With this post, I start a new kind of section on the printing techniques… Let’s go !
On friday morning I went in Turnhout to print the book box of Sortilèges (Jose Luis Munuera is the drawer and Jean Dufaux the scenarist) which you’ll find int the best bookshops in november !
Matthys, the printer, is specialised in the cold foil printing.
What kind of strange strange production process is this ?
It’s pretty simple : before the four colours to be printed a silver, gold or holographic layer is applied.

Some further explanations : In the first printing tower, the adhesive layer is applied. In the second tower, the foil adheres sharply to the adhesive layer. Colour printing starts from the third tower. Dispersion varnish is applied as a protective layer. Lamination can only be made as a minimum 24 hours after printing for it needs to dry a long time.

 

As a result : coldfoil can magnify a beautiful design. The colours are sublimated and the silvery appearance can only attract the eye in a bookshop.

Matthys is specialized in this very very particular field. Their 7 towers MAN ROLLAND (glue, coldfoil, the 4 colours and dispersion varnish) is magical to watch printing.

Coming soon, a picture of my box of books that will shine like a star…

Today, I will talk to you about a marvel : Paris by night, published by Milan.

Far from all overbids about the giant pop-up books, this small italian format (145x205mm) has it all : Claire Le Meil’s magnificent illustrations, the ingenuity of the agency UP UP UP ! and Milan perfectly match.

The four scenes, soft-colored, abound with details. The drawings are very poetic, delicate and funny too, with a lot of winks for the parents.

It’s also a manufacture masterpiece, with special mentions for the two LED that have been put in the cover. How to turn them on ? By pressing the street-lamp in the endpapers of course ! Magic happens under a beautiful starry sky: it’s party time place du Tertre, big rush on the Champs-Elysées, you wander at Notre-Dame and you dream while enjoying the fireworks at the Eiffel tower…

At home, this book became a must-read for the kids at night. I even had to take it on holiday…

 

Printed in 2015 by Senteurs Cartons in Marcinelle (Belgium).

This limited edition of the 22nd volume of Blake & Mortimer is an invitation to visit the artists’ workshop.
Printed on the splendid Munken Pure 150 gsm, this large-format album (289x368mm) projects the original strips of Antoine Aubin in their original size. The cream-coloured and the smoothness of the paper makes the book reading experience exceptional…

You almost have the feeling of holding the drawings in your hands… There are a lot of priceless annotations which enable us to realize the scope of the work and the high level of excellence from its author.

A few more beautiful sketches…

The splendid cover is screen-printed with 1 PMS only, on the Wibalin paper.

549 copies only were produced and signed, on the title page, by the three authors.

This limited edition is a magnificent tribute to E. P. Jacobs and his mythic collection on the most beautiful way.

To be held at least one time between hands !

As a bonus, the pencilled drawing versus the final printed result… Still on the first page of the album.

 

Printed in 2013 by Toppan, in China and published by Albin Michel.

My friend Emilie showed me this beautiful book. Blexbolex used four colors only (3 Pantone + 1 black color for the cover) to create the color scheme of this project.

The author, a subject matter expert, worked on the rasters of his illustrations, created by some superposition effects. As a result : purity, density and extraordinary richness of the colors in the printed result.

The chosen paper flatters the colors and gives some more textures to the rasters : the same offset 100gsm , very pleasant to touch, is used for the end papers and the inside pages.

The cover is printed on a non laminated laid paper which passes the lamination test on the 3 millimetre cardboard without breaking.

The inside paper has a nice bulk. You therefore hold a nice volume (284 pages) but with a pretty original size.

I’ve enjoyed a lot the originality of the narrative.
A bit disturbing when opening the book, you very quickly get into the pace of that Romance which embezzle the codes of the classic tales with great intelligence.

Not to be missed !