Varnish. It's not a dull subject.

Varnish. It's not a dull subject.

It has been long known that you will achieve great gloss dull contrast in your print work by running a varnish or two offline as a second pass, but that is expensive and time consuming adding extra days to dry then the expense of both sides going back through the press.

SQL-spot-gloss-600There is an in-line process with near instant drying time that is superior in look and less expensive if the printer has at least a 5 color press plus in-line aqueous coating. Minimum requirement; if you need PMS colors, a bigger press is needed.

Start with GLOSS stock; print the 4 color process with 5th color as spot DULL VARNISH, then last down, overall GLOSS aqueous coating. As the gloss Aqueous dries within 10 minutes, the spot dull varnish "migrates" through the gloss and becomes the surface. It's pretty amazing that the dull varnish isn't obscured but becomes more pronounced against the gloss which is super glossy since it is only covering gloss parts of the page. The dull portion looks as it should.

This is called either "migrating" varnish effect or a.k.a. "strike through" varnish.