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Glossary Of Printing Terms [39]

S Saddle Stitch A stitch of thread or a wire staple passed through the fold of a magazine or booklet.
Screen Printing Screen printing is a printing technique whereby a mesh is used to transfer ink onto a substrate, except in areas made impermeable to the ink by a blocking stencil. A blade or squeegee is moved across the screen to fill the open mesh apertures with ink, and a reverse stroke then causes the screen to touch the substrate momentarily along a line of contact. This causes the ink to wet the substrate and be pulled out of the mesh apertures as the screen springs back after the blade has passed.
Screen Ruling A measure of the fineness of a halftone screen – the higher the number, the finer the screen. A 150 line per inch halftone means that in each inch there are 150 lines of halftone dots.
Screen Tint Color created by dots instead of solid ink coverage. Also called Benday, fill pattern, screen tone, shading, tint and tone.
Screen-Printing Printing technique also known as serigraphy. It is a method of creating an image on paper, fabric or some other object by pressing ink through a screen with areas blocked off by a stencil. It first appeared in a recognizable form in China during the Song Dynasty (960–1279 AD), later to be adapted by other Asian countries and eventually introduced in Europe in the late 18th Ct.
Secondary Colours A color formed by mixing two primary colors in equal or equivalent quantities.
SEG SEG, stands for Silicone Edge Graphics. It is a printed fabric signage with a thin silicone beading sewn around the edges that fits into edgeless Aluminum framing. The silicone beading fits into a recessed groove around the perimeter of the frame to stretch the fabric completely smooth. The result is an upscale modern frameless appearance.
Selective Binding Placing signatures or inserts in magazines or catalogs according to demographic or geographic guidelines.
Self Cover Self Cover means that the paper used for the cover of a book or other bound document is the same as the paper used for the interior pages.
Sell Sheet In print advertising, it is one-page sheet used in sales to attract attention to a new product.
Setoff Unwanted transfer of ink from one printed sheet to another. The problem can occur with most types of printing, and is avoided by the use of slipsheets between copies or anti-set-off spray powder.
Sheetfed Press A method in which individual pages of paper are fed into the machine. This printing method is popular for small and medium-sized fixed jobs such as limited-edition books. In another method, Web offset printing , a continuous roll of paper is fed through the printing press.
Sheetwise Printing both sides of a sheet of paper in which one side is printed, then the printed sheets are turned over and printed with another plate.
Sizing Any one of numerous substances that is applied to, or incorporated into, other materials — especially papers and textiles — to act as a protective filler or glaze. Sizing is used in papermaking and textile manufacturing to change the absorption and wear characteristics of those materials.
Slip Sheets Thin pallet-sized sheets made of plastic, heavy laminated kraft paperboard, or corrugated fiberboard used in commercial shipping.
Slug A piece of lead or other type metal, in any of several specific word senses. In one sense, a slug is a piece of spacing material used to space paragraphs. In the era of commercial typesetting in metal type, they were usually manufactured in strips of 6-point lead. In another sense, a slug is one line of Linotype typeset matter, where each line corresponds to one piece of lead.
Snap pictures Snap Frames, also known as click frames or snap-open frames, are aluminum frames for posters equipped with spring-loaded sides. These springs allow the snap frame's sides to be easily opened and closed.
Snap-out Forms Also referred to as "Unit Set", "perfed " and "stubbed " type forms. Snap-out refers to holding the stub of the form and tearing out the copies or parts along a perforation.
Soft Cover Another term for paperback - a book bound in stiff paper or flexible cardboard.
Soy-based Inks Inks made from soybeans, unlike traditional ones which are petroleum-based. Soy-based inks are more environmentally friendly, might provide more accurate colors, and make it easier to recycle paper. However, they are slower to dry than other inks. Soy-based inks were developed in the late seventies and early eighties as an alternative to petroleum based ones due to the increasing prices of oil. Nowadays about one quarter of commercial printers in the United States use soy ink.
Specular Highlight The bright spot of light that appears on shiny objects when illuminated (for example, see image at right). Specular highlights are important in 3D computer graphics, as they provide a strong visual cue for the shape of an object and its location with respect to light sources in the scene.
Spine Back or binding edge of a publication.
Spiral Bind A spiral of continuous wire or plastic looped through holes used to bind paper sheets.
Spirit duplicator A printing method invented in 1923 by Wilhelm Ritzerfeld and commonly used for much of the rest of the 20th century. The term "spirit duplicator" refers to the alcohols which were a major component of the solvents used as "inks" in these machines. Spirit duplicators were used mainly by schools, churches, clubs, and other small organizations, such as in the production of fanzines, because of the limited number of copies one could make from an original, along with the low cost and correspondingly low quality of copying.
Spoilage Planned paper waste for all printing operations.
Spot Color or Varnish In offset printing, a spot color is any color generated by an ink (pure or mixed) that is printed using a single run.
Spread In printing and prepress a spread is the general description for a pair of facing pages, typically the left- and right-hand pages in a publication, such as a book, magazine or newspaper.
Static Cling The tendency for light objects to stick (cling) to other objects owing to static electricity. It is common in clothing, but occurs with other items, such as the tendency of dust to be attracted to, and stick to, plastic items.
Stationary Commercially manufactured writing materials, including cut paper, envelopes, writing implements, continuous stationery and other office supplies. Stationery includes materials to be written on by hand (e.g., letter paper) or by equipment such as computer printers.
Stencil Printing A method of transferring a pattern by brushing, spraying, or squeeging ink or paint through the open areas of a stencil cut from thin metal or cardboard.
Step and Repeat A step and repeat banner (sometimes a step and repeat wall or press wall) is a publicity backdrop used primarily for event photography, printed with a repeating pattern such that brand logos or emblems are visible in photographs of the individuals standing in front of it.
Stripping Within the commercial printing industry, the job of stripping involves arranging and joining film negatives as part of the process of preparing printing plates. Because the industry has largely moved to digital processes, the job of stripping has become rare.
Stumping (Blocking) Impressing book covers, etc., by means of hot die, brass types or blocks.
Substance Weight A term of basis weight when referring to bond papers.
Subtractive Color A subtractive color model explains the mixing of a limited set of dyes, inks, paint pigments or natural colorants to create a wider range of colors, each the result of partially or completely subtracting (that is, absorbing) some wavelengths of light and not others. The color that a surface displays depends on which parts of the visible spectrum are not absorbed and therefore remain visible.
Supercalendered Paper A paper characterized by high-gloss finish which is the result of an additional degree of calendering performed on a special machine not connected to the main papermaking machine.
Surprint Also known as overprint, it means to print over with additional marks over something already printed. Often used by post offices.
Swash A typographical flourish, such as an exaggerated serif, terminal, tail, entry stroke, etc., on a glyph.
SWOP The Specifications for Web Offset Publications. It was formed in 1974 in the US as an industry specification to define color data and its exchange for publication printing.