Understanding custom printing

Samples vs final wallpaper

Did you know, that we can print the exact same design/colours on two seperate days and there can still be a slight colour variation? This means that even an approved sample can still have a slight colour difference to the final printed wallpaper). This is the nature of custom printing on industrial printers.

Why does this happen?

The reason this happens is because printing is considered ‘an event’. i.e. it’s not exactly the same every time. Each printing session is unique. The inks are liquid sitting in large canisters in the machine. They are affected by the air temperature and the temperature of the machine every time it prints. Cold air, warm air, humidity (or no humidity) at the time of printing, can affect exactly how fast or slow the inks shoot out of the canisters. We can print the same design on the same machine in the morning and then print it again in the afternoon (on the same batch of material), and there can still be a slight colour difference between the morning wallpaper and the afternoon wallpaper.

Printing in batches vs custom printing

We are a bespoke printer so that means we print something fresh and unique for you everytime. We do not print in large batches the way some wallpaper retailers do. When you buy wallpaper by the roll, you need to ensure that you order all of your rolls from the same print batch number. That way you're guaranteed colours will match because they were all printed in the exact same printing session.  When you order from Stories For Walls, we only print on demand. We do not store our wallpapers but instead size the design perfectly for your wall and then send it to print.

 

If you ordered a sample, your sample will have been printed on a different day to when your final wallpaper is printed. The colours will be very similar but there is always a possibility that there is a very slight colour variation from the day the sample was printed.The sample that we printed for you was printed in a different session and possibly onm a different batch of material so sometimes that may yield a slightly different colour result. This is because the base colour of one batch of material to another can slightly vary. Depending on the base colour of the material, one batch can be slightly whiter, more grey or creamy than a previous batch. It may just be a very subtle difference, but this subtle variation can affect how the colours look on the final printed wallpapers from one batch of the same material to the next.

 

And finally, printing on different types of materials always yields different colour results again. This is because different materials absorb ink differently.  So if you order a sample on one material but decide to print your wallpaper on a different material, you can expect to see different colour results.

 

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We Care about the environment

Our packaging is 100% plastic free and we offer PVC/phthalates free materials. Our latex inks are waterbased with the Greenguard Gold certification. 

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Stories For Walls is a 100% online wallpaper store. Our website is our most up to date showroom where you can order samples. We look forward to hearing about your wallpaper project.