By Erin La Row, writer, UV+EB Technology
Team Concept Printing & Thermography’s Lux FX Peacock carton was created to be felt and seen. With a simple stroke of the hand, one can almost feel raindrops popping off the silky-smooth, soft-touch surface of the carton. Turn it over and an embossed peacock feather (created through UV-cured digital inkjet spot coating) flies off the carton. Each side is a unique sensory experience.
“The peacock carton was created to be a showpiece for an event we were having to highlight some of our many capabilities,” said Terry Wiersma, prepress/pressroom/operations manager at Team Concept Printing & Thermography, based in Carol Stream, Illinois.
A show piece it is, starting with 18-point C1S Tango from Westrock for the substrate. Artwork elements were provided as vector and raster art with none of the effects built into them. The team used what was provided to design a custom carton with special effects. Soft-touch lamination on the printed carton, along with four differently colored foils (gold, silver, red and copper) supplied by Crown Roll Leaf and a spot high-build gloss UV coating, bring the images to life.
The project was printed on one of Team Concept’s Komori GL 640 six-color press and then laminated on its Saggita 76 laminator. The foils and spot UV coating were applied on the company’s MGI JETvarnish 3DL. Diecutting, folding and gluing were done on a Rollem Insignia and the Chameleon 800 folder-gluer.
“The MGI JETvarnish is the technology that made this carton pop,” Wiersma said.
When it came to the UV curing of the inks/coatings, the printing inks were cured using a Baldwin LED lamp system. Wiersma said the MGI curing system has a 2-lamp system; first, an LED lamp to pin the UV in place and then a conventional UV lamp for the final cure.
“The fact that UV/LED-cured inks don’t require set-up time or offset spray powder means a lot for any printed product,” Wiersma said. “But in this instance, the lamination portion is a breeze since the ink is fully cured and there isn’t any spray powder.”
Wiersma said the company wanted each panel of the carton to have a unique look that could stand on its own.
“We collaborated and did multiple prototypes to come up with this winning design,” Wiersma said. That design caught the eye of judges this year at the 29th annual Foil & Specialty Effects Association Gold Leaf Awards, where it was awarded gold in Best Use of Foil/Embossing – Folding Carton.
“This particular piece goes with our sales and customer excellence team on customer visits, to tradeshows and in sample packets,” Wiersma said. “It is so well received; we’ve had many requests to add the same techniques to many of our customers’ products.”
