The Wells & Drew Printing Dictionary – C

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C

C1s:
Coated one side.
C2s:
Coated two sides.
Callout:
An explanatory label for an illustration, often drawn with a leader line pointing to a part of the illustration.
Calcium Carbonate:
A white pigment used in the furnish or coating of paper. In the furnish, limited to alkaline or neutral internal sizing systems. The calcium carbonate can be obtained from grinding naturally occurring limestone (ground calcium carbonate or GCC) or manufactured as a precipitated pigment (precipitated calcium carbonate or PCC).
Calender:
A set or stack of smooth steel rolls resting one on top of the other at the end of a paper machine. The paper web is passed between one or more of the “nips” under pressure to control the desired smoothness and thickness of the final sheet.
Calender crush/blackening:
A term describing the darkening of the intended shade of paper caused by excessive calendering or by the calendering of wet paper.
Calender cut:
A cut in the web of paper, usually at an angle to the machine direction, as a result of wrinkles or excess paper accumulating as a fold at the entrance of a calender nip. When the excess suddenly carries through the nip, the force applied in the nip cuts the sheet.
Calender finished:
Paper and paperboard that has been passed through a calender to improve surface characteristics by application of pressure, friction and moisture.
Calender marks:
Marks imparted by the calender, at a repetitive interval depending on the diameter of the damaged calender roll causing the defect. The defect usually appears as a dull, irregularly shaped area when viewed by low angle light.
Calender rolls:
A set or stack of horizontal cast-iron rolls at the end of a paper machine. The paper is passed between the rolls to increase the smoothness and gloss of its surface.
Calender scale:
See scale.
Calender spots:
Marks or spots of a non-uniform size and shape, on or impressed into the surface of paper, caused by foreign material sticking to a calender roll. The defect will repeat, depending upon the diameter of the roll causing the defect; the defect usually appears as a transparentized spot when viewed through the sheet.
Calender stacks:
See calendering.
Calender streaks:
Are relatively high(er) gloss bands in the machine direction, resulting from non-uniform wet pressing, drying, coating, etc, and these bands gloss more in the calender.
Camera-ready copy:
Final publication material that is ready to be made into a negative for a printing plate. May be a computer file or actual print and images on a board.
Cap height:
In typography, the distance from the baseline to the top of the capital letters.
Caption:
An identification (title) for an illustration, usually a brief phrase. The caption should also support the other content.
Cap height:
The height from the baseline to the top of the uppercase letters in a font. This may or may not be the same as the height of ascenders. Cap height is used in some systems to measure the type size.
Cap line:
An imaginary horizontal line running across the tops of capital letters.
Caps & lower case:
Instructions in the typesetting process that indicate the use of a capital letter to start a sentence and the rest of the letters in lower case.
Caps & small caps:
Two sizes of capital letters made in one size of type.
Carbonless:
Pressure sensitive writing paper that does not use carbon paper.
Caliper:
The thickness of a sheet measured under specified conditions. It is usually expressed in thousandths of an inch (points or mils).
Capacity:
The potential output of a production unit under full operation. In the primary paper industry, the capacity of a machine or mill is usually stated in terms of tons per day or tons per year. The capacity of other type facilities may be expressed in such units as pounds, square feet, copies and pieces.
Car signboard:
A board used for outdoor advertising.
Carbon paper:
Paper coated with carbon inks which are released under pressure or impact in making duplicate copies with pencil, pen, typewriter and business machines. It is lightweight, from four to 28 lbs with basic size of 24″ x 30″/500 sheets and may be coated one or both sides.
Carbon pattern:
Layout of carbon coating in a sheet of carbon paper which is not all-over coated.
Carbon release:
Image transfers from ply-to-ply by means of carbon interleaves of carbon coating sometimes called carbonization.
Carbon stop:
Narrow or short sheet of carbon in a form.
Carbonizing paper:
Lightweight base stock manufactured specifically to be converted into carbon paper.
Carbonless paper:
Paper that is treated or coated so that it will generate a copy under pressure.
