Gradient atop Metalic inks

[JackFinn]

Hi all,
A client would like a gradient of pantone 201 on top of silver metalic ink.
I just thought that I would check here and make sure there are no issues with overprinting on Pantone metalics.

I notice that there are several silvers available- is there a rule of thumb in picking which to use?

Thanks again,

J

[Silence04]

you shouldn't have any problem at all overprint one pms on metallic.

the brightest metallic silver is 877, any of the other silvers are typically made up of 877 plus an additional, non-metallic, ink.

[jimking]

Sorry, You could have a problem with this. Metalics are considered the dominate ink, more so than black. It could dominate your pms to the point of it looking faded. You should talk to your printer about this to see if they can handle it or help you prep the job for the best result.

[JackFinn]

Thank you for the replies,

Attached is the particular problem that I'm faced with.

I have to reproduce the striped effect at the top (the blue and gray stripes) with the Pantone 877 and 201.

The second row is the literal translation of alternating stripes, each gradiating from 877 to 201 or vice versa with a small gap in between.

Obviously, the white gap isn't going to cut it, so on the bottom I created a large 877 to 201 gradient and overlaid evenly spaced opposing gradient stripes.

Unfortunately, I'm not able to spead directly to the printer, as we don't speak the same language (they're overseas).

Does the bottom example look like a reasonable solution.
Thanks again,

Jack

[Virgo Nightingale]

I did once do a 2-pms-color gradient stripe for a bus. card/letterhead set. My only complaint about how it came out on the final print was how in the middle of the box, as the screen for each color got lighter, the colors didn't visually blend as much as I would have liked and you could see quite a bit of the white paper showing through. Overprinting would theoretically fix this but that wouldn't have been an option for this project as the colors were both dark (unless I overlapped two separate gradients and made each one 'fade' a little further down the line).
This may work for you however since the silver pantone is a light color and the 201 is darker, but keep in mind that the red may look different printed over the silver than it does on its own. This may affect the consistency of the color throughout the piece unless you overprint the 201 over the silver wherever it appears.

[Malaclypse]

I don't have much experience with the metallics, but aren't they opaque? If so, you should be able to do solid 201 with a 877 gradient overprinted...

[rickself]

Bottom line... ASK THE PRINTER.

We may do metallics different than the other printers down the street. I'd say overprint the red on the silver. But you have to think of if the ink is wax free, soy based........ something only the printer that you use will be able to answer.

Then if it doesn't print correct or something rubs off, you can blame the printer and not one of us.

Just my humble as it can be opinion!

[PrintDriver]

I don't know much about 4-color metallics, but when we try to screen print a metallic there is a certain percentage where the metal flake doesn't work any more. You need to know what that percentage is and adjust your gradient for it.

If you and your printer don't speak the same language, I hope you are getting what you pay for. Sorry. That's how it is. Two of three. Cheap, fast, quality.

[JackFinn]

Thank you all,
Your advice has been really helpful- now I know the issues that may come up.
I'm going to spell out clearly the potential pitfals that may pop up, and she can discuss it with whomever she has to do the printing.
Personally, I think the silver is a terrible choice for this particular publication, so hopefully she'll drop the idea completely.

[LeftBrain Artist]

Printing metallics can be dicey, the systems I've had to work with require transparent CMYK on top of the opaque metallic ink. A transparent version of 201 on top of solid silver will not look like 201 at all, so you may as well stick with process inks designed to work with a metallic system, unless they can get an opaque pantone to work. You really need a quality printer to be addressing a problem like this, and if they're going overseas - I'm guessing its not for quality.

I've had pantones on top of foil stamps done before with good results, might that be an option?

[Malaclypse]

I'm curious about other people's experiences with metallic inks. One of my current projects may be undergoing revision/redesign to use metallic inks. Its a predominantly black package, with green and white type and graphics. We're looking at substituting some of those with metallics, and getting rid of a grayscale gradient that is currently being used to suggest a metallic finish. Personally, I wish I could have done the initial design with metallics in mind, but at that time my superiors weren't interested in the idea. Now they are, so its adaption time.

I'm looking forward to hearing what direction and results your project takes, JackFinn.