Spot Metallic Foil

Follow these artwork guidelines when setting up artwork for silver and gold metallic foil printing.  These are the layers of printing to be aware of:

  1. Card Stock
  2. Prior to printing, metallic Silver Laminate.
  3. (Optional) Spot White Ink, to block out non-metallic areas.
  4. CMYK for colour, and tinting metallic areas.
  5. (Optional) Matte Celloglaze.
  6. (Optional) 3D-UV Spot Gloss to embellish metallic areas.

  • Your artwork file should consist of one PDF, with one page for the front, and one page for the back side. Adobe Illustrator and InDesign are the best programs to create the required vector artwork.

  • Spot White Ink

    The bottom layer of your artwork should be Spot White Ink, which will block out the Metallic Silver Foil.  Create a custom spot colour named “White Ink”, and fill areas of the artwork that you do not want to be metallic.

    If you don’t use White Ink, then all of your print will appear metallic. Black ink does however do a good job of hiding the metallic laminate.

  • CMYK and Pantone

    The next layer printed is CMYK and or Pantone colours.  If there is white ink under the colour, then it will appear like normal opaque printing on white stock.  If colour is printed on the Metallic Silver Laminate (without white ink), then it will tint the silver to become a metallic colour.  CMYK Yellow will then appear metallic gold for example. For maximum metallic effect, keep colours light and pure.  100% black ink on Metallic Silver Laminate will not result in a metallic effect.

  • Matte Celloglaze

    The next layer is a silky Matte Celloglaze, which doesn’t have any artwork requirements.  Matte Celloglaze is required if you want the 3D-UV embellishment on top.

  • 3D-UV

    The final layer of printing is 3D-UV, which is a clear and shiny raised finish.  In your artwork create a custom spot colour named “3DUV”.  Objects to be 3D-UV should be filled the custom spot colour 100%, and set to “overprint”, so that the colours in the layer underneath are not blocked out.

    3D-UV should be kept clear from trim and fold lines, and is best used in large/bold shapes.  Fineprint 3D-UV can lose some detail in it’s shape.