Card forms:
Three sizes are considered standard: 3″ x 5″, 4″ x 6″, and 5″ x 8″ since they cut without waste from standard sizes of index bristol. A minimum of 2/10″ margin is allowed for adequate gripper and binding space.
Cardboard:
A general term which usually refers to a sheet more that .006″ in thickness. Used where stiffness is the most important requirement. Usually made from waste paper.
Carload lot:
A quantity of paper in rolls and skids to make up a full freight carload, usually 36,000 to 100,000 pounds. Also refers to a price category.
Carton liner paper:
Papers – greaseproof, glassine or waxed – to line cartons containing cereals, crackers or other food products to protect contents from contamination.
Cartons:
A general term used to indicate a corrugated shipping container, a folding box or a rigid set-up box.
Casein:
Protein derived from skim milk and used in the sizing of paper and as an adhesive in the manufacture of coated papers.
Cast-coated paper:
Paper or board that is coated by allowing the coating to harden while in contact with a chromium polished surface. This results in a patent leather-like gloss. Cast coated papers are the glossiest of all coated papers.
Cast-coating:
In the process of cast-coating paper, the coated paper is pressed against a solid, highly polished chrome surface while the coating is in the plastic condition. The gloss of the drum is thereby cast into the coated surface. After drying, the coated finish is similar to the surface it has been in contact with during drying. Cast coated papers posses high bulk and high ink absorbing qualities since the mirror like finish is obtained without calendering.
CB:
Coated back (carbonless paper).
CC1S:
Cast-coated one side.
Cello, patched window
: Completely transparent.
cellulose:
The predominant material used in the manufacture of all grades of paper and paperboard. It is a carbohydrate, white in color, consisting of 44.4% carbon, 6.2% hydrogen and 49.4% oxygen. Cellulose is the preponderant component of all vegetable tissues and fibers and is the most important abundant organic material on earth.
Centered:
Text placed at an equal distance from the left and right margins. Headlines are often centered. It is generally not good to mix centered text with flush left or flush right text.
Center seams
: Located approximately in the center of some envelopes. Where the envelope is glued together with the Bottom Flap.
CF:
Coated front (carbonless papers).
CFB:
Coated front and back (carbonless papers).
chain marks:
Also called chain lines. Watermarks in paper that resemble impressions of a chain, running parallel to the grain, approximately one inch apart. These watermarks are found in laid papers.
Chalking:
Improper drying of ink. Ink vehicle had been absorbed too rapidly into the paper.
Chart paper:
Smooth surfaced paper made for chart and map printing, usually printed by offset litho.
Chemical Ghosting:
1) Can occur when a drying ink film affects the drying of previously printed ink film. To correct, allow at least 24 hours for first printed side to dry before backing up. 2) Can occur with slow drying inks. To correct, add a drier ink to decrease drying time, consult with your ink manufacturer or supplier about faster drying inks.
Chemical pulp:
Pulp that has been obtained from wood that has been cooked with various chemicals.
China clay:
A term applied to beneficiated kaolin (clay).
Chinese character pattern:
Style of block out pattern.
Chipboard:
Low density board made from waste paper, in thickness of .006 and heavier.
Chopper fold:
Also called cross fold or right angle fold. This fold can be made following the first parallel fold and at right angles to it. It produces signatures that are 16-page multiples or the number of webs in the press.
Chucks:
Blocks inserted at the ends of cores to support rolls of paper on the roll stand.
Clamp marks:
Marks in sheets of paper caused by the clamps which hold lifts of paper in position on a guillotine cutting machine.
Clay:
General term for a natural fine-grained material, kaolin, which is used as filler and as coating pigment in paper manufacture.
Clear edge carbon:
Carbon paper with a narrow strip along one or both edges to provide a clean margin for handling or gluing.
Close formation:
Uniform density in a sheet of paper.
Cloth finish:
Surface finish produced by pressing the weave of cloth such as linen or burlap against the paper during manufacture.
