Relief printing on microcapsule paper

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Material

Special foil, whose surface layer – if covered with black dye – creates a tactile relief through the action of heat. 

Special technology

Fuser – a machine which provides the heat needed to create the relief (available from Zy-fuse and Piaf). 

Preparation of source materials

These may be hand-drawn or created in a standard graphic editor (Corel, Photoshop, CAD etc.).

Production process

  • preparation of relevant materials with respect to the principles of accessible tactile graphics,
  • transferring the graphic onto microcapsule paper (via laser printer, copier etc.),
  • heating the printed foil in the fuser.

Advantages

  • relatively quick preparation of source materials,
  • relatively low price of the fuser (depending on its type),
  • quick production of the graphic,
  • uncomplicated archiving of source materials (input) and output.

Disadvantages

  • the graphic can only be one height (due to physical characteristics of the paper),
  • relatively costly operation (price of microcapsule paper),
  • quite rapid deterioration of the resulting graphic.

 

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