What Is a Printing Plate (Cliché)?
The most accurate answer to the question “What is a cliché?” is:
It is a metal plate prepared for printing letters and images in a printing house.
Let us examine how clichés, which have long been used in the printing industry, came into existence:
Before the cliché technique reached its current form, images to be printed were carved onto hard and smooth pieces of wood. However, in 1825, Joseph Nicéphore Niépce laid the foundation for today’s embossed printing plates by creating an embossment of a copper plate onto a lead plate.
Later, in the 1850s, Firmin Gillot further developed this printing technique by producing various image plates on zinc sheets. These techniques formed the basis of what we now call the relief printing technique (letterpress), one of the three methods used in modern plate production.
Another technique, known as the “halftone plate” method, was invented in 1880 by Stephen Henry Horgan and later improved by Frederick Ives.
Techniques Used in Plate Production
There are two main techniques used in plate production.
1. Letterpress (Relief Printing) Technique
The first is the letterpress technique. This method is generally used to produce plates of hand-drawn images. The plates are etched with acid to create raised surfaces that prepare the image for printing.
In this type of printing:
- The areas intended to appear black are raised (embossed).
- The areas intended to remain white are left recessed.
2. Halftone (Screen) Plate Technique
Another method is the halftone plate technique, also referred to as the dotted plate method. These plates are formed by combining many small dots. This technique is typically used when preparing photographs or shaded images.
3. Line Plate Technique
Finally, there is the line plate technique. When preparing line plates, zinc sheets with a thickness of 0.16 cm are used. These sheets are coated with a light-sensitive compound and then overlaid with the negative of the desired image. With the help of strong light exposure, the positive image is transferred onto the zinc surface. After several intermediate processes, the resulting plate is mounted onto wooden blocks.
It should be noted that with the line plate method, it is not possible to distinguish between color tones. For this purpose, the halftone technique must be used. Since this technique is formed by arranging numerous small dots at varying intervals, it allows different color tones to be represented.
What Is the Price of a Printing Plate?
Plate printing is a labor-intensive printing method with multiple stages. While it used to be done manually in the past, today modern printing machines are used. Therefore, when pricing plate printing, every detail involved will be reflected in the cost.
For example:
- If companies request that their logos be printed onto plates, they usually pay an additional one-time fee. This is called the plate request fee.
- The selection of colors used in printing is also important. Manufacturers typically charge extra for each color used. Generally, an additional fee of approximately 30% of the base plate price is charged per color.
- Lastly, the nature of the design printed on the plate affects the price. Whether the requested print is an image or consists only of text will also influence the cost.