Cloth-lined paper:
Paper combined with cloth, one or two sides.
Cloud finish:
An effect obtained by dropping white pulp on a web of colored paper.
Cloudy formation:
Opposite of close formation. Indicated unevenness and lack of uniformity of fiber structure.
Coated:
Refers to paper or paperboard that has been coated to improve printability or appearance
Collate:
A finishing term for gathering paper in a precise order.
Color bar:
A line of colored blocks in a row or a single color placed at the tail of a press sheet and used to measure the density of color across the width of a press sheet.
Comb bind:
To plastic comb bind by inserting the comb into punched holes.
Coated free sheet:
Coated paper containing 10% or less of mechanical pulp.
Coated ground wood:
Coated paper containing more than 10% mechanical pulp.
Coated offset:
A C2S paper with high resistance to picking and suitable for offset printing. Available in glossy and dull, embossed and matte finishes, coated offset papers generally do not develop as high a finish as their letterpress or gravure counterparts since the latter possess a lower percentage of binder in the coating.
Coated seconds:
Paper or paperboard inferior to desired quality, but still usable. Usually sold at lower prices.
Coated tough check:
Coated 2-sides tag board. Basic size: 22″ x 28″. Standard thickness: 3 ply (.012), 4 ply (.018) and 6 ply (.024).
Coating:
Describes the layer of mixed substances such as clays and adhesives that are applied to the surface of paper or paperboard. The word also is used to describe the act of applying the formula to The surface of the paper or paperboard.
Cockle:
A puckered condition of a sheet resulting from non-uniform drying and shrinking. In most cases the cockle is not desired but some high quality papers are made specifically to have a cockle.
Cold spot carbonizing ink:
Material coated on backs of forms selectively. Usually an ink which can be applied cold to normal printing equipment.
Collotype paper:
A good quality printing paper, sufficiently durable to withstand excess moisture from the collotype printing process.
Color control bar:
The GATF Color Control Bar. A composite series of offset color control bars that my be used by plate makers and printers to standardize proofing of colors.
Color correction:
Technically, any method of correcting color photographs, color prints or color plates.
Color fastness:
Capacity of dyed paper to retain its original color or to resist fading and change through influences such as heat, light and use.
Color key:
(3M Co. trademark) – Unlaminated overlay proof with each color on an individual piece of acetate.
Color perception:
The eye can distinguish only three kinds of color difference or variation according to Grassman’s First Law: 1) Hue – the attribute of visual sensation that distinguishes one color from another; 2) Brightness – by which color is perceived in a position on a dark-to-light scale, meanng dark to light tones. This attribute is also called luminosity or tone value; and 3) Saturation – by which the eye perceives, in addition to hue, the presence or absence of gray. Saturation is also referred to as purity or intensity.
Color reproduction guide:
The GATF Color Reproduction Guide. When reproducing on plates the color reproduction guide simplifies the procedures for making and screening full color subjects for the individual plant’s ink, paper and printing variables. The Guide is made of four rows of 10 color blocks plus white. Each row has 1/4 the tint value of the next higher row. The film sheet, either positive or negative.
Color standard:
Colored paper and ink commonly used. Standard color sequence in sets: white, canary, pink, goldenrod, green, and buff. Additional parts may be salmon and white.
Color transparency:
Full color positive image, rendered in natural colors on a transparent support.
Colorimetry:
Using an instrument called a colorimeter, a given solid color may be quantified by analyzing physical color data and by treating the results so they apply to color as we see it and use it in practice. Most colorimeters measure an area of at least one-half inch.
Combination plate:
Halftone and line copy combined on one plate and etched for both line and halftone depth.
Combination run:
Two or more print jobs handled together to effect savings.
Commercial match:
Manufacturing a paper to meet specifications of and match a sample of paper provided to the manufacturer.
Commodity papers:
Term used to classify average qualities of bond, offset and related papers produced in high volume on big paper machines.
Communication papers:
General reference to those papers which are used in communications such as bond, writing, and xerographic.
