MPS becomes first to print US postal stamps on a UV flexo press

The featured product is a 3.7 x 5.1in collector’s edition souvenir stamp sheet that displays a real life magical effect. When rotating the stamp up and down, an illusion of a white rabbit rising out of an empty top hat then magically disappearing is visible.

The stamp features a digitally engineered optical array illusion of the traditional rabbit in the hat magic trick. Imageworx in Levittown, Pennsylvania was able to transform the original design into an animated multi-frame sequence using its proprietary 3D label design techniques, high resolution imaging technologies and printing plates. UV flexographic printing was carried out on a 17in, 10-color MPS EF 430 press. By holding extremely tight register, the MPS press was able to print the entire process as one application, from start to finish.

In a joint statement, Dilip Shah, MPS applications manager, and Jeff Toepfer of Imageworx, commented: ‘Using the MPS EF 430 multi-substrate demo press at the Green Bay facility and pre-press know how from Imageworx, high quality flexographic postal stamps were printed for the first time.’