light ink on dark paper

Unfortunately, this is not really easy with Letterpress. These results are typically seen with Engraving. There are only a few things that will work. One is to order opaque white ink. Then add just a touch of yellow to it on your end to make ivory. Any actual pantone mixed color won’t show up. The other option is to use a metallic. Any of these should print really lovely on black. Good luck!

Sarah

German Etching Black is a superb paper but since it is a mouldmade it will need to be dampened to perform well. As Holland suggests, an opaque white with a bit of yellow, until it looks like a pastel creme, will do the job.

Gerald
http://BielerPress.blogspot.com

looks like I need to go experiment with opaque white!

Where can I get some opaque white? I’ve been looking forever for a white ink and don’t find any esp. not in Germany. Any idas?

Thanks,
Marion

you can try to mix some yellow into silver as well. That’ll give the ink a nice sheen, and not much is more opaque than a metallic ink.

Wausau makes a nice black paper in the complements line, I have not tried to letterpress on it but has a bit of texture and is fairly heavy so its worth a try perhaps!

Opaque white works fairly well, but you may need more than you think add a little at a time (too much is not good its then sloppy.) Also I found that cleaning up white ink off your press is a little more work than regular inks..

Lammy’s got a great idea. I have also had great success printing silver mixed with white(and with green once, that was pretty) on black strathmore papers for several projects. It requires more drying time, and making sure you are keeping your area and fingertips clean, as silver ink tends to get everywhere if you aren’t careful. But it yields great opaque results. Have fun and good luck!

Pantone has a whole line of mixes just for metallic ink. Some pretty neat colors in there honestly.