Pages

Thursday, February 24, 2022

Color Foils

My parents used often the expression, “You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear”.  When it comes to art for specialty foils for the LT5C, this expression is especially true.

LT5C Final Print-Color Foils
LT5C Final Print-Color Foils

You may find this post about using various unique materials and white with the LT5C of interest.

If you have requirements to print foils, Kraft or other unique materials, the LT5C is your best option.  Let me tell you more about a recent request from a company with this requirement.

Original Foil Print File
Original Foil Print File

To start this process, a company sent us the pdf file above to print.   As I understand, they send this art to a third-party printer currently; however, they need to move this production in-house given all their SKU’s.

Preprinted Foil Labels
Preprinted Foil Labels

Reviewing their preprinted labels, we noticed a light grey, matte finish, background with blue and gold foils. Given the customer’s requirements for spot foil colors, we needed to find a way to replicate this look on a light grey background.

Although I’m not a pressman, I think the printer used some type of analog press plus foil stamping to achieve both blue and gold foils on the same label. Perhaps they used one of those very expensive presses, but for sure, the printer was not an “on-demand option”.

Original Art-LT5C Printed Without White
Original Art-LT5C Printed Without White

To start the process, Tony Molina, Graphic Artist for Color Label Solutions, thought the best way to replicate the preprinted label was to use a neutral, high gloss, silver foil.  The Afinia LT5C has the ability to print on all sorts of different media, especially foil media. Tony printed the PDF art file supplied by the customer without any of the white print options available on the LT5C.  But the result was not very good. According to Tony, “the high gloss silver foil color showed through the entire label; making the colors somewhat dull or washed out. Everything was shiny and reflective.  The words “NEW” and “1.5 GRAM” came out silver and not white as they appeared in the pdf file.  Not what the customer wanted.”

Original Art-Printed With White
Original Art-Printed With White

One of the options you have on the LT5C is to add white to the background of the entire label. Using this option, all the colors appeared matte and dull.  Again, not what was desired by the customer.

So, in Tony’s opinion, “To get a nice blue and gold foil effect, he needed to redesign the art in a way that takes advantage of the high gloss, silver foil media background as well the white printing capability of the LT5C.  Using Adobe Illustrator, I was able to accomplish the desired results.”

Here is a summary of how Tony built the art file in Illustrator and used the capabilities of the Afinia LT5C 4-COLOR+White Label printer to achieve the requirements of our customer.

White Layer
White Layer

First Tony created a layer and assigned the “SpotColor_White” background element covering the entire label except where the foil colors were desired.  Tony chose a “Peach” color as shown on the palette figure below.

Grey Layer
White Layer

Next he created another layer, copied the same background white element and pasted it in place, and assigned a light gray color to it. He set the light gray color to overprint the white.

White and Grey Layers
White and Grey Layers

The white with the grey layer on top, moved slightly to show both layers.

White And Grey Layers
White And Grey Layers

The grey on top of the white layer (Peach Color) shows up as a darker red in the Illustrator file.

Background Layers With Elements
Background Layers With Elements

With the background layers finished, Tony added the other design elements without any background.  This method enables Tony to “TRAP” the blue and yellow colors to the background. 

"Trapped" Colors
"Trapped" Colors

Using this method, the blue and yellow colors will print directly onto the high gloss silver, producing the desired blue and gold foil effects required by the customer.

Final White Text
Final White Text

With the background and other elements completed, Tony added the final White text (NEW & 1.5 GRAM) indicated in the Peach Color.  In the top right of the picture above, you can see the list of layers Tony used to recreate the art necessary to print the desired output on the LT5C.

By using a solid, opaque, light gray background with white under print, he created the contrast allowing the blue and yellow colors to become “blue foil” and “gold foil”. 

Final Foil Print Output
Final Foil Print Output

Once the art was completed, Tony saved the Illustrator file as a PDF X1-a Standard pdf file.  Then, he configured the LT5C Postcript driver to print with the option “APPLICATION SPECIFIC”; meaning the designated white color elements will print behind a particular color to make the colors pop.  Plus, the white color can be used as an element as part of the overall label design.

To help graphic artists design with white, Afinia has released a design suggestion on using white. I encourage you to review this information before creating or using the LT5C to print any files with white.

Once the “ART FILE” was configured correctly, Tony was able to achieve the desired finished label using the LT5C with high gloss silver foil media.

Blue/Yellow Foils Up-Close
Blue/Yellow Foils Upclose
See it here:



Tony says, “After being able to understand how “WHITE” in your design really works, the LT5C was able to represent very closely the print made from an expensive label press using most probably specific PMS inks.  The fact that we can replicate this print output using a digital printer with a silver foil label is impressive; especially given the requirement for a foil look for cyan and gold/yellow.”

With a knowledgeable graphic artist, silver foil and the LT5C, you can create great looking, color foil labels.  If you want to use various color foil labels on your products, contact us.  We’ll help you get started printing high quality labels yourself.

Guy Mikel
855-962-7670

Thursday, February 17, 2022

Preventive Maintenance

Completing preventive maintenance is key for label printers and accessories.  And now Color Label Solutions can arrange preventive maintenance on your equipment.

Adhesive/Paper Dust On Damper
Adhesive/Paper Dust On Damper

I’ve written about preventive maintenance in the past.  With L801 printheads:

and for the C7500 and C7500G:

And I’ve written about our Break-Fix capability

But now Color Label Solutions can offer on-site preventive maintenance on printers and accessories in many parts of the country.

Ink Build-Up Inside Printer
Ink Build-Up Inside Printer

When asked about the need for preventive maintenance on the items we sell, Danny Valles, Support Associate for Color Label Solutions says “Almost all of the hardware items we sell could use preventive maintenance.  For example, the DLF 220S gets a build-up of adhesive on the nip rollers and dancer arms.  Cleaning these items and greasing the unit makes a big difference.  On the L801/L901, cleaning the label dust (especially in and around the service station) and removing any “gunk” will improve print quality and help make the equipment last longer.  On the C6000 or C7500 printers, cleaning up the paper/media path will extend the life of your printers.”

Thermal Transfer Preventive Maintenance
Thermal Transfer Preventive Maintenance

According to Chris Miller, Vice President of Service and Supplies for General Data (our parent company), “We can perform a preventative maintenance on a wide variety of equipment; including thermal transfer printers, direct thermal printers, color label printers, printer accessories, copiers, and workgroup printers.  During this service, we can make adjustments, clean, lubricate, repair simple items, and replace consumable items; all designed to extend the life of your equipment.  Also, preventive maintenance can prevent incipient failures.”

Cleaning Pad
Cleaning Pad

As for pricing of preventive maintenance, Chris says, “we charge an hourly rate for service with a flat rate for drive time.  And we don’t charge per device; therefore, we can work on a lot of devices during the same call making the cost/device very affordable.  We can also set up a preventive maintenance schedule; with maybe 1, 2, 3 or 4 times over a period of a year or two.”

Ink Build-Up
Ink Build-Up

For where can Color Label Solutions provide this preventive maintenance service, Chris says, “naturally, we can provide this service in Southern California.  However, we can now provide this service in most metropolitan areas of the US.  Contact us to see if your location is covered by our service techs.”

To arrange a preventive maintenance service or to get an estimate of the costs, contact Chris Miller in our Signal Hill/Long Beach office at 855-962-7670.  Or email chris@colorlabelsolutions.com.  I’m glad that we can offer this type of service to our customers.

Guy Mikel
855-962-7670