metallic magic - professional options

On- Friday, July 16

I thought we'd do a slightly different post today, not technical as such, but go into a bit more detail than usual. Lets take a look at the different ways you can add a metallic effect to your wedding stationery.

What people sometimes forget is that you can't print true metallic colours on a home printer. They can be mimicked, but they wont have that same shine or sparkle as professional printing. Shown above is our eastern promise invitation with a beautiful professional metallic print.

So what are the options?

Professional

Professional printers have a wide variety of tricks and techniques at their disposal. The results can be stunning. The downside is of course they can often be expensive, and nothing is quite as pricey as foiling. It is however a beautiful option, incredibly shiny, strong and rich metallics can be achieved.

In foiling, a plate is heated to a very high temperature and a sheet of foil placed in between the plate and the paper. Under pressure the foil sticks to the paper and there is also a slight indentation left on the paper which often adds to the beauty of this process.

For a large print run (lots of invitations) the costs may not be that prohibitive. So if you are looking for a really striking metallic effect, talk to your local printer and ask for a quote. The results can be amazing.

Embossing presses into the paper creating a raised surface and is most often used for large monograms or borders. It can use flat, metallic or no ink at all (which is called blind embossing) above are some examples using metallics.

Spot metallics are a slightly cheaper professional option. Not as bright and shiny as foil or embossing but they can still be very pretty. Most professional printing is a combination of four colours - cyan, magenta, yellow and black. A spot is the addition of a specific fifth colour, and in some cases this can be a metallic one. They can seem a little dull, especially in comparison to a foil, but they are far more metallic than your home printer can achieve.

Remember 'i do' it yourself can supply all of our stationery designs for professional printing at no extra cost. And most files will work with metallic printing, so just ask.