Making a Statement

Plant sees the greatest challenge with specialty inks as using them in concert with finishing processes such as coating and laminating. Some pigments are totally incompatible with more aggressive coatings, he notes, but these "idiosyncrasies" should lessen as usage grows.

Mixed reviews for blending

pP's '99 ink survey also explored the dynamics of another avenue of specialty inks—blending to produce custom colors. Readers were asked to indicate the ink blending approach that worked best for them. Seventy-three of tag and label, flexible packaging and folding carton printers still turn to a vendor for blending needs, most often due to cost savings (55 percent).