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The first is a regular petroleum-based varnished box. The most commonly used, it is made of the same base material as most inks. There is a regular varnish box and scuff resistant varnish box. Typically, a varnish box will employ scuff resistant. Varnished boxes of this type are not compatible with glue and, therefore, must be “spot” applied. This means that the glue area must be free of varnish. Often, other parts of a printed box or card must also be free of varnish so that it can be written or printed on at a later date. An example would be the need to mark a carton with a part number, lot number or bar code after being filled with product. The second typical and increasingly popular varnish is aqueous. An aqueous varnished box has a water-based coating and offers some advantages over petroleum-based varnishes. First, it is compatible with water-based glue. Secondly, it does not yellow with age. Thirdly, some people prefer the gloss over petroleum-based varnish. Finally, it is more scuff-resistant than typical petroleum-based varnish. The third typical varnished boxes are UV-coated boxes which use ultra violet light to dry. It is, in effect, a plastic coating. UV varnished box finishing is not recyclable. It produces a very high gloss and can be used for one of three typical purposes: to make a box glossy; to make a box water repellent or; to use it as a spot coating to highlight certain aspects of the graphics. There are more “finishing” specialties that can be done to enhance the graphics of a package. These include embossing, debossing, and foil lamination. |
