Gold Silver .. metallic printing techniques

[ashwini singh]

Hi
My name is Ashwini and we have been trying to print gold and silver on jobs for a while and frankly have not been able to get even decent results. The color output is so bland and after coating the shine of these metallic colors goes. I have tried multiple inks and tried but can see only a slight variation, also i tried to print gold twice , the result was better .

JOB
We are to plan a job where we use 2/3 different types of gold in the book all having different intensities. is there anyway in offset printing we can achieve this, the othr options is to print offset gold and for the other use screen printing gold, though i dont know how well it will last . Any input regarding these metallic inks will help

Ashwini

 

[kjp17]

Usually we just go straight ahead to gold/silver foil hotstamping. With so many types of gold foil hot stamping in the market, you can always find one that suits you.

 

[mazengh]

a really expensive option

 

[Cornishpastythighs]

Running Litho Gold and Silver Metalics has always been a challenge. Gold turns out more like 'Mustard colour' and Silver more like 'Battleship Grey'. You are constantly fighting a battle between getting enough pigment on the sheet without the rollers hissing with Emulsified ink and fighting tinting/scumming issues. The acid in the fountain solution also has a dulling effect on the Metalic pigments.
There are some really expensive Litho Metalics out there but you still battle the above issues. Some folks put a 'sizing' down first on the sheet so that the pigment is not fighting stock absorbsion and you can carry less ink to get the same effect. Others have used Neutral fountain solutions to combat the acid effect and found different blankets for better ink transfer.
Whatever you do you must follow good litho procedures. All your settings must be checked for good printing specs or else you will be throwing money out of the window.
Last resort would be to have the job silk screened

 

[gordo]

These are some of tge inks that cornishpastythighs was referring to:
COLOR-LOGIC Webstore - buy special effects products here!
Speak to your ink vendor sbout non-leafing silver inks such as were used in the MetalFX system and are now used in the Color-Logic system. E.g. http://www.flintgrp.com/en/documents/Print-Media/Europe/sf_spot_ti_Novaflash_NON_LEAFING_e.pdf
Remember though that if you halftone screen the silver you lose its metallic look.

Gordo

 

[D Ink Man]

Mr. singh,

A couple of questions to better advise you. What is the ink coverage on the form you plan to print?

Can you be more specific about which metallic shades/types you intend to print?

Paper stock? We can than take it from..... D

 

[alvarorb]

These are some of tge inks that cornishpastythighs was referring to:
COLOR-LOGIC Webstore - buy special effects products here!
Speak to your ink vendor sbout non-leafing silver inks such as were used in the MetalFX system and are now used in the Color-Logic system. E.g. http://www.flintgrp.com/en/documents/Print-Media/Europe/sf_spot_ti_Novaflash_NON_LEAFING_e.pdf
Remember though that if you halftone screen the silver you lose its metallic look.

Gordo

I totally agree with Gordon. Color Logic is the way to go when printing using metallic colors. It's simple and the software takes the guess work out the equation.

Regards

Alvaro

 

[onwsk8r]

I've run into bland results using cheap inks. It's worth the extra for good ink. Also it doesn't keep well.
The other thing is that the press has to be SPOTLESS when you put the ink in or it won't come out right (silver more so than gold).

Paper also makes a difference.. Pull out your Pantone books and look at 877U vs 877C.
If you run a nice ink through a clean press on a decent coated stock, it should be good. Otherwise all bets are off. Screen printing sounds very dangerous.
For the different shades, why not use like 871, 873, 875? Would that do the trick? If you do all the golds one after the other, you could set a new speed record for washups.

 

[D Ink Man]

I totally agree with Gordon. Color Logic is the way to go when printing using metallic colors. It's simple and the software takes the guess work out the equation.

Regards

Alvaro

I wonder what the "BEST" Silver ink on this Color Logic website means!?!

My inclination is that it is NOT the "BEST". Just a gut feeling from a few days of career experience.

The price too...what a bargain, eh? D

 

[gordo]

I wonder what the "BEST" Silver ink on this Color Logic website means!?!

My inclination is that it is NOT the "BEST". Just a gut feeling from a few days of career experience.

The price too...what a bargain, eh? D

I blieve that "Best" is a brand of ink rather than a quality statement. I don't know about ColorLogic but MetalFX branded the ink that was supplied by Eckart inks. That helped them warrant the results that printers got when purchasing their system. If you tell the ink supplier what you are trying to do using non-leafing metallic then they'll go to whichever supplier they use to get the ink for you. This class of ink is very expensive, but if you want a near foil stamp look to the metallic then that's the price you will pay.

Gordo

 

[D Ink Man]

If I'm not mistaken the software for the Metal FX has been discontinued rendering it's application next to useless. Correct me if I'm wrong. D

 

[gordo]

If I'm not mistaken the software for the Metal FX has been discontinued rendering it's application next to useless. Correct me if I'm wrong. D

MetalFX is gone but Color-Logic has a similar solution on the market.
The inks are independent of the software ( I don't believe the OP was thinking of that kind of solution anyway -it's this thread that has drifted).

Gordo

 

[Cornishpastythighs]

I think the OP was asking if any of the members here had any tricks and tips for running Metalic inks. He was not happy with the results even after trying many different inks. I don't think he was after a software solution but a runability solution.

 

[Disappointed]

Once upon a time, back in the day, when running metallic gold, I would always run a yellow down first, this really boosted the gold effect. Single colour press, dry on dry.

Have not touched metallic for 20+ years now and dont miss it one bit, any jobs where we need a gold or silver, I just run through the hot-foil cylinder with satin foil, looks 100%, costs more but the result is perfect.

 

[ashwini singh]

Thanks Guys,
i did run into eckart print solutions , they are very expensive and i did not see a remarkable difference in its luster than offset ink. It was more metallic no doubt but not even close to foil or screen print.
Running a double pass i.e. 200 % gold helped a bit , but screen printing color was the most terrific visual , i wonder what the draw backs are for that ?
The printing yellow base seems like a really OTB solution , i wonder how that goes ?