Printing proved to be harder than Emily and I first anticipated. We went to Leeds uni as they have a slightly wider range of stocks to choose from, we chose a thick matt stock as we thought this would be best for a record sleeve out of the available options. However when printing them downstairs it was very disappointing as the vibrant colours and texture on the two sleeves didn't show up as well as on screen at all. We considered more of a gloss finish as we felt this would allow the colours to show more, however, James said that would't work as the sleeves needed to be folded.
We then reprinted using the matt stock from the print room which improved the printing quality massively. James said this was because the matt in the print room has certain chemicals that allow for the colour of the ink to show more vibrantly. So for future reference, anything with eye catching colours should be printed on this stock.
We then faced other problems with the way we wanted to print the text. Originally our idea was to use the vinyl cutter to create some stickers for the text to go on. There were two sleeve designs, one with white text placed on the front of the sleeve, as part of the same print, and one with a sticker and the text on. Surprisingly the coloured pattern didn't wash out the white text on the first design, however, we wanted to use the vinyl Emily had got from Sydney Beaumont. This was another problem as we were told that no ink could be printed on to the vinyl as the inks used in the print room were water-based. We then tried printing off plain circular stickers to work as the actual record sticker but the vinyl cutter wouldn't cut through the vinyl - apparently picking vinyl for certain vinyl cutters can depend on brand, finish and type and so not all will work with certain cutters.
The last option that could be tested whilst in the print slot was to print the text onto clear vinyl and then stick over the vinyl from Sydney Beaumont. We faced more problems as the vinyl cutter wouldn't cut through. We now need to cut the circles out by hand which proved quite difficult as you don't really get that professional finish. Emily and I now need to discuss what the next option should be and how to resolve this problem. Even though the brief is yet to be complete because of it I feel I've learnt quite a lot in the print room today, costly mistakes that wont be made again.
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