Fadeout halftone
A general reduction in the overall contrast of a halftone; allows type to be easily readable when printed over it.

Fake duotone
A two-color reproduction using single halftone negative, usually blank, and a halftone screen tint for the background, usually in color.

Fanout
In printing, distortion of paper on the press due to waviness in the paper; caused by absorption of moisture at the edges of the paper, particularly across the grain.

Fast-drying ink
Ink that dries soon after printing.

Feathering
The tendency of liquid ink or an ink image to spread along the paper fibers so that the image produced has a fuzzy, "feather like" edge.

Feeder / Feed rollers
On a printing press, the rubber wheels that move the sheets of paper from the feed pile to the grippers.

Felt
Woven fabric belt of synthetic or natural materials used to transport the paper web on the paper machine during manufacture. Felts act as a conveyor while, at the same time, removing water from paper as it progresses through the paper machine.

Felt finish
Highly tactile and soft textured, felt finish papers are ideal for special techniques such as embossing and foil stamping.

Felt side
The top side of the paper that comes in contact with the felt blanket or dandy roll in the papermaking process. Also, the "right side of the paper." The bottom side is called the wire side because it comes in contact with the forming wires. The felt side of the paper is slightly softer and smoother in texture, and printers may adjust ink densities to compensate for the side-to-side difference. Paper is normally packed and shipped felt side up.

Fiber
The cellulose fiber, typically from cotton or wood, which is the main ingredient of paper. Fiber before it is made into the finished product is referred to as pulp. In the premium paper market, all of the fiber is lignin free. Specialty papers may contain synthetic fibers such as rayon or nylon.

Fiber-added paper
Fiber additives such as wood chips, colored cotton fibers and colored rayon fibers used to enhance the visual appearance of a sheet.

Fiber orientation
Refers to the alignment of the fibers in the sheet. The degree of alignment can be controlled in the papermaking process.

Filler
Minerals, such as clay and other white pigments, added to pulp before it is formed into paper to improve the sheet's opacity, smoothness, brightness and printability.

Filling in
A condition in offset lithography where ink fills the area between the halftone dots or plugs up the type; also known as plugging or filling up.

Film mechanical
A mechanical on which type and design elements in the form of film positives are stripped into position on a sheet of base film.

FIM (envelopes)
Facing Identification Markings. Pre-printed bars on the face of the envelope, as specified by the United States Postal Service to expedite the automated processing of Business Reply mail.

Fine papers
Types of papers used for writing, printing and cultural purposes.

Finish
The physical look and feel of a paper's surface. The surface characteristic of a sheet created by either on-machine or off-machine papermaking processes. Popular text and cover finishes include smooth, vellum, felt, laid, linen and others.

Finished art
Hand lettering, charts, color blocks, illustrations, photographs, etc. that are ready for camera.

Finishing
The trimming, folding and binding of printed sheets into final form for use.

First color down
The first color printed as the sheet passes through the press.

Flaps extended (envelopes)
Term used to describe the packing of envelopes with seal flaps in a vertical, unfolded position.

Flat
In offset lithography, the assembled composite of negatives - usually on goldenrod paper - ready for platemaking. Also, a photograph or halftone that is lacking contrast.

Flat color
Printing two or more colors without overlaying color dots (i.e., without color trap); individual color matching. This differs from process color, which is a blending of four colors to produce a broad range of colors.

Flatbed press
A press on which plates are positioned along a flat metal bed and against which the paper is pressed by the impression cylinder; as compared to a rotary press which prints from curved plates.

Flexography
Letterpress printing using a form of relief printing. Formally called aniline printing. This printing process uses synthetic or rubber plates with a raised image area. The plate is mounted to a rotary cylinder. When the cylinder is inked (with special inks), it prints the image onto the paper through light pressure.

Flop
To reverse a negative or positive; to bring the underside out on top. A negative that must be flopped has emulsion on the wrong side.

Flotation
A method of removing ink from paper during the de-inking process.

Flow
The property of ink that causes it to level out when still a liquid. "Short" inks have poor flow and "long" inks have good flow.

Fluorescent dye
A coloring agent added to pulp to increase the brightness of the paper. It may give a slight blue or green cast to the sheet.

Fluorescent inks
Printing inks that emit and reflect light. Generally, they are brighter and more opaque than traditional inks, but they are not colorfast, so they will fade in bright light over time. Their metallic content will also affect dot gain and trapping.

Flush cover
Cover of a book that has been trimmed to the same dimensions as the text papers.

Flyleaf
Unprinted page that is part of a printed signature. Also a synonym for end-leaf.

Fog
An undesirable neutral density in the clear areas of a photographic film or paper, in which the image is either locally or entirely veiled by a deposit of silver. Fog may be due to flare, unsafe darkroom illumination, age or processing conditions.

Foil stamp
Foils made of metal or other materials available in various colors, typically combined with embossing or debossing. The foil, made of a metal or other materials available in various colors, is carried on a plastic sheet and transferred through a stamping process onto paper.

Folding
Paper can be folded into a variety of styles to create books, brochures and pamphlets. Folding stresses the paper fibers and can result in cracking. Cover weight and bristol papers should be scored to create a smooth, straight fold.

Folding endurance
A paper test that measures the number of double (back and forth) folds that can be made on a sheet of paper, under tension, before it breaks.

Foldout
A page that exceeds the dimensions of a single page. It is folded to page size and included in the book, sometimes bound in and sometimes tipped in (pasted).

Folio
Refers to sheet size 17 x 22 or larger. Also, page numbers.

Foot
The bottom of a page of printed information.

For position only (FPO)
Typically, a low-resolution image positioned in a document to be replaced later with a higher resolution version of the same image.

Form
The imposition pages of a book or brochure that are printed on the same sheet of paper as it passes through the press. Once folded and trimmed, a form becomes a "signature."

Formation
The dispersion of fibers in a sheet of paper. The more uniform and tightly bound the fibers, the better the sheet will print and look. Can be observed by looking through the sheet. A good formation is uniform or "close," while a poor formation is not.

Fountain
The unit on a press that contains ink to be fed to the distributing system. Also the part that feeds the fountain solution to the dampening system.

Fountain solution
In lithography, a solution of water, a natural or synthetic gum, and other chemicals used to dampen the plate and keep non-printing areas from accepting ink.

Four-color process
A printing method that involves separating full-color images into four different halftones by using color filters of the opposite color - such as, a red filter to capture a cyan halftone, blue to capture yellow, green to capture magenta. A four-color image is reproduced by printing each halftone in one of four basic ink colors - magenta, cyan, yellow and black - which reproduce full-color photographs or art.

Four-sided trim (trim 4)
After the job is printed and folded, a trim will be taken off all four sides to remove any reference or registration marks and give a clean edge to the pile of sheets.

Fourdrinier
Named after its inventor, the Fourdrinier papermaking machine is structured on a continuously moving wire belt onto which a watery slurry of pulp is poured to produce a continuous web of paper. As the wire moves, the water is drained off and pressed out, and the paper is then dried.

Free-sheet
Paper made with pulp created in a kraft process that has removed the lignin. Free-sheet paper has more longevity than groundwood, which contains lignin (newspaper is made with groundwood).

French fold
A sheet printed on one side and folded, first vertically and then horizontally, to produce a four-page folder.

Furnish
The mixture of fiber/pulp and fillers, sizing and pigment that is blended in a water suspension, or slurry, from which paper or board is made; usually about 1% solid material with 99% or the balance being water. The mixture is fed into the paper machine at the wet end of the machine. Also referred to as stock furnish.

Fuzz (fluff)
Loose fibers projecting from a paper's surface.