Welcome.
  You are already on your way to becoming an informed consumer. You, just like other entrepreneurs throughout the world will buy labels this year and as the pressure sensitive label industry grows, so does the number of uninformed buyers. Just building the foundations of a new business can be costly and overwhelming not including the purchasing of the necessary supplies to make your marketing a success! We, at B&L Labels and Packaging strive to make your first time label purchase a success. The guide developed below should provide you with the necessary basics of flexographic printing to make your first label purchase a positive and successful experience. 

  B&L Labels and Packaging prints custom labels for a wide variety of products. These products include food, wine, industrial type labels, security products, point of purchase products and more. Since each customer is unique, so are his/her specifications. Therefore, we need to understand your label application to select the best label material and adhesive for your project. 

  First and foremost, the customer must measure the area in which the label is going to be applied and determine the size of the label required. One way to measure curved bottles, jars, etc. is to photocopy a ruler and then wrap it around the item to determine the length of the label. At this point, you will either choose a die from our current library or decide to have a custom die made. Dies are responsible for cutting the shape of the label. A die is similar to that of a cookie cutter. Once the size is determined, you must consider the conditions which the label must withstand. Is it going to get wet? It is going to be outside in direct sunlight? It is going to be applied to an item while it is frozen? All of these conditions are very important in the process of selecting the correct material because otherwise the label may not adhere and may wrinkle, come off, etc.

  Once a size and type of material is selected, artwork is the next step in the process. Artwork is very important since this is what will be selling your product. If your artwork is already camera-ready meaning it was either designed by a professional artist or by you in a usable format (Sending Files), you can go ahead and e-mail that to your personal customer service representative. Otherwise, if you need to design a label or would like one of our artists to design a label for you, a customer service representative will guide you through that process.

  Printing a custom label for the first time requires initial set-up fees. These costs include art and plates. Plates are necessary because they hold the raised relief images which print the image on the selected material. The number of plates you need is equal to the numbers of colors which will make up your label. For example, if your label is 2 colors, purple and green, you will need two plates. Often, the fewer the number of colors, the more economical the cost of your label. However, in four color process printing, which is the use of cyan, yellow, magenta, and black, you can create a picture quality image with only four plates. If you choose to only use two colors to print your label and want those colors to match previous logos, business cards, etc. you may request a pantone match. The Pantone Matching System is a standard, world-wide color language used to provide accurate reproduction and matching of colors. You may request Pantone swatches from your customer service representative.

  Once your art is complete, you will receive a proof. The proof will need to be checked for all errors including spelling, size, color, etc. Revisions can be made at this time. Once approved, your art will then go through several steps to get ready to be printed. After the labels come off the press, they are carefully inspected and compared to the proof to ensure color, size, and material are all correct. The labels will then be wound to the specified amount of labels on a roll, packaged and sent to shipping. The lead time for this process after the art is signed off on varies from 5-7 working days. Shipping time also varies as well. Depending on where you are located shipping can range from 1-3 days.