Comprehensive:
In printing, final proof pasted-up in the format that the printed piece will take.
Compressibility:
Commonly referred to as “cushion,” this describes a paper’s capacity to be squeezed (upon flat surfaces) and returned to its prior state. Important where stacks of paper are placed under compression.
Computer output paper:
Converted grade of writing paper exhibiting strength and good printing surface. Usually called “form bond”.
Conditioning:
Allowing paper to sit long enough for it to adjust to the surrounding atmosphere until its moisture content is equal to atmospheric moisture content. This process provides for optimum performance on press.
Conductivity varies:
1) Can be causes by a contamination of the fountain solution during pressrun. To correct, monitor conductivity regularly and have ink and paper tested. 2) Can be caused by the conductivity of the water supply changing. To correct, monitor conductivity of both water and fountain solution.
Coniferous:
Trees which bear cones as their fruit, are usually evergreen and classified as softwoods, such as pines and firs. They are the source of fiber for suplphite and sulphate pulps.
Construction paper:
Type of heavy paper, manufactured in a wide range of colors. This grade is used most often in elementary schools for cutouts an other artwork. Basic size: 24″ x 36″. Basis weight: 40 to 80 lbs.
Container board:
Liner board and corrugated medium used in the manufacture of shipping containers.
Continuous:
Designates paper in rolls usually manufactured for end-use production operations from the web.
Continuous envelopes:
Envelopes in continuous form, suitable for addressing, in piggy-back or patch pocket construction.
Continuous form:
Form manufactured from a continuous web, not slit into separate parts perpendicular to the web prior to its use.
Continuous sets:
Sets pasted as a continuous carrier sheet. Also, with pasted margin and narrow carbon, which when burst function as a unit set.
Continuous tone:
Tonal gradation without use of halftone dots.
Contrast:
Degree of difference between highlights and dark portions of a photograph or of prepared art that embodies a range of tones. Example, black to light gray.
Conversion:
Term designates the transformation of paper or paperboard after it comes off the manufacturing machine, to a variety of forms such as envelopes, bags, boxes and containers. Also, an offset plate that has been converted from a relief image plate.
Conversion coating:
Describes the act of coating paper after it is off the papermaking machine. Conversion coating is now generally referred to as off-machine coating.
Converter:
Company that converts paper from its original form to usable products including envelopes, boxed writing papers, bags, adding machine rolls, coated papers and gummed tapes.
Converting paper:
Paper changed from its original state into a new product. Examples include envelopes and gummed tape.
Cook:
In papermaking, the act of treating raw material with chemicals under pressure and extreme heat to produce pulp from which paper can be made.
Copper number:
Test to identify the presence of oxidized cellulose, meaning the break-down of cellulose leaving impurities like lignin which start early deterioration of paper. The higher the copper number – up to 100 – the more degradation is necessary.
Copy dot:
Reproduction of halftone original on line copy without re screening.
Copy paper:
Paper used in photocopying machines.
Cord:
Unit of measurement of pulpwood defined as a pile containing 128 cubic feet of wood, stacked eight feet long, four feet wide and four feet high.
Core:
Shaft in center of a roll around which the web of paper is unwound. Cores are either metal or cardboard; wither returnable or disposable.
Core cards:
Record of specifications included by the manufacturer in each shipment of paper.
Core waste:
Refers to paper left on a roll after most of the paper has been used.
Corner card:
The return address of the sender set in any form of type and/or logo printed in the upper left corner of the envelope.
Corner cut:
Diagonal cut on one corner of a business form, at one end of the cross perforation in a continuous carbon where a tongue is formed when the form is burst. Also, when the diagonal cut is placed at one corner of register form.
Corner stub:
Used primarily on continuous forms to assist in manual carbon extraction when the form has been burst.
Correspondence papers:
Writing papers with attractive finishes. Good finish and good writing characteristics are principal qualities.
Cotton fibers:
For papermaking, selected new cotton cuttings acquired from the textile industries. They are free of synthetic fibers and are the principal source of cotton fibers used in the manufacture of cotton content papers. Basic cotton linters are also used in the manufacture of pulp.
