Color Printing

[scotasia]

Hi,

I would like to create a mosaic picture using tiles made of card or at least thick paper. My idea is to simply print out A4 size pages of the required colors and cut the mosaic squares from that. My laserjet printer can handle 160g paper but when I print out a full color page it comes out streaky. I need it to be full on color with no streaks. I guess my printer isn't able to do this.

Is it simply that this needs a better printer? If I go to a print shop would they be able to do this for me? What do I ask for?

Thank you for any advice.

 

[jotterpinky]

they should be able to print it on a cardstock weight (300-350 gsm maximum usually) in a digital press. I would ask them to print it on the heaviest weight they normally run. Usually this will be something like a 120# cover or 12pt stock coated paper. Keep in mind that you probably will not be able to get a perfectly smooth color on most digital equipment and depending on the color it may also exhibit different color banding and shading on patches of solid color. Darker colors work better than pastel type shades since they hide these type of imperfections better. For what you're doing it should work just fine.

 

[sirejames]

yes online print shops can definitely handle this kind of jobs and the thick paper like 100lb or 120lb stock available. when you are going to provide the details of your product make sure you also send your design image and format file so that it can be reviewed and you may get answer on it more perfect manner.

 

[wonderings]

I find we have better quality on solids on an uncoated sheet. Running on a 14pt uncoated seems to mask or hide the streaks well compared to what we would get on a glossy sheet.

If you go to a print shop, just ask to see one printed sheet before they do it all, then you can decide if it meets your needs and wants.

 

[scotasia]

Thank you all for your advice. I'll get myself down to the print shop today.