The Perfect Printing Pouch is a unique product developed by Amy Roszak that makes challenging inkjet printing situations a breeze. But its usefulness doesn’t end with inkjet printing. There are a wide variety of scenarios where the pouch is valuable. To explain exactly what the Perfect Printing Pouch is and what it does, I went to the source and interviewed Amy Roszak. Enjoy the first half of the interview.

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Here is a transcript of the interview:

Before we specifically talk about the Printing Pouch, tell me about some challenging scenarios you’ve experienced where printing can be difficult.

Well, when you’re using an inkjet printer, because it’s a wet ink, it tends to have two kind of difficulties. One would be where it resists and smears and one would be where it kind of bleeds into it [the paper] and fades. And it depends on the paper. If it’s a shiny stock–something like vellum, a metallic paper, something like that–those are the ones that tend to smear and resist. And then if it’s something like a handmade paper–a mulberry, that kind of absorbent–those are the ones that tend to fade.

Before I ask you to describe the Perfect Printing Pouch, we should let our listeners know that you have a great YouTube video that people can find by searching for “printing pouch.” If they watch that video, they’ll see you demonstrate exactly how the pouch solves some of these difficult printing jobs.

That’s the Craft & Hobby Association Winter Trade Show. It’s the largest craft trade show in the world, in California.

That was earlier this year?

That was in February of 2009, yes.

I really like how that video was shot, like it was sort of an average person just coming up to your booth. That was cool.

(Laughter)

I do want to stress that people should watch that video because before I watched it, I didn’t exactly know how the Printing Pouch worked, and of course Amy’s going to talk to us about how it works but it’s really good just to see it in action. She applies the technique and she shows you what happens and it’s really amazing.

Yeah, a picture’s worth a thousand words and it’s a hard product to explain. It’s easy to use but it’s hard to explain because there’s nothing else like it in the world and so people are always saying, “Well, do I spray it?” “Do I put it on afterwards?” “Like, how do I know when it’s going to do it?”

And it’s really very simple. It’s just that because there’s nothing else to relate to, it’s hard for people to imagine it.

For people who have not used the pouch or seen your videos, why don’t you describe the surprisingly simple technique?

Well, first of all, the pouch, I would have them think of a felt, powder-filled ravioli. And what you’re doing is you’re wiping this pouch onto your printing surface before you print. And some of the special magic powders inside are going to seep through the felt and a very, very fine layer will be applied to the paper. Kind of like, for those of you that wear blush, it would be like putting blush on your cheek. You’re just putting a very, very fine later on. And most of the time, you can’t really see it. The powders bonds the ink to the paper and also have a drying agent so that when you’re using an inkjet printer, pretty much within–coming out of the printer–within ten, fifteen, twenty seconds, the ink is dry.

How in the world did you ever come up with a product like this to solve so many of these issues? Are you a chemist?

(laughter) I do have a background in science and I was a math teacher for a while and I stopped teaching to stay home with my daughter when she was born. But I started scrapbooking and I was trying to print on vellum. And sometimes it works fine and sometimes it didn’t. Sometimes there would be lines across it kind of like there was a streak of oil and other times it would be just fine. But it would still take forever to dry. And when I started asking around, people would say, “Well, that’s just the way it is.”

And I kind of thought, “Well, there’s gotta be something.” And so I started researching and working on setting up all sorts of trials until I found the right combination of acid-free products that’s also talc-free. There are a number of people with talc, talcum powder allergies and so it has no talcum powder in it.

Ok. And can I ask how long that process took from the idea in your head throughout the experimental phase to your finished product?

I think it probably took around three or four months. And some of that also was trying to figure out the best way–once I had the chemicals–the best way to get that onto the paper. Like I tried with a brush, or whether it was going to be some kind of roller. And then, once I came up with the little pouch, even the design of how to hold it. The powders don’t hurt you at all. They’re completely non-toxic and non-irritating. But I still didn’t want them to be getting all over the table or in your hands so the pouches are lined. They have a grip. And so all of those kind of things kind of played into some of the time.

Do you remember when it was that you started working on the idea, and then when you launched it?

Yes, it was in April of 2003 was when I started. And in September, I was attending a scrapbooking show as a consumer and I brought seventy-five of these pouches that I had with me and I just happened to mention it to somebody and people in line were like, “I want one. I want one.”

All my friends, I had made them for my friends. And then I took a class. It was a vellum class and I mentioned it to the instructor and she looked at what I did and she was just thrilled. She mentioned it to the class right then and I sold out. And that was when I decided, “Ok, I guess I need to go into this as a business.”

