Masterpiece Graphix

Fenton, MO September 19, 2011 – Masterpiece Graphix (MGX), a digital material manufacturer and treatment center, has been named as a Certified Color-Logic Partner for digital metalized substrates. Now Masterpiece Graphix can provide compatible solutions for fantastic digital press metallic and special effects with Color-Logic’s Process Metallic Color System™.

Announcing the partnership, Color-Logic director of sales and marketing Mark Geeves commented: “Masterpiece Graphix and Color-Logic have worked together to ensure that Masterpiece Graphix Brilliant Metalized Paper/Perm/40# (R1361) provides the best possible image quality results on the Xeikon 30000 Series of digital label presses.  As a result, Masterpiece Graphix becomes the first Color-Logic technology partner to qualify substrate for use on Xeikon equipment.  Our collaboration ensures that Masterpiece Graphix is familiar with the Color-Logic Process Metallic Color System™, and stands ready to assist Xeikon users who wish to print on metalized paper to achieve the dramatic Color-Logic effects.”

MGX also offers Xeikon-authorized enhanced metalized material solutions for BOPP and polyester synthetic substrates. In addition, Masterpiece Graphix manufactures a multitude of metalized roll and sheet substrates that are compatible with other digital label presses.

For additional information, please contact:

About Masterpiece Graphix:

Masterpiece Graphix (MGX) is the premier digital substrate manufacturer, providing solutions for liquid toner, dry toner, and inkjet digital press technologies. As the first and only HP-Certified Indigo Treatment Center established in North America, Masterpiece Graphix has successfully treated hundreds of digital sheet and roll materials for the HP Indigo press. Masterpiece Graphix offers turnkey, ready-to-run digital material solutions for HP Indigo, Xeikon, EFI Jetrion, Kodak Nexpress, Memjet RapidX, and Xerox iGen digital presses, as well as solutions for other digital press technologies. As a digital material manufacturer and treatment center, MGX is a one-stop-shop for all traditional commodity stocks and exotic materials, opening up new revenue opportunities for digital press users.

About Color-Logic:

Color-Logic^™ develops color communication systems and software tool sets for a variety of special effect printing applications.  Color-Logic provides brand owners, product managers, corporations, and their advertising agencies the ability to differentiate themselves and their clients with a simple print production process that yields dramatic results.  Color-Logic special effects utilize the existing workflows of printers and designers, yielding dynamic results without the use of special equipment.  Color-Logic supports the value of print and works with designers and printers to enhance their printed media.  For more information, visit www.color-logic.com or call 513-258-0047.

Metalized substrates add pizzazz to your digital press offering with sparkle and interest. However it can be tricky to for a graphic designer to create a file that will achieve the desired metalized colors and effect when it goes to press. Color-Logic, a developer of color communication and software tools for special effect printing, The Process Metallic Color System™ by Color-Logic provides a communication system linking graphic designers with printers and converters. Previously only available for offset lithography applications, the Color-Logic Process Metallic Color System Version 2™ now supports digital press, inkjet and flexo printing processes. The Process Metallic Color System Version 2 ™ enables licensed printers to produce remarkable metallic effects on HP Indigo and Xeikon digital presses. The system is designed so that nearly any digital press that can print opaque white ink on a metallic substrate can produce striking images, hundreds of metallic colors and dazzling special effects.

Now industrial HP Indigo and Xeikon users with five-color printing capabilities (white plus CMYK) can utilize the Color-Logic process to produce as many as 250 different metallic hues on metalized substrates. The Color-Logic software works by incorporating the metallic substrate into the design, creating an effect equivalent to that achieved when running offset lithographic images with metallic ink. The Process Metallic Color System™ standardizes the process to benefit both printers and designers, to ensure files are correctly printed without the trial and error that can hinder metallic printing projects. The software system produces beautiful special effects for labels, folding cartons, signage, literature, point-of-purchase, and other specialty applications.

The Process Metallic Color System™ by Color-Logic has gained popularity initially for its ability to produce striking metallic images and special effects using offset lithography and flexography. In addition to Xeikon and HP Indigo technology, Color-Logic has recently released the new version of their metallic printing system to be compatible with wide-format inkjet.

