‘Sleeking’ or digital foil

Using a technique known as ‘sleeking’ (another innovation), we can print any artwork and convert it to shiny foil. This can be mixed with normal colour print offering some really lovely results.

Sleeking is an on-demand foil stamping solution for short-run digital applications. To transfer the foil to paper, Sleeking uses pressure and heat that specifically bonds to HP digital ink and some toners.

No expensive dies are needed – there’s no major machine makeready as it is digital – which allows for some amazing special effects that are also budget friendly.

Sleeking technology can apply a simple finish, such as gloss or matte, a metalised background, such as gold or silver, or a dramatic holographic impression in spot locations or full coverage. Call for more info or pop in!

File Setup for Adobe InDesign (coloured foil)

The area that will eventually be printed with foil should be made as a separate file rather than as a fifth colour added to the CMYK process.

1) Create a new layer that is an exact copy of your finished design. Delete everything that is NOT to be foiled. The foil is laid down  first which means any colour printed over silver foil gives a coloured metallic effect. For example, 30% Magenta will make a pink foil.  If you just require gold foil then please specify this and we can use a golf coloured foil without any overprint required.

2) Create a new colour swatch that is 100% of all colours. (100C, 100M, 100Y, 100K) Window > Colour > Swatches

3) Click in the upper right hand corner of the Swatch Palette and select “Add New Colour”. It can have any name but we recommend ‘foil’ or similar so we can clearly see it. 

4) Change everything to be made of the new colour. This is a kind of ‘super black’ which is sticky enough for the metal foil.

5) You will now have TWO files for the job and each one can be saved as a ‘Press Quality’ PDF file. 

Alternatively, you are welcome to send us your open InDesign file (saved as a ‘Package’) and we will prepare the files correctly.

Printing with white ink

You can take advantage of the brightly coloured substrates out there. No more worrysome solids to print, use the stock for the colour and print in white! We can print white ink as a solitary colour as well as under full colour printing with white as a fifth colour added to the CMYK process.

Please follow the instructions to prepare your files correctly.

File Setup for Adobe InDesign (White ink)

We can print white ink as a solitary colour as well as full colour printing with white as a fifth colour added to the CMYK process.

1) Create a new layer that will contain the white portions of your design. This layer should be named “White.” The software we use to print is case sensitive, so make sure the W is capital.

2) Once this layer is in place, create a new colour swatch. Window > Colour > Swatches

3) Click in the upper right hand corner of the Swatch Palette and select “Add New Colour.” Use the Colour Type drop-down menu to select “Spot.” Change the swatch name to “White,” (with capital W). It will default to black, but we suggest that you make the colour light red so you can see the areas that will print in white better – 20% magenta works well.

4) On the White layer, with the White colour, fill in the objects that you would like to have coloured white or, if you want white to be printed behind a design element, trace the shape you will need.

5) For text or vector illustrations, boxes and shapes, go to Window > Output > Attributes. Tick the box for Overprint Fill and Overprint Stroke (if applicable). When working with CMYK images, select the image and go to Object > Effects > Transparency and select ‘Multiply’. You should then see the colour you have chosen to represent ‘White’ showing through the image – this is correct.

6) When you save your file, the “White” layer should be at the top, with all of the rest of the artwork behind it.

File Setup for Adobe Photoshop (White INk)

1) Open a file in PhotoShop in CMYK mode.

2) Use the desired selection tool (e.g. the Magic Wand) to select the area of the image you wish to print with white ink.

3) Select Channels > New Spot Channel to open the Add Spot Channel dialog then enter the following information:
Name – “White” (with capital W)

• Solidity – 10%
• Edit the channel colour by double-clicking on the square swatch. (This can be any colour – it’s just to help you see the design on screen).

4) Click OK to save your changes and close the Add Spot Channel dialog.

5) You can create a solid layer in the same way by selecting the entire workspace (Select All) and then add the spot channel as described above.
In some cases, it may be easier to select the area in which you don’t want any white ink data and then select the inverse.

6) It is also possible to edit the spot channel much as you would any other data in a PhotoShop document, making use of such tools as the Eraser.

7) Save your image as a either a .TIFF or .psd format file
• If you intend to use this file in a vector-based program such as Illustrator, save it as a .psd file in order for all channel information to be carried over. The white spot colour is printed in the order it appears in the Channels palette, with the spot channel printing underneath CMYK data. However, when exported as a .psd to Illustrator, this data will appear above the image data. This is the correct format protocol for Illustrator.
• Otherwise save as .TIFF and ensure that the spot colours option is enabled if you plan to use this image directly from PhotoShop.
• If you will be using the file in your page layout with InDesign or Quark Xpress you can save as either.

File Setup for Adobe Illustrator (White INk)

Create a new layer on top of everything and move all the white objects on that layer in Illustrator.

Open the swatches window and click on the menu and select the option ‘New Swatch’.

In the following window, create a swatch with the Colour Type set to Spot Colour, the Swatch Name set to White (capital W), the Colour  Mode CMYK and the colour values 0% for all 4 colours.

Select the object that you want to print in white ink, and then select the stroke or fill of the object and change it to be the White swatch.

Setting object attributes
White objects also need a special attribute set if they are to be printed correctly behind or above other colours. Open the attributes window in Illustrator and select the object that you assigned that White swatch to, you can select the checkbox for either ‘overprint stroke’ or ‘overprint fill’.