Burgass Carrier Bags

Burgass Carrier Bags, the printed polythene bag specialist, is a family owned business trading since the mid 1970's.
With our wide range of bags we can cater for most needs from the local shopkeeper or school to the large corporate company.

Quality and Service

At Burgass Carrier Bags we control the whole manufacturing process from artwork to print. Our artwork department will advise on the best design to promote your image whilst our in house platemaking department avoids unnecessary delays allowing us to meet those important deadlines.

Minimum Qty

Subject to film stocks and print specification minimum quantity is usually only 1000 bags We stock a wide range of coloured films for extra choice.

Samples

Our friendly sales staff will be only too pleased to discuss your requirements and to send samples of our product for your perusal.

Can't Find It?

Whilst we've tried to incorporate our range of bags on this site we are constantly pushing forward the boundaries and the chances are if we can't do it ourselves we know somebody who can.
Give us a call on 0115 943 1775, email us enquiries@carrier-bag.com , or use our enquiries form.

 We'll be only too pleased to help.

Anilox. A cylinder used in a flexographic press. The anilox picks up ink in microscopic pores engraved on the cylinder. This cylinder is midway between the fountain roller in the ink supply and the print blocks, which transfer the image to the substrate. Artwork. The image, which the client wants produced and has previously been approved as a proof by the client. Anything less than this is not artwork, it is a visual.

Blend. Often refers to a mixture of HDPE and LDPE, mixed at the time the film is extruded. The result blends the characteristics of each type of material.

Blocks. Used for in flexographic printing. Also called stereos or cyrels, one block is required per colour on each side of the bag being printed. Broadly, blocks cost according to their size, which is dictated by the size of the image to be printed. The blocks are placed on a cylinder, which rotates, collecting ink from the anilox, and placing it on the substrate.

Bromide. Photographic paper, with an image on it, for placing under a camera.

CI Press. Common Impression Press. A flexographic press used for printing to very close registration and printing process colours. A large rotating cylinder has a series of smaller inked cylinders rotating against it. The web to be printed is trapped between the large and small cylinders.

Co-extrusion. The process of making a film which is for example, HDPE on one side, and LDPE on the other. E.g. a rope handled carrier bag can be HDPE (naturally matt and tactile) on the outside, with the puncture resistance and elasticity of LDPE on the inside.

Colour Separation. The instructions for a multicolour job, or the process of scanning a multicolour image such as a transparency to isolate the four process colours of cyan, magenta, yellow, & black.

Corona Treatment. The process of treating polyethylene film to give it a key to retain flexographic ink

Cylinder. Printing blocks are placed on a cylinder, such that each turn of the cylinder will print one image. The circumference of the cylinder will therefore dictate the bag width or height.

Cyrel. Dupont's name for its material from which printing blocks are made.

Designers. Those who create designs. The world would be poorer without designers. As printers we know that we have to proof a design to the client to ensure that the artwork supplied will produce the result the client is expecting.

Dispro. The process of compensating for the stretch of a block when placed around a cylinder

DPI. Dots Per Inch. Printing millions of tiny dots of each selected colour produces tones and process print. Graduations and photographic effects are therefore possible. DPI refers to the number of dots per line inch, so it is a measure of coarseness or fineness of print. Typical DPI's are 55dpi for a Flexo Stack Press, to 100-130dpi for a Flexo CI Press. Please note the metric equivalent is dots per centimetre, beware that inch or centimetre is often unspecified. LPI. Lines per inch is the same as DPI, but don't confuse DPI with percentage which is the size of the dot. Note: - Please contact our artwork department for advice on what we can achieve on our machinery.

Duffle. A style of carrier bag. A rope attached to base for carrying also closes the top.

Extruder. A machine which produces polyethylene film. Granules are melted and drawn out in a tube bubble to cool. The quicker the film is drawn out, the thinner the film, the bigger the bubble, the wider the film. The tube is often then slit and wound ready for printing.

Film Positive. Transparent film acetate with an image in black, one supplied for each colour. This is used to make a negative prior to block making. The majority of artwork is now supplied digitally.

Flexographic. A printing method used for printing polythene, using rotating blocks on cylinders to pick up ink from an anilox and place the ink on the material to be printed. Nearly all polythene bags and flexible packaging is printed this way. Back to top Gauge. 1/1000 of an inch. A British imperial unit of measurement to measure the thickness of polythene film. It is now giving way to metric, but conversion is easy: 4 gauge = 1 micron. E.g. a popular carrier bag gauge of 200 is 50 micron. Gusset. A side fold, or bottom fold which will add capacity to a carrier bag. In aperture handle carrier bags the gusset is the final dimension e.g. 38cm wide x 46cm high + 10cm gusset i.e. 5cm in and 5cm out.

