- What it is
- Two sheets bonded back to back make a duplex; three make a triplex. It is done because the caliper wanted is simply not available as a single sheet, and because bonding lets the two visible faces and the hidden middle be three different materials — a printed face, a printed back and a coloured core that is never printed at all. The seam is permanent and visible at every cut edge, so it is not a defect to be hidden but a line to be designed with. Bonded stock is also the stiffest thing a card can be without becoming a board.
- What it is printed on
Bonded duplex and bonded triplex, each supplied as a finished bonded sheet rather than as something assembled after printing. Where the weight is wanted but the seam is not, a single heavy sheet is the alternative and the edge stays plain — which is a different card, not a cheaper version of the same one.
- Bonded duplex, 600 gsm bonded0.72 mmTwo sheets, one seam. Stiff without being a plank, and the usual starting point.
- Bonded triplex, 900 gsm bonded1.24 mmThree sheets and a coloured core. The thickest card here by some distance, and it does not flex.
- Matt art card, 400 gsm0.41 mmThe single-sheet comparison: no seam, no stripe, and it will still take a fold.
- How it feels
- Duplex flexes slightly and springs back flat. Triplex does not flex at all: held at one corner it stays where it is put, and dropped onto a table it lands with a knock rather than settling. Both have edges that feel squared rather than rolled, and the seam can be found with a fingernail before it is seen.
- What it suits
- Name cards meant to survive being kept, membership and access cards, invitations, and any piece where weight in the hand is part of the message. It does not fold and it does not score — bonded stock delaminates at a crease, so anything that has to bend needs a single sheet. Triplex is also outside the feed tolerance of most office equipment, which is worth knowing before a run rather than after one.
- Lead time
- Standard turnaround is 7–14 working days. Counted from approved artwork rather than from the enquiry.
- The common mistake
- Designing a full-bleed dark face and a full-bleed dark back and expecting them to meet. They do not: there is a permanent paler line between them all the way round, because the core is a separate sheet and the ink never reaches it. Either choose the core colour as a deliberate third colour in the design, or stop the ink short of the trim and let the edge become the detail. What cannot be done is pretending the seam is not there.
Print idea
Bonded duplex and triplex card
Two or three sheets laminated face to face to reach a thickness no single sheet in the range gives. The bond line shows as a stripe along every cut edge, and on a coloured core that stripe is the point.
Standard turnaround is 7–14 working days.
What bonded duplex and triplex card is
Two sheets bonded back to back make a duplex; three make a triplex. It is done because the caliper wanted is simply not available as a single sheet, and because bonding lets the two visible faces and the hidden middle be three different materials — a printed face, a printed back and a coloured core that is never printed at all. The seam is permanent and visible at every cut edge, so it is not a defect to be hidden but a line to be designed with. Bonded stock is also the stiffest thing a card can be without becoming a board.
Bonded duplex and bonded triplex, each supplied as a finished bonded sheet rather than as something assembled after printing. Where the weight is wanted but the seam is not, a single heavy sheet is the alternative and the edge stays plain — which is a different card, not a cheaper version of the same one.
- The printed face, drawn in this stock’s own shade and its own surface structure.
- The cut edge, drawn at the estate scale of 1 mm = 22 px.
- The bond seams — 2 of them, between 3 sheets. This is why a board this thick exists at all.
The specification
Six fields, and the last one is the useful one.
The same six questions are answered for every entry in this section, in the same order, so two objects can be compared without reading two pages of prose. The mistake is stated last and stated plainly, because it is the one that costs a reprint and it is the reason this page is worth sending to a colleague.
Where this sits.
Every entry is indexed three ways, because a buyer arrives knowing the occasion, the object or the material and almost never all three.
- Application
- Format
- Material and effect
Also worth looking at
- Painted-edge cardStandard turnaround is 7–14 working days.
- Coloured-core swing tagStandard turnaround is 7–14 working days.
- Blind emboss and debossStandard turnaround is 7–14 working days.
- Name cardsThe specification, and how it is quoted
- Every print idea, indexed three waysThe section index
- The materials libraryCaliper, weight and what each finish costs
Send the specification for this, and it comes back quoted.
Every job is quoted from its specification — stock, quantity, sides, finish, size and deadline.
- Quantity
- Stock — or the feel you want, if you do not know the stock
- Sides printed
- Finish
- Flat and finished size
- The deadline
Artwork is welcome but not required to start. Email sales@ezprint.com.sg if you would rather attach files.