Darkest and least reflective black finish

Discussion in '4-Color Offset Presses +' started by Arthurdubya, Dec 3, 2016.

  1. Arthurdubya

    Arthurdubya New Member

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    Hi all!

    I must say upfront that I'm not a printer, but a designer currently trying to find the proper printer to run a project i have in the works.

    I'm making a tarot card deck with images that have a lot of black, and to get maximum "pop" from the rest of the image, I want those blacks to be as dark as possible AND to have as little reflection as possible, since reflections or glare lighten things up.

    What process(es) achieve this? I'm currently talking to a printer who's sent me samples of black coated with a soft-touch varnish. I like the feel and the matte level, but it seems like the coating has lightened up the black. Is there a way to matte a black without lightening it? Will printing two or three hits of black on an inherently matte and non-reflective paper achieve the desired result, or does the ink itself have an inherent glossiness that would need to be made more matte? Can you ever get the darkness in a glossy print without the actual gloss?

    If it helps at all, some samples of the images in question are here: http://m.imgur.com/a/2RiZX

    I appreciate all your insight and help with this!
     
  2. Meny

    Meny Senior Member

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    HI

    i would use DRIP OFF as the way to get what you want.
    high gloss to the image and matt for the black.
    you will need a 6 color + coater press for this.
    if you can work with a 50*70 press for your quantity , i can connect you to a printer in the US (CAL)
     
  3. Arthurdubya

    Arthurdubya New Member

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    Hi Meny,

    I don't mean to say that only the parts that are black should be matte. The entire image should be non-reflective. I wouldn't want a situation where someone turns the image in the light and sees a matte black background with a glossy foreground.
     
  4. turbotom1052

    turbotom1052 Senior Member

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    Id be shooting for a rich black. That would be a black that is comprised of all 4 process colors, run up to a total of no more than 280 percent of total ink coverage. Id print this on a high quality, high holdout, high gloss sheet, with an inline matte aqueous primer. If your not satisfied with what it looks like after its had a chance to dry, then you could always offline film laminate. The ability to offline film laminate is why I suggest a Matte aqueous primer. A normal matte aqueous coating would have too much wax to allow for offline adherence of a film laminate.
     
  5. Arthurdubya

    Arthurdubya New Member

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    Hey TurboTom,

    The printer I'm talking to has sent samples of prints that have a matte AQ coating, but this matte, while less reflective than glossy, is certainly not "matte".

    If I put a black sheet coated with soft-touch, vs a black sheet coated with matte AQ, and shine an LED at both, I will be able to see the reflection of the matte AQ more clearly than with the soft-touch coated sheet. So far, soft-touch is my benchmark, but I wonder if there are coatings that are as matte, but still able to retain deeper blacks.

    The kind of finish and level of reflectivity is similar to black silicone, or black suede. Here's a link as reference: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/52/8b/b2/528bb249b7598c663b67810a9e280e0f.jpg

    In contrast to this "satin finish" http://www.vehiclewraps1.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Jeremy-ISF-Satin-Black2.jpg

    I know those are cars, but the matte level of the first finish prohibits any level of real reflection to be visible, while in the second "satin finish" you can see make out the shapes of light sources within the reflection.
     
  6. turbotom1052

    turbotom1052 Senior Member

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    if its within your budget you may want to try a matte film laminate.
     
  7. MacD

    MacD Member

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    Can always double bump UV black and UV matte varnish out of a printing unit. You were not far off in your guess. Can also add process to the black to make it more "rich" can also help. Also inks in general are reflective. Need to take into consideration how many colors are already being used and if it can add a double bump black and an in-line matte varnish out of a print unit. All about print capabilities
     

  8. Hman1956

    Hman1956 Member

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    plain and simple, black, any black looks blackest with Gloss on it. put matte on it will ONLY make it look gray.
    I live in the Folding carton world and live this every day.

    Bill