured felts. Offset printing is generally done after the envelope is folded, but the blank can be printed before folding to allow for closer registration if the copy wraps around the sides of the envelope.
In preparing an offset plate from a negative, the image is burned through an emulsion on the plate and treated to provide a “greased image area”. On press, the plate is first dampened with water, then ink rollers pass over the plate. The greasy image area accepts the greasy ink while the wetted area rejects it. The printing plate then makes contact with a canvas-backed rubber blanket that accepts the inked image and transfers it to the paper.

The offset process is ideally suited for printing envelopes because the rubber blanket helps to compen- sate for the bulk of varying paper thicknesses of the envelope.

Flexography printing
Flexography is a printing process in which the printing plate places ink directly on the paper. Printing is done from plates on which the image to be printed is raised above the non-printing surface. Ink is applied to the raised surface while the surrounding areas are lower and do not receive ink. The inked image is then pressed directly onto the paper. High-Speed Flexography equipment uses flexographic inks that are water based for fast drying and envi- ronmentally friendly.

Laser printing
MOISTURE is the true enemy of laser printers when running envelopes. Premature sealing is caused by  a moisture build-up inside the printer when heat from the fusion chamber evaporates moisture in the paper and/or the air.

Value-added operations such as thermography, offset printing, and embossing may affect the envelope feeding process.
Never use a poly or cellophane window in a laser printer.

To process our request e need a print ready Corel file, with the exact specification of the Pantone code for the colors you want to use.

• Special treatments – to protect your design or just to add a special  note to your envelope you can choose one of the special treatment we provide, as embossing, UV or offset polishing, partial or full polishing, plasticizing etc
• Quantity – it is very important to tell us the quantity needed when asking for a quote because en more envelopes are requested, the cost are lower, and so the price is better. The minimum quantity that we produce is 1000 items for envelopes and 500 items or bags.

We hope that these informations were at use to you, an in case you have any other questions or curiosities, do not hesitate to check our FAQ section or ask us directely by e-mail or phone.