The Process Metallic Color System™ software works by providing graphic designers with the ability to add a fifth silver separation to their usual CMYK images, creating designs that were previously impossible to achieve. Many Color-Logic special effects are simple and easy to create, and the system does not require you to purchase additional hardware or software to implement the technology. Files are generated by the same design software press users currently use, so Color Logic’s Process Metallic Color System™ platform is already compatible with your existing workflow. Printers that want to utilize the system are licensed and authorized by Color-Logic after demonstrating their metalized printing capabilities with the Process Metallic Color System™. This certification is a strong selling point when bidding on metallic printing jobs.

Color-Logic sells directly to printing companies who can then license the process from Color-Logic on a one-time basis, for perpetual use. Color-Logic partners with major press and output device suppliers, including manufacturers providing coating and proofing equipment, as well as ink and substrate suppliers, to ensure compatibility with existing printer workflows and practices. Products are thoroughly tested before release to ensure that the metallic printing system produces exceptional results on different digital press models.

Color-Logic, in conjunction with Xeikon, showcased their Process Metallic Color System™ at Graph Expo in October 2010 in Chicago, Illinois. Color Logic’s booth distributed printed samples of MGX’s Xeikon-Authorized Brilliant Metalized Paper/Perm/40# (R1361), which were printed using Color Logic’s metalized printing software on a Xeikon digital press.  Color-Logic’s Process Metallic Color System™ received a coveted MustSee’em Award in the Software category at Graph Expo.

Take a few minutes to see how the Color-Logic Design Suite produces dynamic  effects with the most common design programs available in the marketplace today by following this link.

Masterpiece Graphix can provide digital metalized substrates for HP Indigo and Xeikon that work well with Color-Logic’s Process Metallic Color System™. For more information on our metalized substrates, please contact your MGX sales rep directly or email our sales team.

Metalized prime labels combined with high-impact digital graphics are an eye-catching way to dazzle your customers. MGX offers a full line of digital-ready metalized substrates including iridescent, foil, metalized paper and holographic materials. Many MGX metalized options are competitively priced and can be on your pressroom floor ready to print in a matter of days. No matter your desired product appearance, specific material requirements or budget, Masterpiece Graphix can provide a metalized substrate to suit your digital application.

Silver Metalized Paper/All-Temp Perm/40# SCK(R1172): This premium finished metalized paper material features a bright silver high-sheen face with an acrylic topcoat and excellent HP Indigo printability. The permanent adhesive bonds to many common substrates, is FDA 175.105-compliant and performs well in all temperatures. The material’s versatility makes it an ideal choice for many prime label applications. Masterpiece Graphix is proud to offer R1172 as a readily-available, compatible material solution for the HP Indigo.

Xeikon-Authorized Brilliant Metalized Paper/Perm/40# (R1361): Masterpiece Graphix is has partnered with Xeikon to offer metalized substrate solutions for the Xeikon digital press series. Xeikon-authorized MGX Brilliant Metalized Paper/Perm/40# (R1361) is enhanced with a digital topcoat and is authorized for use on all the Xeikon label presses for the best possible image quality and toner adhesion.  MGX also offers Xeikon-authorized enhanced metalized material solutions for other metalized synthetic substrates such as BOPP and polyester.

2 mil Metalized BOPP /Perm/1.2mil PET (R1375): This MGX HP Indigo-compatible material features a bright silver, mirror-like glossy face and a superior wet-out adhesive well-suited for squeezable container applications. Masterpiece Graphix’s R1375 offers resistance to water, oil and chemicals, making the substrate an excellent choice for high-gloss cosmetic and toiletry labeling.

Dull Silver Foil/Perm/40# (R1497): MGX currently offers HP Indigo-compatible Masterpiece Dull Silver Foil/Perm/40# (R1497) as a readily available metalized option. In addition, Masterpiece Graphix offers several other HP Indigo-optimized foil materials. Other available materials include a silver or gold face with a dull (matte) or bright (mirror-like) finishes. Laminated foil offers exceptional durability and excellent color reproduction. Some press operators opt to flood-coat silver foil stocks to produce custom tinted metallic and color matched foils. The permanent adhesive used on MGX laminated foil stock is suitable for virtually all prime label applications.

