Metal FX® Special Effect Printing
Product Overview
As part of our range of added value service we now offer metalFX® printing
St Ives' use of a MetalFX system under licence, enables it to greatly simplify the production process for print jobs which require one or more metallic colours. Having recently been granted a Silver MetalFX accreditation, we are hoping shortly to add to our success by gaining Gold MFX status
Product Information
Cost savings
MetalFX works on the basis that CMYK inks are transparent, so when printed on top of the modified MFX base ink, it allows the silver or to show through the CMYK and thus create an almost limitless number of metallic colours. The MFX inks have additional trapping qualities on press which allow the CMYK inks to adhere to it. MetalFX colours are applied at the design stage where the designer or pre-press house adds MetalFX pallets and actions to create a 5-colour job using base silver or gold plus 4-colour process.
Embossing and debossing
Embossing stamps the stock to push it out, whereas debossing pushes it in. Creatively they work best with colours and foils.
Die-cutting
A custom-made metal blade is pressed through the stock, leaving either a clean hole or a shaped perforation.
Laser cutting
Effectively a high resolution version of die-cutting. Going up to 800dpi, creative applications are almost limitless.
Eye-catching designs
So, if you ever wanted to have three different metallic colours but your print budget wouldn’t stretch that far now, with the MetalFX process, you can. Since CMYK inks are conventional inks already used in the litho printing process, we can now print a standard CMYK job and at the same time achieve up to 615 metallic colours. This means we can now create eye-catching designs by integrating metallic colours into photographs and by creating an unlimited range of colours on a job using only one additional colour.
MetalFX will not transform your project simply by applying the process. First, both the design and image must be suitable. Then some skilful tweaking is required at the design/pre-press stage to produce the best result. From the jobs we’ve printed so far, we would strongly recommend the use of metal MetalFX non-leafing silver and a gloss UV varnish on the MetalFX subject area. This enhances the lustre of the subject to give maximum impact to the finished product.
To illustrate the range of our services, of necessity, we have reproduced customers' registered and unregistered trade marks and representations of their brands. The rights that our customers have in their respective trade marks and brands are fully acknowledged.