Here are some Frequently used Printing Terminology (T-Z).

Tack Stickiness. Tack is a critical property of the ink used in lithogra- phy. Because the ink sits on a flat surface, it needs internal cohesion; in other words, it needs to stick to itself so that it doesn't run all over the plate. However, too much tack can cause it to pull the paper apart. When printing two or more ink colors in line, the ink tack and sequence must be adjusted in order for the ink to adhere to each other as well as to the paper. see also dry trap, lithography, plate, wet trap. Return to top

Tag paper a heavy utility grade of paper used to print tags, such as the store tags on clothing. Tag paper must be strong and durable, yet have good affinity for printing inks. Return to top

Tear Strength a measure of how likely a paper will continue to tear once started. Tear strength will be different with and agaist the grain of paper. Paper that will be punched should have good tear strength. see also bonding strength, grain. Return to top

Tensile Strength a measure of how likely a paper is to break when pulled at opposite ends, in oppostie directions. A web offset paper must have good tensile strength if it is to withstand the high speed of the printing press. see also bonding strenght, web break, web paper, web press. Return to top

Text Paper premium uncoated printing paper of fine quality, manufactured in weights suitable for the text of books or brochures. Text papers are made in a wide variety of finishes, including smooth, antique, vellum, laid, felt, and emobossed. They are character- ized by execellent folding qualitys, printablity, and durability. Text papers are used most often for books, annual reports, brochures, booklets, advertising collateral material, and announcements, and have a basic size of 25"x38". see also basic size, book paper, cover paper, offset paper. Return to top

Thermography a finishing applied after printing that creates the raised effect of engrved printing. Special inks are used during offset printing; a poweder is applied to the paper; and the paper is passed through a heater. see also engraving, offset, printing methods. Return to top

Thickness the thickness of a single piece of paper, as measured in thou- sandths of an inch, called "caliper." Thickness measurements define the bulkiness of a sheet of paper, but the actual number of sheets in an inch-high stack of paper is referred to as PPI, or pages per inch. see also bulk, caliper, ppi. Return to top

TIFF Tagged Image File Format, a bitmapped file format used for the reproduction of digitally scanned images such as photographs, illustrations & logos. Return to top

Tint to vary a color by adding white. Also, a very light or delicate variation of a color. Return to top

Titanium Dioxide an exceptionally opaque and expensive compound used as a white pigment and opcifier in papermaking. Elemental titanium is a lustrous, lightweight, white metal with exceptional strength. see also ingredients of paper, opacity, pigment. Return to top

Tooth refers to paper's surface roughness, a characteristic that allows it to take up ink. Return to top

Touchplate in four-color process printing, an additional fifth plate of ink that adds more of one color to enhance the image. see also four-color process, subtractive color. Return to top

Toyo a system used for color matching. see also Colorcurve, match color, PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM. Return to top

Trapping printing ink over previously printed ink. Trapping is also used to describe the very slight overlapping of adjacent colors. Trapping color is achieved by use of chokes and spreads. see also dry trap, tack, wet trap. Return to top

Trim Size the final size of a printed piece once it's been cut to specification. Return to top

Trimming cutting paper after printing to make all sheets the same or a specified size. After binding printed papers, the head, foot, and edge of a book are often trimmed in a guillotine to make all the papes even. The inner papes of each signature have a tighter fold and will be slightly longer than the outer pages. see also finishing, guillotine, signature, trim size. Return to top

Tritone a black and white image printed with three screens and three colors, such as one black and two grays, used to enrich the con- trast between light and dark areas. see also continuous tone, duotone, halftone, quadratone, screen. Return to top

Twin-wire Machine a paper making machine with two continuous forming wires, rather than just one. Twin-wires were designed to create a less two-sided paper than manufactured on a Fourdrinier paper machine. Other techniques for reducing two-sidedness have since been developed, enabling paper manufactures to created paper on single-wire machines with little side-to-side variation. see also felt side, Fourdrinier, two-sidedness, wire side. Return to top

Two-sidedness the tendency of some papers to have slightly different character- istics and printing results from side-to-side. see also felf side, like-sided, wire side. Return to top

Uncoated Freesheet uncoated paper containing no more than 10% mechanical wood pulp. Most uncoated freesheet paper is entirely free of mechani- cal wood pulp. Most uncoated printing and writing papers are classified into the broader category of uncoated freesheet. see also mechanical pulp, pupling wood, uncoated paper. Return to top

Uncoated Groundwood all paper, that isn't coated, containing more than 10% ground- wood fiber in its furnish. see also furnish, groundwood paper, newsprint paper, uncoated paper. Return to top

Uncoated Paper paper that doesn't have coating. Uncoated papers are manu- factured in a great variety of finishes, colors, and weights, and offer the versatility needed to meet the creative and practical demands of most print jobs. see also book paper, cotton paper, cover paper, furnish, offset papers, text papers, vellum. Return to top

UV Coating a very slick, glossy coating applied to the printed paper sur- face and dried on press with ultraviolet (UV) light. The slick surface of UV coating makes it eye catching, and therefore very popular for printing the covers of paperback novels. Because UV coating can cause slight variations in match colors, con- sulting with an ink manufacturer or printer will yield best results. Return to top

