For those not familiar with the special class of work produced in the average printing department of a paper box factory, the following information should prove interesting and perhaps helpful:
The manufacture of fine set-up paper boxes, such as candy boxes for example, would use the printing department mainly for printing customers’ business cards, designs, and pictures on glazed paper wrappers. Here is a special field in itself, for there are many different kinds of box wrappers, many of them printed in colors, or printed, gold-leafed and embossed. Many of the fancy wrappers contain beautiful pictures, done in four or more colors, while other wrappers have business cards printed merely in one color.
Loose wrappers for toilet articles, perfumery, and other things of this variety are often printed in tints and colors. Some are done in colors and gold, and after being printed, are embossed.
Many of the fine loose wrappers are applied to both set-up boxes and folding boxes, and not a few of them are works of art. By covering a rough set-up paper box, or a cheap carton, with a handsomely-printed loose wrapper, the appearance of the box is wonderfully enhanced. This goes to show the great utility of the right kind of printed wrappers.
The manufacturer of set-up boxes would also have considerable demand for glazed labels, to be applied to the tops of writing paper boxes, rubber goods boxes, and so forth. In many instances, labels of this variety are printed in several colors and gold.
Some of the fine set-up boxes are first tight-wrapped with white or tinted glazed paper, and afterwards fancy printed labels are pasted to the top of the lids and to the sides of the lids.
The demand for holiday boxes, particularly the kind loose wrapped with glazed paper containing holly designs, pictures of pretty girls’ heads, etc., is constantly increasing, and all of this variety of printing would also be needed by the set-up box manufacturer. The same manufacturer would perhaps require printed partitions, cut out of box-board, for inserts in neckwear boxes, suspender boxes and other holiday boxes. These cardboard “set-ins” are often printed with fancy designs in colors and gold.
In the printing department of a folding box factory the style of printed matter would be different from the fine wrappers and labels which have been referred to. Here the major portion of printing would be done on cartons, although plain labels would frequently be needed for cartons.
Large-size cartons for cereals, tea, dried fruits, spices, butter, cake, rice, powders, and medicine bottles are often printed in several colors, no labels or wrapper being needed. Other cartons have printed labels applied to their fronts, while others still call for printed wrappers of the “loose” style.
There is always a tremendous amount of printed matter required by both set-up box-makers and folding-box manufacturers, and therefore the average box-maker’s print shop is seldom idle.