Holographic Iridescent Metalized Paper/ Perm/40# SCK (R1187): This substrate is one of our most commonly ordered HP Indigo-compatible metalized materials. Featuring a two-dimensional holographic diffraction pattern and an FDA 175.105-compliant adhesive, MGX’s Holographic Iridescent Metalized Paper/Perm/40# SCK is eye-catching and is more economically-priced than many metalized substrates. HP Indigo-optimized MGX R1187 is a competitively priced roll product with that can be quickly treated and shipped to your pressroom.

Custom Material Options: The highlighted products above are just a few of the metalized substrates Masterpiece Graphix can provide for use on your digital press. Do you have a specific material in mind that’s not mentioned here? No problem. MGX can help you select, trial, and digitally optimize the specific material you want with our custom substrate options. Masterpiece Graphix offers short lead times and competitive pricing from the industry’s top suppliers. If you plan on regularly ordering the same metalized facestocks to run on your digital press, custom stocking options are available. For additional information on all of MGX’s metalized material options, please contact your MGX sales rep directly or email our sales team.

Digital technology was at the forefront at Graph Expo 2010 October 3-6 in Chicago,

Illinois. Many digital press manufacturers like HP Indigo, Kodak, Xerox, Kip, Ricoh, Fugifilm, Oce, and EFI Jetrion showcased their newest technology. Masterpiece Graphix staff were on hand at the show, connecting with clients and learning about the newest innovations in digital press technology.

Color Logic & Xeikon

Color Logic, in conjunction with Xeikon, showcased their Process Metallic Color System™ in conjunction with the Xeikon 3000 digital press. Color Logic’s booth distributed printed samples of MGX’s Xeikon-Authorized Brilliant Metalized Paper/Perm/40# (R1361), which were printed using Color Logic’s metalized printing software.

EFI Jetrion

EFI’s booth showcased the EFI Jetrion 4380 UV inkjet digital press. MGX is a supplier partner for the EFI Jetrion, providing semigloss and gloss paper solutions for the digital press. MGX provided EFI with Jetrion-certified 54# Semigloss/Perm/40# (R1338), which ran on the EFI Jetrion 4380 demo machine throughout the duration of Graph Expo.

Digital on Center Stage…Where was Offset?

One notable point at the show was the lack of traditional offset machines; missing from this year’s Graph Expo were offset giants Heidelburg and Komori, who both pulled their booth reservations for the show. Offset press manufacturers KBA, Manroland and AGFA did exhibit, but did not showcase any traditional offset equipment.

2010’s Graph Expo was definitely a digital press show: the plethora of digital technology was very apparent to show attendees, especially inkjet technology. HP showcased their new HP T350 inkjet press, as well as the rest of their digital technology as the flagship display at this year’s Graph Expo. Ricoh had their InfoPrint 5000 family of presses. Screen and Fujifilm also exhibited their newest inkjet technology. Dry toner digital technology was also big at this Graph Expo. Kip displayed their Color 80 wide-format toner press, and both Kodak Nexpress and Xerox iGen showcased new machines with a larger maximum sheet size than previous models.

Fenton, MO August 24, 2010 – Masterpiece Graphix (MGX) of St. Louis, Missouri, has partnered with Xeikon, a pioneer in digital color printing, to offer metalized substrate enhancement services for the Xeikon label presses. Xeikon-authorized MGX Brilliant Metalized Paper/Perm/40# (R1361) will be one of the substrates running on the Xeikon 3500 digital press at the Labelexpo 2010 show in Chicago, IL. Xeikon is exhibiting at Booth 6135, Hall F at Labelexpo.

MGX’s R1361 has been enhanced with a digital topcoat and is authorized for use on all the Xeikon label presses for the best possible image quality and toner adhesion.  MGX also offers Xeikon-authorized enhanced metalized material solutions for synthetic substrates such as BOPP and polyester.

