Paper Supplies and Handling Equipment for Your Print Business

Print businesses seem to be booming again lately. From postcards to stickers, so many people are once again discovering the art of creating and sharing hand-made things. I’m personally a fan of many artists who create art with their bare hands. Now, with the popularity of digital art, I’m thrilled that I can easily buy artworks at lower prices compared with buying original works that have no duplicate or digital copy. 

While different printing jobs entail different sorts of media--like paper and canvas--I’d like to focus here on the cheaper and more common material: paper. If you own a print business or you’re thinking of starting one, I hope that you find my shortlist of paper supplies and paper handling equipment helpful.

Paper Supplies

Papers are designed for different purposes. While it’s true that ordinary bond papers are versatile and really handy for a variety of occasions, they aren’t always the best choices when it comes to printing images. 

Plus, I’ve come to believe that brands do matter. Your print business deserves quality raw materials if you wish to produce quality products. This is why I recommend that you get your paper supplies from a brand you know to be reliable. Dietzgen papers, for example, are trusted by different industries--including those that deal with printed images for technical analysis, such as engineering and architectural firms. 

Below are some examples of paper materials that you can buy from most makers of paper supplies like Dietzgen:

• Bond Papers - available in different types, including engineering bond, Fiberlock bond, High Brite bond, Inkjet bond, tinted bond, and translucent bond

• Vellum Papers - ideal for arts and crafts and printing documents for display or archiving

• Vinyl Papers - ideal for printing stickers and documents for display (indoors or outdoors)

• Photo Papers - suitable for printing photographs; have matte, glossy, and satin types

• Poster Papers - suitable for printing large-format documents and posters; have matte, glossy, and satin types

Paper Handling Equipment

Print shops use different pieces of equipment to turn their paper products into finished and polished items. Here are some examples:

• Trimmers/Cutters - may come in the form of a utility knife, paper guillotine, rolling trimmer, or stack cutter; may cut a few to hundreds of sheets of paper, depending on what type is used 

• Hole Punches - used to bind documents together neatly; hole diameter is usually 9/32, 11/32, or 13/32 inches 

• Professional Staplers - great for binding documents; comes in several types, including the long-arm type which is suitable for booklet-binding