Over recent months we have been asked more and more often by people for our view on which wide ribbon we would recommend for printing 100mm wide cerise coloured single satin ribbon on?
The wide ribbon market used to be very limited with only a few manufacturers supplying product in widths wider then 70mm in a plain satin ribbon. However this has been changing over recent months and we have seen more imports coming into the UK from various sources of 100mm widths on both Single Faced Satin Ribbon and Double Faced Satin Ribbon.
For sash work, party work and promotional work, the 100mm width rather then the 70mm or the 120mm has always been our recommended ribbon width. This is because it is wide enough to have a good visual impact but will still go through most sizes of home desk top thermal foil printer. The 70mm width we feel does not offer the same impact as it is slightly too narrow. Whilst the 120mm and above are just too wide for many uses, their weight also means that they tend to fold back on themselves unless put under a lot of tension, and likewise are too wide for sash work.
For printing we have found that one of the best wide ribbons currently on the market is made by UK based firm Colour Ribbons, this ribbon is 100mm in width, it also comes on a large 50m reel and is a single faced satin ribbon format. This means that one side of the ribbon has a highly finished glossy appearance whilst the other is matt and is slightly textured. The gloss side takes the foil print well whilst the texture of the underside helps feed the ribbon through
the printer without it slipping. These ribbons come in a nice range of colours to which they have recently added an antique gold, a silver and a lilac in addition to the existing range of primary colours. These 50m reels offer great value as they tend to retail for around £26 per reel.
For those customers looking for a higher quality Double Sided Satin Ribbon (a ribbon that has a gloss finish on both sides) we would recommend Berisfords Ribbons 100mm Double Sided Satin Ribbon. Although this is sold by Berisfords in the UK the ribbon is actually manufactured in Switzerland by their parent company Kuny Ribbons. Being of Swiss manufacture the satin has a very dense close weave to it which gives it a heavyweight feel and makes the finish look very glossy. The negative side to this reel is that there are only 25m on each reel and the cost; as a high quality satin, this ribbon carries a premium and tends to retail for around £38 per reel. However when all is said and done it does look like the high quality product that it is and it does take a foil print extremely well.
As we have mentioned we have looked at the products that we are aware of, we must stress that there might well be other new lines out there that we have not seen yet. However we hope that our thoughts are of help to you.
We are keen to hear your thoughts and experience on any wide ribbons that you have used for printing on.
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