When working with metallized paper or holographic paper, there needs to be a 5th color, white ink. This is to help make your product look the best it can be. If your printer sets up the white ink spot you need to know how to read the proof to ensure you are getting the look you want.  The white ink needs to be put down first and so that will be the 1st station of the printing press. The rest of the colors follow after. 

For this example, we will use this chocolate box as an example for today’s discussion. 

So how did we get from this art to this finished product?

To achieve the look on the right, I needed to add 100% spot white on the section where I wanted the metallized paper to be completely blocked. I also wanted the gold to differentiate from the reds while still having metallized paper shimmer though it. To achieve that I added a 30% white spot so that the gold will still shimmer but stand out from the reds which I wanted to have full metal shining behind it to get the reds to look jewel toned.

Now to create the spot white on the art file, you need to create a color and designate it specifically as the spot white.  You cannot use white as that won’t print, so therefore what color you see and the degree of that color signifies how much white you will be using. For this example I used a mauve color as it is quite different than the reds. In this case, seeing white on the spot white layer means full silver show through. This is what this new spot white ink layer will look like.

When looking at your proof, double check to make sure you have white where you want to block some of the silver and remember for this layer the white is the silver show through.  You can also have full silver show through like you see on both images. You will notice that I didn’t put any white ink on the right side (when folded the back of the box). I opted to keep that full silver with no white or color printed on top of it to highlight the silver. 

There is a learning curve when it comes to spot white ink and using metallized paper but in no time at all, you will understand how to use it! If you are curious about how your brand would look on metallized paper, contact Kizzie Suriel at k.suriel@armetallizing.com to get a free prototype and I can explain how I created the spot white ink as well to get you started in your learning.

Kizzie Suriel 

Kizzie Suriel is member of AR Metallizing’s inhouse Creative Services Team. She has been with AR Metallizing since 2003. She is expert in prototyping and supports customers in turning creative design ideas into reality.