Cotton linters:
Short cotton fibers remaining on cotton seed after the ginning process. Used in the manufacture of cotton fiber content papers and as a raw material from which cellulose is derived.
Cover papers:
Strong, heavy paper suitable for covers of publication such as brochures. Available in various colors.
Crackle:
The noise produced from a sheet of paper when it is shaken or handled roughly. Desirable quality
in some bonds, but undesirable in many papers.
Crash finish:
Paper embossed at the mill to resemble coarse linen.
Crash perforation:
Perforation cut through all plies of a collated set of business forms, normally performed on the collator.
Crash printing:
Impressing an image relief pressure. The image, on parts of the business forms set other than the original is carried through by carbon and carbonless paper.
Crayon paper:
Paper used for crayons or watercolor. It is a heavy board, either white or tinted, with a glazed surface on one side and rough finish on the other.
Crimp:
Temporary form fastening consisting of a finger of paper cut through the plies being fastened.
Crimping:
Creasing the bindery edges of ledger sheets to help them open more freely.
Crocking:
Rubbing off dye from the surface of paper.
Cromalin proofs:
These proofs are not printed on a press. They are created chemically. It is a facsimile of a full color halftone made using the dyes on a very glossy paper. Cromalin is a trade name of E.I. Du Pont deNemours.
Cross direction:
Dimension of a sheet of paper at right angles to the direction of the grain.
Cross grain:
The paper grain that runs diagonally across the envelope.
Cross perforations:
In continuous forms, perforations cutting at right angels to the web
direction.
CGI script:
An external application that is executed by an HTTP server in response to an action you perform in a Web browser, such as clicking a link, image, or another interactive element of a Web page.
Character:
Any letter, figure, punctuation, symbol or space.
Choke:
In commercial printing, a form of trapping created by extending the background object into the foreground object.
Clip art:
Ready-made artwork sold or distributed for clipping and pasting into publications. Available in hard-copy books, and in electronic form, as files on disk.
Coated art paper:
Printing papers used for printing projects that require a special treatment of detail and shading.
Coated stock:
Any paper that has a mineral coating applied after the paper is made, giving the paper a smoother finish.
Color bars:
This term refers to a color test strip, which is printed on the waste portion of a press sheet. It is a standardized (GATF-Graphic Arts Technical Foundation) process that allows a pressman to determine the quality of the printed material relative to ink density, registration and dot gain. It also includes the Star Target, which is a similar system designed to detect inking problems.
Collage:
The combination of several images to a single surface to create a piece of art. Can be done with original images or in a digital format.
Color separating:
The processes of separating the primary color components for printing.
Color transparency:
Transparent film containing a positive photographic color image.
Condensed (type):
A narrow, elongated typeface.
Comprehensive or comp:
A layout illustrating a proposal depicting what a finished piece will look like.
Contrast:
The degree of tonal separation or gradation in the range from black to white.
Color channel:
An 8-bit grayscale version of an image. Each channel represents one level of color in the image; for example, RGB has three color channels, while CMYK has four. When all the channels are printed together, they produce the entire range of colors in the image.
Color separation:
The process of creating separate negatives and plates for each color of ink (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) that will be used in the publication.
Color spacing:
The addition of spaces to congested areas of words or word spacing to achieve a more pleasing appearance after the line has been set normally.
Column gutter:
The space between columns of type.
Comprehensive layout (comp):
A blueprint of the publication, showing exactly how the type will be set and positioned, and the treatment, sizing, and placement of illustrations on the page.
Condensed font:
A font in which the set-widths of the characters is narrower than in the standard typeface. (Note: not the inter-character space — that is accomplished through tracking).
Continuous tone:
Artwork that contains gradations of gray, as opposed to black-and-white line art. Photographs and some drawings, like charcoal or watercolor, require treatment as continuous-tone art.
Copy:
Generally refers to text — typewritten pages, word-processing files, typeset galleys or pages — although sometimes refers to all source materials (text and graphics) used in a publication.
