Full Color Commercial Printing Lithographic

The most common used in commercial lithographic printing process is the offset lithography. Majuscule script process works by photographically transferring first the image to a plate. The first lithographic plates used are the flat stones and still being used today. A variety of thin metal, paper plates and plastic are now the common lithographic plates.

Lithography is also known as planographic printing. Collotype is a longhand process using a gelatin-faced plate in order to achieve the tonal distribution obtained through screen dots in engraving. This picturization process is mainly used in the reproduction of fine illustrations or of scientific subject matter which requires detail accuracy.

In offset lithography, the image on the printing plate is not raised. The term offset in lithography is referred to the image that is not printed directly to the paper from the plates, or transferred to another surface then making contact with the card stock. Photolithography, litho-offset, offset and offset lithography are synonyms in commercial printing for the most generally used form of planographic printing, based on the adaptation of the lithographic printing press featuring a rubber-covered cylinder between the printing cylinder and the impression cylinder.

Commercial printing lithography press features rollers applying oil-based ink and water to the plates. The oil-based ink will not hold on to the non-image areas of the printing project because oil and water don’t mix. Only the ink-covered areas of the image are transferred to a cylinder (rubber blanket), in turn, equalize the image onto the card stock. Preparing the printing surface of the print project is standard for lithographic printing in order for the ink to hold fast only to the parts of the print material.