ARTWORK SPECIFICATIONS
Orders containing logos or graphics must be accompanied with clean vector artwork (black and white is preferrable for engraved products).
Engraving Artwork - Artwork submitted in grayscale or with gradient colors may incur an artwork conversion charge. Any art that does not satisfy our artwork guidelines will incur an artwork charge. When art does not conform to our artwork guidelines the minimum artwork charge is £25.00 plus VAT. Our hourly rate is £35.00 per hour plus VAT. Customers will be contacted before any art charges would be applicable.
ARTWORK FILE GUIDELINES
- Engraving - Vector Black & White Line Art (no grayscale, color, or halftones)
- Printing - Vector artwork
- PC-platform file formats (EPS, AI, PDF, CDR)
- Images embedded inside of Word documents is not acceptable art.
- Convert all fonts to outlines/curves before sending.
COLOUR
All files are required in CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black) format as we digitally print all artwork using this 4 colour process. All pantone, spot colours etc. will be converted to CMYK. Please ensure that all blacks are supplied as single colour black, rather than full colour black.
FONTS
Please forward all the fonts that you have used in your artwork. It is preferred that whenever possible, all fonts can be converted to outlines/curves. Please do not omit any fonts that are used in artwork files, again, these should be converted to outlines/curves in most circumstances. Although we do have large font library, please do not presume that we will have what are considered standard fonts - these must also be sent with your artwork. Click here for a sample list of fonts that we know work well with wood engraving & printing.
IMAGES
The preferred format for any raster graphics is TIF although we can accept most standard formats (JPEG, GIF etc.). These should be supplied at a minimum of 300 d.p.i. Anything below this can result in lower quality reproduction of your artwork when it comes to printing. Images downloaded from the internet are unsuitable for print as these are very low quality resolution (72 d.p.i. or less) and will result in a very low quality print. Again these images can be sent in their original CMYK format or as an EPS with any fonts converted to outlines/curves.
LOGO AMENDMENTS
Alterations are sometimes necessary to make a logo appear clean and legible when processed. Failing to make these minor changes will result in a poor quality engraving that does not meet our engraving or printing standards. These moderate but necessary alterations will be done after discussion with you. We always show you pre-production proofs and will not commence any work until your written approval is obtained.
PERSONALISATION
We prefer all names to be provided within an excel spreadsheet. Other formats such as word documents are also acceptable.
PAYMENT BEFORE PROOF
For us, time is money and we simply cannot commit to speculative graphic design work for an unknown customer (i.e. web customer) without an order and payment in place. Unfortunately we do not have the luxury of working for free, so please do not be offended if we ask for payment first. We too, have bills to pay!
After your order has been placed, we always provide you with a pre-production proof for you to approve before production commences.
FINAL PROOF APPROVAL
This is the most important part of the process. We always send over a pre-production proof for you to approve. PLEASE take the time to check this carefully as once you have given final proof approval (via email) you will be responsible for the design and any errors/omissions. We are human and copy errors do sometimes occur. This is why we allow you the last say / last check with the final proof approval. We urge you to check, check, and check again (and then ask someone else to check it too)!!!
BARTER DEALS (FREE ISSUE PRINTED OR ENGRAVED GOODS FOR FREE ADVERTISING)
We have, on numerous occasions, have had offers of advertising bundles in exchange for bartered goods, We are a small business and we simply cannot take up all of the advertising offers of this nature (we have had a few you see..). Again, as we have stated above, we do not have the luxury of working for free advertising only, and therefore we would need payment for the goods provided.
WOODEN TOKENS
These are usually printed onto Rock Maple blanks. The trees used to produce these are grown on several different family owned tree farms located across the Northeastern United States. Very sustainable as the trees are farmed for this reason alone and more are planted and farmed every year!
At the mill, the trees are cut first into large planks, then into 2''x2" square strips measuring approximately 24" long. These strips are then put onto a lathe and turned into 1.5" diameter dowels. Finally, the dowels are taken to the saw where each dowel in sliced into approximately 180, 3mm thick, wooden blanks. The saw blades leave the surface of the wood feeling rough so the blanks are put into a large tumbler and tumbled for about 24 hours until smooth.
ARTWORK DESIGN TIPS AND HINTS - The final product is a natural and untreated wooden token that can be laser engraved or printed. There are slight variations in shade, texture, grain and porosity from one piece to the next; making each wooden token one of a kind. As they are turned by lathes into dowels before they are cut into blanks, the tokens are not pin point precision round. They look round to the naked eye but any imperfections in the diameter are shown clearly if your artwork has a border close to the edge (as it will not always look in the middle).
- These are small tokens - please don't crowd the space with too much artwork
- Please do not set borders or text too close to the edge (why? - see red text above)
- Please keep fonts at readable sizes (most people cannot read Pt4 text)
- Engraving - no clean outs (reverse cut areas) as these areas are burnt & token receipients won't thank you for dirty hands
- Colour Matching - we try to match colours as closely as possible but remember that you are printing on a coloured background