Label Solutions

The Sage Lifestyle

Sage Machado, a creator of niche vegan gemstone perfumes, natural candles, and artisan jewelry, has created a new line of Eau De Toilette Spray Perfumes.

Sage turned to Adcraft Labels for help.

The Sage Lifestyle Labels

The Challenge

Recreate the look and feel of hand printed Yuzen Washi Paper on pressure sensitive labels that can be mass-produced and machine applied.

Sage Machado, the owner of The Sage Lifestyle, discovered Japanese Chiyogami Paper, also known as Yuzen Washi Paper, over 25 years ago. She fell in love with the brilliant and intense color patterns on the papers. Inspired by Kimono fabrics, many Chiyogami papers have gold metallic overlays that are silkscreened onto the paper by hand.

Machado, a creator of niche vegan gemstone perfumes, natural candles, and artisan jewelry, has created a new line of Eau De Toilette Spray Perfumes. She wanted Chiyogami Paper to be the inspiration for her product labeling. The problem she faced was how to get the beautiful designs, colors, and gold overlays printed onto pressure sensitive labels that could be mass-produced and machine applied.

What is Chiyogami Paper?

First, it’s important to understand how Japanese Chiyogami paper is made to appreciate the difficulty of the project.

Chiyogami paper starts as a base sheet of high content Kozo, fibers from the inner bark of the paper mulberry bush. Each color is then silkscreened by hand, one at a time onto the paper. This requires considerable time as each color must thoroughly dry before the next color is applied. The final layer is usually a gold or silver metallic overlay providing shiny highlights that catch light and attention. The question is, how can all this be accomplished in a cost effect and efficient manner? For a solution to her problem, Sage turned to Adcraft Labels.

Digital Screen Printing

Adcraft Labels, an award-winning label printing and flexible packaging facility in Orange County, California, is known for their ability to create and produce what few printers on the West Coast can. With their JetFlex Technology™ workflow and digital flexo hybrid press, Adcraft was uniquely qualified to provide these labels.

Adcraft’s JetFlex Technology™ workflow and digital flexo hybrid press allowed them to combine traditional flexographic techniques with digital screen-printing to replicate the look and feel of the designs on the Chiyogami paper.

Expert Color Management

The colors seen on the front side of the back label were printed with digital CMYK screen-printing. These colors had to be adjusted and

corrected to compensate for the color of the perfume. Understand, once the containers were filled with perfume, its color would affect the color of the label. Due to Adcraft’s color management capabilities, process controls, and procedures they were able to make the needed corrections and adjustments.

Digital Hybrid Printing

All of the gold color seen on the front side of the back label was printed using traditional flexographic printing and metallic gold ink. This was a great way to reproduce the gold metallic overlay found in the Chiyogami paper. What makes this project truly unique is the fact that both the digital screen-printed CMYK colors and the traditional flexo gold metallic ink were printed on one press and in one pass. Thus the labels were beautiful and cost-effective.

Most label printerswould have had to use two presses, one digital and one flexo. This would require multiple passes and switching from machine to machine. That would be time consuming and expensive. Adcraft’s solution, using the digital flex hybrid press, provided a beautiful and cost-effective solution.

The label on the front of the eau de toilette spray perfumes was also printed using the digital flexo hybrid press. The gold is a cold foil, applied using traditional flexographic embellishment techniques. The name of the product, Amber, was printed with digital CMYK screen-printing. The process provides abit of texture from the raised ink, mirroring that found when using traditional screen-printing techniques.

Using traditional printing techniques on this small label would have been cost prohibitive for most companies. Two passes on two different presses are time-consuming and expensive. The digital flexo hybrid press made the job possible.

The labels, inspired by Chiyogami paper, are beautiful. While it was a challenge to recreate the look and feel of paper printed by hand, Adcraft’s designers, technicians, and craftspeople were able to meet the challenge and provide a unique label design for The Sage Lifestyle products.