HDPE. High Density Polyethylene. The high density refers to the density of molecule chain in the polyethylene. It is more crinkly and crackly than LDPE, and can be supplied as thin film, 8-18 micron economical counter bag or carrier bag, or as a thick film 30-120 micron carrier bag.

LDPE. Low Density Polyethylene. The low density refers to the density of molecule chain in the polyethylene. It is more elastic and stretchy and tears less easily than HDPE. It has a softer feel and is glossier than HDPE. It can be mixed with HDPE to make a blend.

Measurement. In bagspeak, the opening measurement is always first, so this will usually be the width. So a polythene carrier bag, the sort with an aperture handle and a gusset or pleat in the base will look like this: 38x46+10, which means 38cm wide, 46 cm high, plus a 10 cm gusset, i.e. 5cm in and 5 cm back out again. There is a trade convention of plus/minus 10% on size variation, so if size is critical you should allow for this.

Micron. Metric measurement of thickness of polythene film. 1 micron = 4 gauge. E.g. 45 micron = 180 gauge.

Negative. Acetate film where the image is reversed around, i.e. the colour to print appears clearer than the surrounding area.

Patch. A transparent patch glued or welded on the inside of an aperture handle carrier bag to reinforce the handle area. Back to top Percentage. The size of the dot, in tone or process print. The percentage refers to the amount of substrate that is inked in a given area. The bigger the percentage, the stronger that colour will appear. By varying the percentage and printing different colours in the same area, a photographic full colour image can be created. Dots usually print bigger than they appear on artwork. This is called dot gain.

PP. Polypropylene film. Available in two types, cast, which is very clear, but tears easily in some directions, used for food packaging and blown, which may be less clear but tear resistant in all directions. Polypropylene ropes are also available and produces a gloss finish compared with cotton or Acrylic.

Process Print. A common and ingenious method of printing a full colour image such as a colour photo, out of 4 basic colours- Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black which, when combined in varying amounts according to a dot size, will produce any colour.

Proof. A document which shows the text, colours, colour split and positioning of a print order. It is the client's responsibility to carefully check a proof, as errors can and do occur. The client will be responsible if errors are passed without correction.

Quantity An initially strange convention in packaging allows manufactures to deliver up to +/-10% on the contract quantity and invoice for the actual amount delivered. Whilst superficially this may appear an unusual practice, there are good reasons. It avoids waste. Carrier bags are printed from a reel of polythene, initially by weight. After they are printed they are converted into carrier bags, at which time they are machine counted and placed into swatches of 50 or 100. At the initial weighing stage, the amount of reel used in setting up to good print is an unknown. If the set up to good print were rapid, it would be extremely wasteful to scrap good print. Likewise, it would be uneconomical to set up the press again for a small under run. Most carrier bags are used by retailers, so +/-10% is not an issue, and they gain from waste saving and efficiency which is ultimately passed on in a free market, and an extremely price conscious industry. Obviously this does not apply to unbranded carrier bags which we stock and pick to your order.

Register. The position of a colour, relative to where it should be, or relative to other colours.

Rope . Can be cotton (matt finish), Acrylic, (matt finish) or Polypropylene (gloss finish). It is usually round section braided, the diameter will be agreed with the customer.

Rubber. A traditional name for flexographic printing blocks or stereos, because they were originally made from natural rubber.

Stack Press. A simple, multicolour flexographic press, for printing work, which does not require close colour registration.

Stereo. Traditional name for flexographic printing blocks.

Substrate. The bag material LDPE, HDPE, blend, etc. Back to top TOT. Turnover top. A Carrier bag that has the top folded over and welded in place to provide a double thickness around the handle or to take the rope for a duffle bag carrier. Two Up. A print term to describe printing two images along a cylinder, which produces twice as many, images per rotation.

Two Round. To print two images around a cylinder.

Varigauge. Thicker gauge polythene across the top of a carrier bag to strengthen around the handle.

Visual. An idea, sketch or set of instructions to a printer. Not artwork.

Weight. 1,000 Polythene Bags weigh in kilograms: Width x (Height + half gusset if any) x Micron, all divided by 5435 (LDPE) or 5263 (HDPE)

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