Copy fitting:
The fitting of a variable amount of copy within a specific and fixed amount of space
Corel Draw files (.cdr)
Are drawings made up of vector graphics. Vectors define a picture as a list of graphic primitives (rectangles, lines, text, arcs, and ellipses). Vectors are mapped point by point to the page, so if you reduce or increase the size of a vector graphic, the original image will not be distorted.
Counter:
in typography, an enclosed area within a letter, in uppercase, lowercase, and numeric letterforms.
Contour:
An effect created by adding evenly spaced concentric shapes inside or outside the borders of an object.
Contrast:
The difference in tone between the dark and light areas of an image. Higher contrast values indicate greater differences and fewer gradations between dark and light.
Crop marks:
Mechanical, horizontal and vertical lines that indicate the edge of the printed piece.
Corel metafile exchange (.cmx files):
A metafile format that supports bitmap and vector information and the full range of Pantone, RGB, and CMYK colors. It was developed to save files created in CorelDRAW with the data necessary to open and edit them in other Corel applications.
CMYK:
A color mode made up of cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), and black (K) that produces true blacks and a wide tonal range. In the CMYK color mode, color values are expressed as percentages; therefore, a value of 100 for an ink means that it is applied at full saturation.
Color separation:
In commercial printing, the process of splitting colors in a composite image to produce a number of separate grayscale images, one for each primary color in the original image. In the case of a CMYK image, four separations (one for cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) must be made.
Cropping:
For artwork, cutting out the extraneous parts of an image, usually a photograph.
Cutlines:
Explanatory text, usually full sentences, that provides information about illustrations. Cutlines are sometimes called captions or legends; not to be confused with title-captions, which are headings for the illustration, or key-legends, which are part of the artwork.
Curl:
Waviness, roll or curvature sometimes at the edge of the sheet which can occur in the paper mill, in the printer’s storeroom, on the printer’s press, or in the bindery. Curl is usually associated with improper balance of mositure within the sheet, uneven drying coming off press. Curl can also be the result of fiber orientation within the sheet, internal stresses, improper reginng of pulp, or mechanical stresses during manufacture or printing.
Curved plate:
Letterpress plate that is backed-up and curved to fit a rotary press.
Cut:
In letterpress, photo-engraving of any kind.
Cut forms:
Forms delivered as individual sheets.
Cut off:
Print length in web printing corresponding to the circumference of the plate cylinder.
Cut score:
In die cutting, a sharp-edged knife usually several thousandths of an inch lower than the cutting rules in a die, made to cut part way into board for folding purposes.
Cut size:
Refers to business and writing papers that have been rotary trimmed or guillotine cut to dimensions of less than 17″ x 22″ in size. Most common cut-size is 8 1/2″ x 11″, 8 1/2″ x 14 and 11″ x 17″.
Cut to register:
Term used for watermark papers to indicate that the paper has been cut in a manner that allows the watermark to appear in a predetermined position on the finished sheet.
Cut, Thumb:
A notched opening to allow easy access to contents.
Cutter:
Machine that cuts rolls of paper into sheets preparatory to further trimming to finished basic size. Also called a cross cutter or square cutter.
Cutter broke:
Waste and trimmed edges from the cutting operation. This broke is reused as pulp for the manufacture of paper.
Cutter dust:
Refers to small particles of fiber and paper dust that result from the cutting operation. This dust adheres to edges of paper and could work itself into pile of paper and onto the paper surface to cause later troubles during printing.
Cylinder board:
Paperboard made on a cylinder machine.
Cylinder dried:
Same as machine dried. Describes any paper which is dried during manufacture by passing it against and over heated iron rolls.
Cylinder gap:
In printing, space between the ends of a plate wrapped around the press cylinders.
Cylinder machine:
Same as vat machine. It is a type of paper machine that maks paper by partially immersing rotating cylinders in vats of pulp stock. Paper is formed as the cylinder turns and water drains from it.

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