What is duplexing?

Luxuriously thick invitations and business cards won't be forgotten in a hurry. You just can't help folding them over and over in your hands, marveling at their lusciousness. 

Duplexing (double thick) is the process of manually adhering two sheets of card together to create a thicker card. 
Triplexing glues three sheets of card together – using this technique, you can create a sandwich effect with different coloured stocks (think of a licorice allsort!).

Duplexing is especially effective for letterpress and embossing as you'll get a really good, deep impression for letterpress (see pic below) and more definition for embossing. 

Click to learn more about double-thick stocks and letterpressing.

Good to know...

• You can use stock of the same colour or two different colours to create a stunning effect, although we recommend choosing from the same family i.e Gmund.
• Not all stocks are compatible to duplex to each other due to differences in texture and moisture absorption. For example, if one stock is more absorbent than the other, it can cause the duplexed paper to curl. This can be minimised by keeping to the same stock families.
• We're not able to duplex paperweight stocks together as the moisture in the glue causes thin stocks to dry inconsistently and wrinkle.
• Scored cards, pockets and sleeves are also only available on a single thickness of stock, as the scoring won't work on a double thick duplexed stock.
• Don't forget that duplexed cards will leave less room in your envelope or pocket, so bear that in mind when designing multiple items.

Duplexing with digital printing

When printing digitally, we can experience 1-2mm movement in any direction as the stock moves through the machine so each sheet can potentially be slightly different.

When you add duplexing (which is a process that we do completely by hand), this can create further movement – you might find some variations in alignment. Please design with this in mind, for instance we don't recommend double sided borders due to this movement.

You can choose 'double-thick' as an option for most products and stocks on our website.

Top Tip from The Printery Peeps

If your cards are a little curved due to the duplexing process, place them under a few books to help flatten them out.