Printing in silver

[Anne40]

Does anyone know which combination of colours makes silver?
I'm trying to print on white card but the nearest I can get is a dull grey.
It's ordinary ink so I know I'm not going to get real silver but I'm sure I can get better results than I've had so far.
Not sure this is in the right category but thanks in advance.

[Mobius1]

I'm generally clueless when it comes to this sort of thing. Surely though the only thing separating the colour grey from the colour silver is the scattered specular "bits" that you get in a silver colour that cause it to look slighty reflective or sparkly? If so, it's really just going to look grey whatever you do.

I've never seen domestically printed stuff that's used ordinary ink and that's manged to actually look silver rather than what it actually is, which is - as you've said - grey. Even a lighter grey still looks grey.

That's just my opinion though and by no means definitive.

[gary baldy]

What software package you using? Is there a way of fading a gradient into the block of colour - bit crude but if you do it subtly you can get a sort of shimmering effect - so it isnt a solid block of colour. Does that make sense - i know what i mean but am finding it hard to explain in words?

[wideboy]

Are you printing on matt or glossy paper? Glossy is more likely to look 'silver'. Hopefully you're not printing on CD/DVD but if you are you need to look for TDK's new 'photo quality' DVD printables.

[spaced]

you cannot print silver unless you have a printer that prints with metallic paint, such as the ones used by proffessional printers. If you use a programme like Adobe Photoshop this will allow you to add reflection and depth effects to your text, giving the effect of something made of silver or chrome.

[gary baldy]

Thanks spaced - thats what i was trying to say but must have been hit by an inarticulation stick.

[Anne40]

Thanks everyone, I'm just printing on plain white card (Christmas cards) so I guess it will have to be black. Thanks again

[spaced]

no probs gary_baldy