According to Filip Weymans, Business Development Manager – Labels & Packaging, Xeikon, “We are excited about our partnership with MGX. Our presses work exceptionally well with most standard self-adhesive label substrates without any pre-treatment or coating (Paper and BOPP). In case of MGX’s R1361 Metalized substrate, a digital topcoat is required to optimize the image quality and adhesion. All the MGX substrates that we have tested work really well with our presses. We will demonstrate this at Labelexpo.”

“We are all about creating materials that enhance digital printing performance,” said Doug Watson, President of Masterpiece Graphix. “We have a high regard for Xeikon and it is a privilege to develop materials for them.”

The Xeikon 3500, launched at IPEX 2010, addresses the need for more production capacity. It can handle scalable media widths up to 20.3 inches, a significant size increase that allows label converters to digitally address a wider range of applications with 1200 dpi imaging quality. In addition, it can handle monthly duty cycles up to 3.8 million square feet.

The Xeikon 3500 is ideal for the production of self-adhesive and heat transfer labels. Equipped with high-precision LED-based imaging heads, it generates excellent image quality. The press is equipped with 5 color stations, 4 for the standard process colors while the 5th allows the use of spot colors. Print speed of the press is unaffected by the number of colors used as well as the repeat length of a label. The Xeikon 3500 can also apply a special security toner for anti-counterfeiting applications, and ‘one-pass’ opaque white to create a desired ‘no-label/label-less look’ on transparent labels. It runs on Xeikon’s new QA-I toner, which meets all the applicable FDA standards for indirect and direct contact with dry food items.

About Masterpiece Graphix

Masterpiece Graphix (MGX) is a digital coating company, supplying digital-ready roll and sheet materials for liquid toner, dry toner and inkjet press applications. Masterpiece Graphix is the only HP Indigo Certified treatment center for HP Indigo optimized materials in North America. Serving customers with short lead times, certified as well as custom digital material solutions, competitive pricing, and substrate guidance, MGX’s team of coating experts has proven themselves to be the unrivaled competitor in quality and service within the digital materials industry.

About Xeikon

A pioneer in digital printing, Xeikon designs, develops and delivers high-end digital color printing systems for the industrial, document and commercial printing market segments. These systems are composed of advanced web-fed printing engines using LED-array-based, dry toner electrophotography, open workflow software, exclusive toner and other consumables. Xeikon’s production and R&D operations are based in Belgium and its solutions are distributed and supported through a worldwide sales and service network. Xeikon is a division of Punch Graphix. For more information, visit www.xeikon.com.

Click here to download press release in a PDF.

Recently it has come to our attention that there are a few rumors making the rounds about Masterpiece Graphix. As a digital treatment center, we take great pride in our reputation and want to dispel any misconceptions about our business. Below are the actual facts about Masterpiece Graphix, so don’t believe any misinformation to the contrary!

MGX Offers More Than Just HP Indigo Roll Materials: Masterpiece Graphix has been coating HP Indigo roll materials for over a decade. However, MGX is also now offering sheet materials for HP Indigo presses. We keep many stocked sheet material solutions in-house, ready to order and run on your HP Indigo sheet press. In addition, MGX also offers material solutions for the EFI Jetrion industrial label roll press, as well as compatible substrates for dry toner sheet presses like the Xerox iGen and Kodak NexPress. We are continuously adding new digital press technologies to our list of coating capabilities, so if a customer brings a desired material/digital press combination to us, we can help formulate a coating solution.

MGX is More Than Just a “Custom House”: Masterpiece offers turnkey, ready-to-run material solutions for all available HP Indigo press models. Since we’ve successfully coated over 800 different facestock/adhesive combinations for the HP Indigo, we are confident that we can offer HP Indigo-compatible substrates that will run flawlessly the first time. In addition, MGX offers RIT-certified material solutions for many press models like the WS6000. Certification means that the material has been thoroughly tested by the Rochester Institute of Technology’s Printing Applications Laboratory to run trouble-free on a particular HP Indigo model.

