ODEON Lush Felt Textures

ODEON's luxurious felt finish and deep rich texture is the result of an old world, artisanal technique where a textured felt surface is used in the paper making process. Most papers today are embossed to look handmade, while ODEON is a genuine-felt finish paper which makes it very strong and durable, yet soft and flexible. ODEON performs beautifully on press making it the perfect choice for luxury packaging, presentation folders, invitations, hang tags and direct mail.

ODEON is FSC® certified. It is recyclable, biodegradable, acid free, and elemental chlorine free, and is manufactured without the use of metals or foils.

Stock Chart Technical Printing & Use Information Frequently Asked Questions

Color Palette

ODEON Gala

ODEON Vintage

Technical Printing & Use

About Odeon

ODEON is a genuine felt-finish paper, with deep, rich texture. ODEON is FSC certified, recyclable, biodegradable, acid free, and elemental chlorine free, and is manufactured without the use of metals or foils.

The ODEON line is comprised of four surface-enhanced (pearlized) colors, and two standard colors, all featuring a true-felt finish.

ODEON will perform beautifully when used as recommended. As with all papers, it is essential to consult your printer and pretest before trying anything new. Please contact us to request samples or discuss any aspect of your project.

ODEON may be used for a wide range of printing processes, including: Offset
Letterpress
Digital (80# Text, 94# Cover, 118# Cover)
Embossing
Engraving
Foil Stamping
Thermography
Silk Screening
Die Cutting
Perfect Binding
Saddle Stitching
Scoring & Folding
Envelope Conversion

Caliper

Caliper is a measure of the thickness of a sheet of paper (1 pt. = 1/1000 of an inch). Below is a list of basis weights and corresponding calipers for ODEON.

All Reich Paper grades are manufactured to a basis-weight standard, not to caliper. Calipers here (and in our stock charts) are provided for reference, but may vary slightly from run to run, as is typical for any paper. If caliper is critical to your project, please contact us to discuss your requirements.

ODEON Weight	GSM	Target Caliper
84# Text	125	7 pts.
94# Cover	255	14 pts.
118# Cover	320	18 pts.
130# Cover	350	20 pts.

Printing

Genuine Felt Finish: Genuine-felt papers, also called true felts, are manufactured using fabric blankets on the wet end of the paper machine. Genuine felts like ODEON typically have a slight difference in finish between the felt and the wire side, and this is to be expected. Additionally, text-weight felt finishes will always differ somewhat from cover-weight finishes; this is because the felt marking blankets cannot press as deeply into the thinner text-weight stock as they can into the thicker cover stock.

Please note that two ODEON colors, Gala and Vintage, both feature a felt finish on one side only; the other side is smooth. All other colors in the ODEON line have texture on both sides of the sheet.

Compared to embossed-finish papers, which are extremely compressed, felt-finish sheets are somewhat more absorbent, as well as more dimensionally stable.

Offset: Cosmo, Deco, Patina and Smoke all have pearlized surfaces, which will show through most printing inks. Please note, however, that heavy ink densities may somewhat diminish the effect. The other two colors in the ODEON line, Gala and Vintage, both feature a traditional felt-finish surface.

Inks: The entire ODEON line may be printed using standard offset inks. As the pearlized surfaces of Cosmo, Deco, Patina and Smoke are somewhat “sealed”, these sheets will absorb less ink than Gala and Vintage, and therefore may require slightly more time to dry, though the difference should be minimal. Fully-oxidizing inks or UV-curing inks are also suitable for use on ODEON (as they are for all papers), and will provide faster drying results than standard inks.

Laser: ODEON 84# text and envelopes are suiitable for laser printing. As for for any paper or envelope, pretesting is essential as performance may vary from one printer to another.

Ink Jet: ODEON 84# text envelopes are suitable for ink jet printing, but results may vary from one printer to another. As always, it is important to pretest on the actual printer to be used.

Design and PrePress

Grain Direction: Our paper stock charts list all sheet sizes with grain direction last. As for all papers, binding and folding ODEON parallel to the grain direction is always recommended.

Dot Gain: Printing on felt-textured papers will result in greater dot gain than printing on smoother, harder papers. This is to be expected, and prepress file preparations should take this factor into account, adjusting dot size and ink densities to compensate for the increased dot gain.

Line Screen: In general, line screens ranging from 150-200 are used for printing on ODEON. It is always advisable to consult with your printer to determine the appropriate line screen for your project.

UCR: For areas of heavy, layered ink coverage, consider the use of UCR (under color removal) in scanning. This will decrease total ink density, and can cut drying times significantly, especially for black.

On Press

Storage & Handling: As for all papers, avoid exposing ODEON to extreme humidity or temperature conditions, and keep in the original mill wrapping as long as possible prior to use.

Spray Powder: Use a coated spray powder of normal fineness, and stack in small lifts. Airing the stack will be beneficial for ink drying, especially for ODEON’s heavy cover weights.

Finishing

The success of foil stamping on any substrate depends on pretesting. The printer should consult a foil-stamp supplier, and pretest on the actual stock to be used, as a wide range of variables (types of foils, complexity of the design, pressure, environment, etc.) all determine the success of foil stamping on any stock.

The first step is to decide what sort of foil effect you want, in terms of color and finish. By showing the foil supplier a sample of the substrate you wish to use, and the foil coverage you hope to achieve, he should be able to determine the best foil and release to use. Then, the printer and foil supplier should identify the correct release, thickness, and pressure to ensure that the foil will work well on the specified substrate. An essential part of this process is pretesting on the actual stock to be used.

A foil that works on one paper is not necessarily going to work on a different type—nor should it be expected to do so. Likewise, a lightweight stock may require an easier release than a heavier weight of the same paper.

Scoring & Folding: All ODEON weights (84# text, 94# cover, 118# cover and 130# cover) should be scored prior to folding, to ensure the best possible fold. As for all papers, folding with the grain direction is preferred. We recommend a rounded channel score with a minimum width of 2.5 times the caliper of the sheet.

ODEON is a single-ply (not pasted) sheet, making ODEON cover weights ideal for converting and packaging applications.

Binding: Binding should always run parallel to the grain direction. (For extensive information on the importance of grain direction in binding, please refer to our Paper Terms page.)

Please contact us if you have any questions about the Printing and Use information included here, or need information about any other topics. ODEON is a specialty paper and, like any substrate, should be fully tested prior to use, especially if trying something for the first time.

We have endeavored to address most aspects of printing and use here; however, we do not accept liability for any errors or omissions. Should you have any questions, or need any additional information, please contact us at 718.748.6000

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