UV Ink ink specially formulated to dry quickly with ultraviolet (UV) light while still on press. UV drying improves turnaround time because it eliminates waiting for the first side to dry before printing the second side. This eliminates the need for the paper to pass through the press more than once. see also dry trap, ink, wet trap. Return to top

Varnish a coating printed on top of a printed sheet to protect it, add a finish, and/or add a tinge of color. An entire sheet may be varnished, or certain areas, like halftones, may be spot varnished to add emphasis and appeal. Return to top

Vegetable-based Ink and ink using vegetable oil, rather than petroleum solvents, as the vehicle for carrying pigment. Vegetable ink colors tend to be more vibrant than petroleum-based inks, but may take longer to dry. This book, Words on Paper, is printed with soy- based ink, a type of vegetable-based ink. see also ink, petroleum-based ink. Return to top

Vellum an uncoated paper finish that is fairly even, but not quite as even as a smooth finish. Vellum is probably the most popular finish for uncoated paper. see also finish, uncoated paper. Return to top

Velox a paper type imaging material created by using a large printers camer and exposing the paper to light through a lense. Used for camera ready logos, half tones.Virgin fiber fiber that has never been used before in the manufacture of paper or other products. Return to top

Washing see deinking. Return to top

Waterless Printing a printing process that runs on offset lithography presses, but without using water. The non-image areas of the plate are coated with silicone, allowing the ink to run off freely into shallow wells, in the plate. Because finer dots can be used in waterless printing, the image is very detailed. The cost for this printing process is high, but the results can be magnificent. see also dryography, offset, plate. Return to top

Watermark a mark in fine papers, imparted during manufacture, that identifies a paper. It doesn't leave an impression in the paper, instead it leaves behind a translucent mark. see also dandy roll

Web a roll of paper. see also web paper. Return to top

Web Break a tear through a roll of paper, either while it is being manufac- tured at the mill, or while it is running through a printing press. When the web breaks, either at the mill or on press, machinery must be shut down, causing a loss of production time. see also papermaking, web paper, web press. Return to top

Web Paper paper that comes in a roll rather than in sheets. A web press runs this paper, folding and/or cutting it after it is printed. web press a press specifically designed to print rolls of paper called webs, rather than sheets. A web press runs much faster than a sheet- feb press: as many as 40,000 images per hour versus a maxi- mum of about 14,000 per hour on a sheet-feb press. see also offset, sheet-fed press, web, web paper. Return to top

Web Press A high speed printing press that prints on both sides of a continuous roll of paper. Web presses are used for high volume printing such as newspapers and magazines. Return to top

Weight the tonnage or poundage of a quantity of paper. The weight of paper may be expressed as basis weight, ream weight, M weight, or grammage. Basis weight is the weight in pounds of 500 sheets of paper cut to a given standard size (called basic size), such as 25"x38", depending on the grade of paper. Ream weight is the actual weight in pounds of 500 sheets of paper, regardless of basic size of grade. M weight is the actual weight of 1,000 sheets of paper. Because this is twice the quantity of a ream of paper, it is also twice the ream weight. Grammage is a metric measure similar to the basis weight of paper. Unlike basis weight, which uses different basic sizes for different grades of paper, grammage always uses the same sheet size - one square meter - regardless of the paper grade. see also actual weight, basis weight, grammage, M weight, ream weight. Return to top

Wet End the front end of the papermaking machine, including the head- box, wire, and presses. Papaer is more water than fiber in this section of the machine. see also dry end, headbox, papermaking, slurry. Return to top

Wet Trap Printing a layer of wet ink over, or adjacent to, a previous layer of wet ink. see also dry trap, tack, trapping. Return to top

Whiteness the measure of the amount of light reflected from a sheet of paper. How white a paper is depends on how evenly it reflects all colors in the visible spectrum. If it reflects more blue than red and yellow, it will have a cool, blue tinge to it, making it appear brighter than white. A cool paper will appear brighter than a similar paper with a warm tinge. A cool or warm tinge doesn't affect paper quality, but it does create optical impressions. For example, in color printing with blues and blacks predominating, a cool white sheet tends to brighten the colors. But color printing with reds, oranges, and yellows predominating, a neutral or warm white sheet tends to make the colors apprear clearer and stronger. see also brightness, fluorescent dye, refractiveness. Return to top

Wire Side the bottom side of the paper that comes in contact with the wire (now called the forming fabric) of the paper machine during the papermaking process. The top side of the paper is called the felt side. As the water drains through the wire during manufacture, it carries fibers, fillers, and other chemicals with it, depositing more of them on the wire side than on the felt side of the paper. This can result in the wire and felt sides having slightly different textures. see also felt side, papermaking, tooth, two-sidedness. Return to top

Work and Back see imposition. Return to top

Work and Tumble see imposition. Return to top

Work and Turn see imposition. Return to top

Wove Finish uncoated paper that has an even finish with slight toothiness. see also finish, tooth. Return to top

Zapateado the rhythmic stamping of the heels, characteristic of Spanish flamenco dances - can be practiced while reading this web page! Return to top