TRIXI GRONAU Manufactory ยท Knowledge
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Craft Knowledge from our Hamburg Atelier
Our family has worked with paper, ink and embossing tools since our parents ran their printing works and bindery. Much of that is hard to explain inside a product description, so we wrote it down here.
Each page answers a question that comes up in the workshop: which paper carries an embossing, what separates letterpress from raised printing, how to tell good covering material. Everything is based on our own practice in Hamburg.
PaperPrinting ProcessesEmbossing and FinishingMaterials and Covering StocksLettering and Handwriting
Paper
Where everything begins: weight, surface, grain direction and the question of which paper suits which occasion.
- Paper KnowledgePaper weight, bulk, grain direction and surface. Why two papers of the same weight can behave completely differently.
- Paper Types and Paper WeightsWhich paper works for letter sheets, cards and envelopes, and the thickness an embossing needs to come out cleanly.
- Cards and EnvelopesFormats, the matching envelope and what carries a personal card: paper, printing and embossing.
- Place Cards and Name CardsHand lettered cards for the table. Paper choice, legibility and small applications.
Printing Processes
Very different processes, very different surfaces. How each one works and when it makes sense.
- Offset PrintingFrom the Heidelberg GTO and the printing plates to spot colours and paper. Press work in a family printing house.
- LetterpressInk transferred from a raised printing form on a Boston platen press, and where the tactile impression comes from.
- Screen PrintingHand screen printing with frame, squeegee and opaque ink, including materials no press will take.
- Thermography and Raised PrintingRaised lettering created by heat and powder, and how it differs from offset printing and steel engraving.
- Steel EngravingEngraved steel plates, very fine lines and a printed image you can feel from both sides of the sheet.
- Machines and ToolsPlaten presses, embossing presses, bindery and screen printing. What we actually work with in the atelier.
Embossing and Finishing
Everything that happens after printing, and most of it happens in our own house.
- Blind EmbossingFinishing without ink and without visible foil. Die, counter die, depth and heat reactive covering materials.
- Hot Foil StampingFoil, heat and pressure. Which foils exist and which materials hold them.
- Embossing DiesThe tool behind every embossing. Materials, motifs, type and the proof impression before the run.
- BookbindingNotebooks, special formats, book blocks and covers, finished by hand in our atelier.
- Creasing and FoldingWhy heavy board is creased before folding, what grain direction does and how a clean folded edge is made.
- Die CuttingOur own cutting dies for leather, paper, board and covering material, from the drawing to the finished shape.
Materials and Covering Stocks
What gives a book, a folder or an album its feel in the hand.
- Leather TypesReal leather, embossed finishes, salmon leather and upcycling, and how to recognise quality.
- Skivertex and PellaqCovering materials with a leather look for books, albums and folders. Hard wearing, embossable, versatile.
Lettering and Handwriting
How a written word becomes a printing form.