MGX Offers Toll Coating, And More: Masterpiece Graphix can ship you digitally-coated, ready-to-print stock from nearly every industry supplier. Of course, you can always ship your desired material to us for coating, but it’s not necessary. Substrates can be ordered directly from us and quickly shipped to you once the material has been coated. Many materials arrive at your location six business days after your order.

MGX Carries Material Mainstays As Well As Exotic Substrates: In fact, MGX carries ALL the industry mainstays like semigloss and BOPP, as well as the tricky, hard to coat substrates. Masterpiece Graphix is essentially a one-stop-shop for Indigo-compatible materials, offering everything from papers to plastics, pressure-sensitives to polycarbonate. No matter the material you desire, MGX has the material you need, at competitive prices. More on this below…

MGX Offers Competitive Pricing on Industry Mainstays: MGX can offer excellent pricing on all the digital material you need, including industry staples like papers and films. You can rely on MGX to provide competitive pricing on all of your needed materials, not just the exotic, hard-to-find stocks. Please don’t hesitate to contact MGX for pricing on any material; we will get it to you quickly, and can answer any questions you have on a particular material. Ordering materials from MGX cuts your bottom line in other ways: running MGX substrates provide increased pip and blanket life on your machine, which in turn lowers your downtime and maintenance costs. Our materials also offer the longest shelf life in the industry.

MGX Provides Customized Stocking Solutions For Your Company: MGX can create a custom stocking option to fit your business model. Substrates can be ordered from us directly, or materials can be drop-shipped to us for coating. If you plan to regularly order the same material, MGX can help you develop a custom stocking solution, ensuring that you always have digital-ready material in-house, the way you want them.

Occasionally an application calls for a need to set a product apart from the competition…maybe it’s a limited-run exclusive, a holiday-themed item, or a top-of-the line product. One way to identify a unique item is to give it a unique, eye-catching label. If a premium product calls for a label that will grab the maximum attention on store shelves, look no further than Masterpiece Graphix’s exotic substrates. MGX offers a full line of “labels that sparkle”: including iridescent, foil, metalized paper and holographic materials. No matter your desired product appearance, specific material requirements or budget, Masterpiece Graphix can provide an exotic substrate to suit your needs.

Holographic Iridescent Metalized Paper/ Perm/40# SCK (R1187): This substrate is one of our most commonly ordered exotic materials. Featuring a two-dimensional holographic diffraction pattern and an FDA 175.105-compliant adhesive, MGX’s Holographic Iridescent Metalized Paper/Perm/40# SCK is eye-catching and is more economically-priced compared to other exotic materials.

Silver Metalized Paper/All-Temp Perm/40# SCK (R0149): This premium finished metalized paper material features a bright silver high-sheen face with an acrylic topcoat and excellent printability. Since the adhesive is FDA 175.105-compliant and performs well in all temperatures, the substrate is ideal for cold beverages that require refrigeration.

2 mil Metalized BOPP TC/ Perm/1.2mil PET (R1179): This material features a bright silver, mirror-like facestock, with a superior wet-out adhesive that is perfect for squeezable container applications. The adhesive is also FDA 21 CFR 175.105-compliant, approved for indirect contact with food.  This material is suitable for food packaging as well as cosmetic and toiletry labeling.

Laminated Foil/Perm/40#SCK: Masterpiece Graphix offers several foil materials. Options include a silver or gold face with a dull (matte) or bright (mirror-like) finishes. Laminated foil offers durability and excellent color reproduction, for labels that really “pop”. Some press operators opt to flood-coat their silver foil, to produce colored tinted metallics and color matched foils. The permanent adhesive used on MGX laminated foil stock is durable and versatile, suitable for virtually all prime label applications. The adhesive is also safe for incidental food contact.

These highlighted products are just a few of the exotic substrates Masterpiece Graphix can provide for use on your HP Indigo press. MGX has many exotic roll materials available. Can’t find what you are looking for there? No problem. MGX can digitally optimize the specific material you want with our custom substrate options. For additional information on all of MGX’s exotic material options, please contact your MGX sales rep.