Shiny Ink

A trusted, and generous fellow printer told me that to get a shiny finished surface, first print the color and then obverprint with varnish. I am sure he is right, but why can’t the two be mixed together - would that work? Thanks, Neil

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Neil:

You certainly could add additional varnish to the ink itself to boost the gloss of the ink. Usually an overprint varnish was used to give gloss to the paper surface as a whole to equalize the gloss of the entire surface, not just the inked areas.

Overprint varnishes are available in various finishes, from high gloss to a matte, in order to control the appearance of the surface.

John Henry
Cedar Creek Press

John is spot on, however you will also want to be spot on in registration if you use it as an overprint. If not you will get some halo effect.

I have mixed varnish with silver and colored ink to get some interesting pearlized effects as well.

good luck with your project,
s

Very cool and thanks so much… Will be trying silver on blue tomorrow. Neil

And, also trying black mixed with varnish. Best - Neil

I printed metallic silver on an uncoated blue cardstock for our holiday cards a couple of years ago. What worked for me was printing in clear varnish first to seal the paper and then overprinting the same forme in the silver. They came out looking really nice, though I had to print quite a few extras to account for registration loss.

Michael Hurley
Titivilus Press
Memphis, TN

Results - I printed first with varnish and let it dry and then with silver and they turned out quite nice, all on blue cover stock. Thanks for all the good help.