Card Stock FAQ

1. Do you need to be able to write on your cards?

We offer several stocks that you can write on! All of our uncoated paper stocks can be written on in pen. This includes our uncoated, cotton, and linen stocks. Because these stocks are more absorbent, pen stays on the stock, but markers such as sharpies can bleed.

Our coated paper stocks can also be written on with a few limitations. This includes our silk and suede stocks. These can be written on in a ballpoint pen or sharpie if given a few seconds to dry. We also have the option to do a custom No Lamination on one or both sides of our silk or suede finish cards. This is not an uncoated stock. No Lamination is more of a semi gloss finish, that can be written on with the same limitations as silk or suede. 

We are not able to have an uncoated finish on one side of a card, and a coated finish on the other side, unless it is a dual layer card, and each layer is a different stock all together.

2. What is the difference between Silk Finish and Suede Finish?
Silk and suede finish cards are both matte finishes, but they are also quite different. Our silk lamination is a smooth matte finish, while our suede lamination is more of a soft-touch matte finish with a velvety texture. 
Suede lamination gives your cards a richer texture when in hand, and silk lamination is a classic smooth feeling. Suede lamination on dark prints can result in seeing some fingerprints when held. Silk lamination is our signature finish, and is also our standard finish on paper products.

3. Onyx Suede

This stock is unique as it is our only stock that is black. Because it is black, we are not able to print color on this stock. Onyx Suede only allows us to do foil and Spot UV. 

Onyx Suede Business cards also have a suede texture. It is not a card that is just laminated with suede, resulting in a card that has a very deep rich black color with a smooth velvety feel. Because this card has such a jet black color, our foils really stand out and make a statement.

Our onyx Suede cards come in a 22pt thickness.

4. Cold Foil Silk
Cold foil is one of our most unique card stocks! All colors printed on Cold Foil have a metallic sheen and all white areas on the card will print silver. 
If you want any areas to print white instead, please send us a file that shows which areas you want to print white or block out the metallic finish. Please note that even if blocked, any white areas will print in an off-white ivory color.
Our cold foil cards come in a 28pt thickness.

5. Cotton

Popularly referred to as Letterpress, our cotton cards give an old world feel. Unlike traditional letterpress cards, we achieve this effect with print and debossing.

Printing full coverage or large areas on our cotton cards will result in an uneven distribution of ink, due to absorbency of the cotton stock. This means that when the ink is applied, it seeps into the stock, and the color can be more saturated in certain areas, almost giving it a subtle watercolor effect. The ink does not bleed outside where printed, but it is unevenly distributed in the sections applied. This uneven distribution can also be used to intentionally add character to your cards!

If this isn’t the effect you are looking for, we recommend going with one of our other stocks, such as silk or suede.

Our cotton stock is a 3 layer, 45pt card.

6. 12 mil plastic
This stock is about the thickness of a playing card. It is tear and waterproof, and is also a lot more flexible of a card than our 30 mil plastic cards. It has a silk finish, and rounded corners by standard.

7. Metal

These cards are made of a high quality metal at a 20pt thickness, and can be customized with our many options like PMS ink, Laser Cut, and Laser Engraving. We are not able to print in CMYK on our metal cards.

PMS inks are a great way to add that pop of color to your design, or make a statement with your branding. We charge our PMS inks per color/per side on our metal cards. Because our metal cards are not white, the printing of PMS inks on the card could cause the colors to vary slightly on the colored metal stock. Additionally, we do not recommend having large areas of PMS ink meeting the edges of the card, as it could cause the ink to chip with use.

With a laser cut, you can customize the shape of your cards, or cut out an intricate design into your cards! Please keep in mind when designing your cards that our metal cards can not have square edges. All outside corners must be rounded, even in a custom shape.

Our engraving adds a tactile experience to your cards, and can be done on its own, or paired with PMS in the same area to lower the ink to be more level with the card. We do not recommend having PMS and engraving in the same areas if the design is intricate or small, as the two options may not line up perfectly in that case.

QR codes on Metal cards are a great option, but the QR code will not scan if just engraved into your card. We recommend having the QR code in a high contrast color in comparison to the color of your metal card.

8. 30 mil Gold or Silver Plastic

Our gold and silver plastic stocks are pearlescent in color. Almost as if there is micro glitter in the cards.

Any area showing white on the design would be considered "no printing", showing the gold or silver color of the pearlescent material. If you need to have an area white, you would need to specify in your order notes that you need white blocking. This does not completely block out the pearlescent stock, but it does decrease it.

Gold and silver stock will affect the colors printed, much like yellow value being added/mixed to the color given.


9. Linen
Linen Business cards are printed on professional-looking and subtly textured card stock characterized with a small woven grid pattern embossed into the stock. This stock is uncoated and is a 2 layer, 24pt card.

10. Wood

Our wood cards are available in our Beech or Cherry stock and are 65pt cards. The Beech wood is more of a natural light wood color, and the Cherry is our darker wood with a slight red tone.

These cards are made with two sturdy layers of wood, with a smooth black card in between. We are not able to add any custom options or printing onto the black card in the middle. 

We are also not able to print in CMYK or PMS inks on our wood cards, but we do offer foil, laser cuts, laser engraving and laser etching. 

  • Laser cutting can be used to either cut the cards into a custom shape, or cut out a design into a layer of the wood to reveal the smooth back card in the middle. This can give a unique dimension to your design!

  • Laser engraving is the process of using a laser to carve a design into your cards, revealing the natural wood color beneath the surface. 

  • Laser etching is the process of using a laser to slightly burn a design into the face of the card. This is a very slight burn and just darkens the area that is etched.

11. 30 mil Plastic

Our 30 mil plastic cards are about the thickness of a credit card, and come in white, clear, or frosted plastic. Each of those options comes with rounded corners on the cards.

We are not able to color the edges of our plastic cards.

Our white stock comes in either a silk or gloss finish. The silk finish is a smooth matte finish, which takes longer to apply to cards. Silk finish gives you the option to add our spot UV, which is a gloss that can be applied in just certain areas of the cards for design effects. Our gloss stock is more easily scratched.


  • Frosted/clear plastic cards

Our clear stock has a glossy finish, or it can come frosted, which is a matte finish with a frosty appearance.  All ink will be printed faded / see through on frosted or clear cards. They will not be solid colors. For example, Black color will print more of a dark Gray color.  If you would like the text to be solid, the way around is to use different Foil colors instead of ink colors.

All White areas on the files for clear and frosted cards will not be printed White, it will be translucent/frosted.  UNLESS specifically "White Blocked" in the proof.  White block is not completely opaque when light is put behind it AND is meant for general areas and cannot be precisely registered with other options. We can only print both sides if the front and back design do not overlap OR a white block may be added, for an additional charge

 

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