Scodix, which was the brain child of former HP Indigo and HP Scitex engineers, has developed a clear UV inkjet varnish that can be applied in layers up to 100microns thick.

"This is inkjet embossing and not just spot varnishing," said vice president of business development Ziki Kuly. "The coating is very thick, very clear and very smooth."

The varnish is compatible with HP Indigo and offset print and with paper and laminates. The thickness of the coating and the ability to vary the finish from matt to gloss using a single fluid opens up a range of possible applications. Examples include Braille printing, spot varnishing and relief images for short runs without the need to create dies. The firm is initially targeting the greetings card and book jacket market.

Its first machine, the Scodix 1200, supports sheets up to B2 in size at up to 1,500 sheets per hour. It uses barcode recognition to match the image to the correct sheets and has a PDF-based front end to handle variable data.

It will cost €250,000 (£219,000), with a typical cost per A3 sheet of €0.03. The company, which has one installation in Israel, is looking for UK customers and European distributors and will launch the machine at Ipex next May.