Yeah. So you were attending a scrapbooking show. And tell me and tell me and the listeners a little bit more about you. What’s sort of your history with crafts and scrapbooking?

Hmm. Well, my background, professionally was as a hydrologist. I have a Master’s in science and I was a teacher, but as far as crafts go, I pretty much will try anything. I do some basket weaving, some beading, some quilting, some sewing, and when I discovered scrapbooking it was like the world, because all of the crafts that I’ve ever done can be done on a page. So that’s why I think the pouch was so important because I wasn’t satisfied with just printing on regular paper. I wanted to use muslin fabric or use really kind of cool textured papers that I saw. And when I discovered, you know, vellum, it was like, “Oh, I really like the way that looks, it just doesn’t print well.”

And that’s how I kind of came to it.

Many of LCI’s customers want to print on vellum. How might the Perfect Printing Pouch make their jobs more successful?

Well, one thing that people should realize, the problems that they experience are not the printer’s fault and they’re not the paper’s fault. And it’s not their fault. It’s just the combination of trying to put a wet ink on a paper–which vellum is–but it’s not absorbent. And so the ink kind of beads up on the surface and it has a hard time both drying and not smearing. So that’s kind of the basic where I come from is that it’s not anything you’re doing and there’s no defect in the quality of papers you’re using. In fact, there was another paper company I was speaking to when I was first developing this and the man said, “Well, if you can’t print on the vellum, don’t.” And he said, “That’s why we make inkjet vellum.”

Well, inkjet vellum is very nice but it’s also very basic. It can come in pastel colors only, although I mostly print, I will admit, in clear white. But it still takes forever to dry, and during that time is when you’re going to get the smearing. So the pouch will make the printing crisper and it will also dry the ink so you don’t really have to worry about what kind of printer you’re using or how your paper has to set around the room. It just does it for you.

I was also going to say that there are printed vellums that have little patterns on them and they’re very pretty. And those are especially difficult to print on because the printing on the paper doubly resists the ink that you’re trying to put down. But with the pouch, you just wipe it down and the ink will just adhere to it perfectly.

Alright. Are we mostly talking about inkjet printing here?

I am only talking about inkjet printers are far as printers go.

Ok.

You can also use the pouch for stamp ink, for gel pens, for markers, but not for laser printers which most people who are having problems printing, it’s usually an inkjet printer that’s the problem. But my demo, in fact, for trade shows is just taking a marker and scribbling on vellum and you can see it bead up and then you just take the pouch, wipe it, and the difference is like night and day. And if they see that YouTube video, I believe it’s on there too.

Yes it is. I loved seeing that. It was just crystal clear. It was like, oh, that’s the revelation. Ok, that’s how it works, simple.

Right.

I’m sold. (laughter)

And it’s kind of the same deal with stamps. There’s a number of other applications for stamps, in addition to it making the ink crisp and drying quicker, it also works as an anti-static bag for people when they’re heat embossing. They don’t want the embossing powder to stick where they don’t want it. You put the pouch down and then the embossing powder will only stick to the stamp. So that’s another one.

Another application for stampers is if they want to stamp first and then you could use it with another stamp or your inkjet printer on top of that first stamp. And typically, that first stamp resists anything you want to write on top of it. But here you can stamp first, then put down the pouch. And then the second printing image, either your printer or another stamp won’t be resisted.

This is probably a question you get a lot which is kind of vague. How long does the Printing Pouch last, and maybe more to the point, how will someone know when it’s time to order a replacement?

Actually, it’s a great question. The pouch lasts, and I kind of put this in quotes, “forever.” There is no expiration date so the powders are not going to go bad. It’s just a matter of when it’s empty it’s time to replace it. And you will just feel it. After a while, there won’t be any powder coming out. This could be, for the average user, and I don’t know if I can say average, but it could be six months to three years or more. When you’re using it for something like wedding invitations where you’re printing a lot, you’re obviously going to use a lot more powder than you would if doing it for, you know, an occasional card or a scrapbook project. But I would not be surprised for people to not use it up very quickly. In fact, it may be that they lose it or they would rather another color before they actually need a new one.

Yeah, I notice on your web site that they come in a variety of colors. The color doesn’t matter, does it? It’s the same product.

Right, it’s just a matter of the felt being different because some people really like to have pink and some people don’t like pink at all. So the color of the pouch is irrelevant. It’s just what’s on the inside that counts.

Recommended Links:
ScraPerfect – The Perfect Printing Pouch
Part 2 of the Amy Roszak Interview
Purchase the Perfect Printing Pouch at LCIPaper.com
Craft & Hobby Association Convention & Trade Show

Joshua Birch