Bespoke Blister Cards

Blister Cards

Blister cards are one of our specialities, we have the Cold Seal coating equipment in house and provide a wide variety of blister cards, Cold seal Blister cards are ideal for short runs and high quality products heat seal Blister cards are mainly used for longer runs of fast moving product, we will describe both types below.

Cold Seal Blister and Backing cards

It is now generally established that plastics are not good for the environment so here at Cardworks Ltd. we see our Cold Seal Blister Cards as a way of reducing the Plastic element of your packaging helping both the cost and impact on the environment.

Our Cold Seal Backing cards allow either a much smaller blister just to hold the product or subject to suitability we can often offer a card which wraps around your product leaving it open for the buyer to inspect closely,

The Cold Seal cards work by trapping the blister or product in between 2 layers of card then the card folds over and the 2 adhesive coatings stick together, this gives extra stiffness in the card, and allows for the backing card to have full colour print on both sides which is important to show product information.

the saving for the customer and the environment is that a blister just big enough to hold the product is needed not a large clam-shell. we have partners that can supply stock design blisters that can save the cost of moulds and with a custom size and if needs be shape you can be in production with a highly visible product very quickly

In the sections below we show the points for our cold seal process and how it works, as well as information about Heat Seal Blister Cards

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Blister is encasing an aerosol spray so it can stand or use a eurohook.	Backing card covers the edges of the saw blades without a blister making them secure.	Backing card fits around the wallet without a blister.	Strap wrenches fit in the pocket created by Card wrapped around the product.

How it Works

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The card is coated with special glue which when dry will only stick to itself	Place the blister with the product in the aperture or in the first half of the card.	The card is pre-scored for easy folding, so fold the card over and press together.	Simply rub to apply pressure on the areas with the glue to ensure a good seal.

Benefits and Features of Cold Seal Packaging

Backing cards can be printed full colour both sides.
The card we use is minimum 500 micron so the finished product has a 1mm thick card
Maximum Thickness Board for Cold Seal is 700 micron making the card almost 1.5mm thick for heavier items
Max thickness for Heat seal cards is around 700 microns
Heat seal cards only print 4 col 1 side as the back is not fully coated for 4 col print.
Card available is Folding box board, or recycled Coated Chip board or Kraft back for tough applications. (Cold Seal Only)
Cold seal cards are were mainly used for higher quality product but more common now because of many of the reasons below
Gives the product a high perceived value
The card can have a gloss or Matt laminate finish both sides, or a High Gloss UV Varnish finish
Cards are easy to assemble, just fold the card and it sticks to itself
We can often make the card wrap around your product without using PVC blisters at all
Assembly of Cold Seal Cards requires no special machinery as would be required for heat seal blisters
Cold Seal requires no jigs or fixtures as would be for heat seal blisters
PVC Blister can be much smaller than a clam-shell just encasing the product
The card can be large to show details and sales points about the product
Cold Seal cards are double thickness less likelihood of the euro-slot tearing
The blister is easily separated from the card for re-cycling
Standard heat seal blister Cards are difficult to recycling because the PVC blister has card sticking to it and is then not recycled
The card can have fragments of PVC stuck to the card which is difficult and not economic to remove so goes to landfill
Cold Seal Cards are ideal for start-ups with processional looking packaging in short runs
The Cold Seal glue is tough and can hold quite heavy items with the right card

Heat Seal Blister Cards

We are also able to produce heat seal blisters these are more suitable for longer runs because of the start-up costs and the way they are packed

normally printed 1 side full colour with black reverse
can have full colour reverse but not Hi res graphics
a low cost system if you are doing high volume runs
however Higher start up costs than Cold seal
Lower Perceived Value for fast moving lines
Card available is Folding box board, or recycled Coated Chip board
Ideal for long run low value items
Requires a heat sealing machine to pack or a contract packer
Requires heat seal jigs to fit the packing machines
Choice of degradable water based varnish or spirit based long life varnish

For Heat seal Blister cards you need special Equipment to apply the Blisters to the card

You will need a heat sealing machine to seal the blister to the Card, this machine will require Heat seal jigs for each station.

Normally to get some productive speed one operator will place the blister in the jig and another person may place the product in the blister, the backing card goes on top and fits between pins to hold it in place during the sealing process

Photo is of a 6 station heat seal machine can get 2 – 4 or multiple stations dependent on the volume and no of staff available to pack, a sealing machine will be several Thousand pounds.

there are companies that offer contract packing for heat seal blister cards

The machine will require jigs built as in the photos, one for each station on the machine these can cost about £50-£100 for each jig.

Pre Glued Header Cards

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We can also supply peelable glue so that instructions can be printed on the inside of the card if required	Card can also be shaped to fit the product, or much bigger than the product, so you can even sandwich instruction leaflets in between the 2 surfaces if you want.

Clamshell Inserts

We are able to produce trimmed and or die-cut paper inserts for clam shell blisters.

Whilst we don't recommend these on environmental grounds, we recognize that some products are suited to this method of production and sale.

PVC and PET Blisters and Origination Costs

We don't manufacture blisters here but have links with blister manufacturers so we can either supply them as a service to you along with your backing cards or we can put you in touch with our suppliers so you get the lowest cost possible.

A Vac Form Mould has to be made to fit the model of blister making machine at the manufacturers, so small blisters can have a high tooling cost

with our blister making contacts we can often get a blister from a standing mould quickly and cheaper than paying for a new mould

As a rough guide preparation costs for a not too complex blister will be in the order of £300-£500 this will get a one off rough mock up

The actual moulds required will be in excess of £2000-2500 depending on the number up and complexity

In addition to this if you are using the Heat seal process you will need to allow for heat seal jigs for the packing machines, these can be from £50 to £100.00 per jig

Our print prices will include plates, these are nowadays classed as a consumable and cutters, cutters can vary again according to how many up we have to make them, for short runs the restrictions are only making it fit the minimum size of our machines, we can print small heavyweight card on digital print machine for short runs and for longer runs we have a choice of print press sizes to use for best economies.

The Blister Mould will be made multiple images to fit the machine that does the moulding

A heat seal jig has an aperture for the blister and product and pins to locate the blister card