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Art Requirements

Spot Color Printing:

For best printing result, we prefer vector art in Adobe Illustrator. The most common way to print our bags is spot color printing. Spot color printing is a method of specifying and printing colors in which each color is printed with its own ink. Each specified ink color will be assigned with a Pantone number. In contrast, process color printing uses four inks (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) to produce all other colors.

  1. File format: Please provide artwork in LINE ART format (Adobe Illustrator file, or PDF file) for running “spot color” printing jobs. We prefer the art files to be saved on a PC with file formats of, Illustrator CC or PDF formats. If you have any questions with file formats please contact the art department with any questions.
  2. Color indications: Please assign Pantone numbers for the spot colors used in your art file.  We are using Pantone Solid Coated system swatch for plastic or non-woven bags.
  3. Grayscale image: Jpg or gif files are for web or review purposes only, they have low resolutions, 72 dpi or 100 dpi, therefore jpg or gif files are not desirable for printing purposes. For one spot color job, a high-resolution grayscale image may be acceptable. A grayscale image needs to be above 300 dpi and save as tif file (or tiff file) format. If the image contains screens, like 20% of black, we will convert the art to Bitmap mode In Photoshop, and set up the Output value as “1200 dpi” and “halftone screen” method with value between 35 to 65 lpi (depends on the image and print size), then save the file as tif. If you are placing tif images in Adobe Illustrator, please remember “Embed” the images before saving the file.  So the actual image will can be carried with the ai or pdf file.
  4. Font treatment: Please create outlines of all the fonts of the artwork before sending the art to us. Usually, the procedure is done like this: First, SELECT ALL the type, then, select the function “Create Outlines” under Type menu in Adobe Illustrator. After applying this function, the fonts are converted to a graphic state that no longer needs the fonts information. We will not ask for the fonts because sometimes customers may use Mac or PC fonts that we don’t have or are not compatible and can create a delay in the process.
  5. Art size and print positioning: Please specify the exact art size if provided art file is not in the size you would like to output. The # 1 position (centered) is used as our default print position. Please specify the print position when you wish to print the artwork off center.
  6. Large print limitation: Normally we reserve 1″ space from the print to the edges of the bag. For the full coverage print, we will need to review each case to give our suggestions.

Process Color Printing:

Please provide artwork saved as pdf file in PC format.  Also remember to “embed” all the images. All the types used in the art file need to be converted to line art by applying the function of “create outlines” in “Type” menu of Adobe Illustrator.

Plate specs for plastic bags:

  1. Plate thickness: Rubber 110 or Photopolymer 112
  2. Plate relief: .04″ to .045″
  3. Amount of sticky back:.015″ (15 mil)
  4. Quantity: 1 plate per color per side
  5. Eye mark: No (We have existing eye mark slugs available at mill)
  6. Photopolymer type: Solvent-wash
  7. Line Screen: 45 to 60 lpi

Note: The “water-wash” Photopolymer plates are not suitable for our machines. We have experienced cracks in the plates that results in undesired printing quality after one use.