You’ve been killing the printing game. Clients have been pumped for the high quality products you make. It’s been a smooth ride, until a customer requests a specific Pantone color.
Uh, what? What do you do? How do you make a specific color? Why doesn’t the color from the bucket work? The answer is simple. You need an ink mixing system.
WHAT IS AN INK MIXING SYSTEM?
An ink mixing system is a set of inks that can be mixed to reproduce Pantone (PMS) colors by following a formula.
But… What's a Pantone color? A company called Pantone created a standardized color matching system. The Pantone Matching System (PMS) has more than 1,800 colors. By having a universal color system, companies and brands can replicate the colors needed for their designs or logos anywhere.
DO PRINTERS NEED INK MIXING SYSTEMS?
That answer completely depends on your wants and needs as well as the customers’ wishes. If the client you're working with is a small business, a little league team, or they're good with standard colors like Ruby Red, Royal Blue, Lemon Yellow, etc., then an ink mixing system isn’t necessary. But say a customer requests a specific color, like Pantone 4059 C. You're going to need a mixing kit. You could mix colors by eyeballing it, but it won’t be exactly the same (and it’ll be really hard to make that exact color again). With an ink mixing system, you pull up the software, punch in the color you wanna make, and it’ll spit out the formula. You weigh out and mix inks according to the formula and voilá, you have the perfect Pantone 4059 C.
But with FN-INK™, you don’t even have to think about it. The classic line is an ink mixing system — all you need is the mixing white and you’re set. That’s the beauty of FN-INK™. You don’t need to have two different plastisol ink lines on your shelves. FN-INK™ doubles as an ink mixing system and as a ready-to-use system, so you’re getting the best of both worlds.
HOW DO INK MIXING SYSTEMS WORK?
First things first, you need a few supplies: ink mixing system, spatulas, mixing containers, scale, and a Pantone Color Coated Book.
Once you get that all on hand, using an ink mixing system is easy. All you have to do is the following steps:
- Bring up the mixing software.
- Type in the Pantone number or scroll through the menu.
- Write the amount of grams of ink needed.
- Click, “Load Formula.”
- The formula will appear on the left while the Pantone color will be shown on the right in the lightning bolt.
- Put the mixing container on the scale and zero it out.
- Scoop in the color with the highest volume into the container first.
- When you’ve put in the correct amount of the color, clean off the spatula with an ink color (or use a different spatula for each color to avoid contaminating the colors).
- Zero out the scale and then add the color with the second highest volume. Repeat until all colors have been added into the container.
- When all the colors are in the container, grab a clean spatula and mix the ink. Scrape the from the bottom of the container and mix it with the rest of the ink.
That’s it. Find the formula, sling some ink into a container, mix, and you’re ready to go.
Having an ink mixing system on hand makes your life easier. You’re able to serve more customers and provide a better experience. The next time a client walks into your print shop and asks for a specific color, you won’t even bat an eye. You’ll have that job in the bag right from the start. Unlock thousands of colors today.