Solid white print on transparent stickers

[Bashv]

I'm trying to design a transparent sticker with a white QR code on it.

The white areas should not be transluent, but solid.

The instructions on the printer's website are confusing (and it's not in english btw), but I followed them as much as I could.

It basically says:

1. Create a page and place your design on it (I did this in Adobe Illustrator)

2. Copy / paste the content to a 2nd layer

3. Apply a Pantone color to the 2nd layer.

I assume this means applying a Pantone color to the content on the 2nd layer (the QR code), but which color exactly? I picked a random Pantone color, some kind of blue

4. Apply overprint to the 2nd layer (I selected the content and applied overprint).

I tried to properly align the two identical objects on Layer 1 and 2, but you can still see some blue lines here and there (from the background), both in Illustrator and in the exported PDF. Why the white QR code is not fully covering it's blue clone - I don't know.

Can you tell me, please, am I doing this right? And this blue thing, will it print?

The communication with the printer is not good. It's basically an online shop, where you choose a product, quantity, material etc. and you put it in your cart.

Thanks.

 

[Bashv]

UPDATE: I found better sources on this topic. The instructions on the printer's website are totally confusing.

It actually works like this: you create (in Adobe Illustrator) a new document intended for printing (CMYK) and you add your artwork there in white and then you make a new layer on top of this layer, not behind it. Then you copy and paste (in place) the artwork on this new (top) layer.

The top layer should be renamed to "White", but the artwork there will not actually be in white. Depending on the source, the artwork there should be in a Pantone or a spot color. I don't know why, but many examples use magenta.

So, you have a top layer with artwork in pantone / spot (magenta) and a bottom layer with the same artwork in white. Then you must select the artwork on the top layer and change its attributes to overprint.

The 2 identical objects should be well aligned. And somehow this will print on a transparent sticker or a label and the white areas will not turn out transluent, i.e. they will be opaque. Otherwise you'll get some kind of "see-through" print.

I just hope that I will be able to add comments while ordering this from that online shop. I hope that they won't get confused and they won't print my order in magenta...

 

[Magnus59]

UPDATE: I found better sources on this topic. The instructions on the printer's website are totally confusing.

It actually works like this: you create (in Adobe Illustrator) a new document intended for printing (CMYK) and you add your artwork there in white and then you make a new layer on top of this layer, not behind it. Then you copy and paste (in place) the artwork on this new (top) layer.

The top layer should be renamed to "White", but the artwork there will not actually be in white. Depending on the source, the artwork there should be in a Pantone or a spot color. I don't know why, but many examples use magenta.

So, you have a top layer with artwork in pantone / spot (magenta) and a bottom layer with the same artwork in white. Then you must select the artwork on the top layer and change its attributes to overprint.

The 2 identical objects should be well aligned. And somehow this will print on a transparent sticker or a label and the white areas will not turn out transluent, i.e. they will be opaque. Otherwise you'll get some kind of "see-through" print.

I just hope that I will be able to add comments while ordering this from that online shop. I hope that they won't get confused and they won't print my order in magenta...

The usual method to do this is to create a spot colour named White but set it's appearance in the sliders so it is visible
Make sure when you export PDF you are retaining spot colours - check this with output preview in the final PDF
Finally, and most important, COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR PRINTER so there is no ambiguity in what you are expecting.

 

[Repro_Pro]

"Copy and Paste" can be risky.
Instead, you should use "Duplicate Layer" and rename the new, copied layer.