- What it is
- A stack of finished cards is clamped, the four cut edges are painted by hand, and the stack is left to cure before it is separated. The result is a continuous band of colour around the perimeter, invisible when the card is seen flat and unmissable when it is picked out of a wallet, seen at an angle, or stacked with others. It is hand work rather than a machine pass, so it is quantity-sensitive in a way that a printed finish is not, and it is the one finish on a card that is seen before the card is turned over.
- What it is printed on
A dense, closed stock that will hold a hard line. Bonded duplex and triplex are the natural home for it, because they are thick enough for the band to read as a band rather than as a line, and their own bond seam is already an edge detail. Coated card takes it well. A fibrous uncoated or cotton sheet does not: the paint wicks along the fibre and the line goes soft within a millimetre, which turns a crisp band into a stain.
- Bonded duplex, 600 gsm bonded0.72 mmDense enough to hold a hard line, and thick enough that the painted band reads as a band.
- Bonded triplex, 900 gsm bonded1.24 mmThe thickest option here, and the one where the edge stops being a detail and becomes the design.
- Matt art card, 400 gsm0.41 mmA single-sheet alternative: closed enough that the paint does not wick, and lighter in the hand.
- How it feels
- The edge is fractionally harder and smoother than a bare guillotined one, and the corners are the first thing a thumb finds. Held edge-on the colour is a solid bar; rolled between finger and thumb it flickers as each face catches the light. In a stack the effect multiplies, which is why this finish photographs best as a pile and reads best as a single card handed over.
- What it suits
- Name cards meant to be kept, membership and access cards, invitations, and anything where the design has been stripped back far enough that the edge has to carry it. It suits a dark core or a plain face. It does not suit a piece that has to fold or score, it does not suit an absorbent uncoated sheet, and it does not suit a job where the edge colour has to match a printed colour exactly.
- Lead time
- Standard turnaround is 7–14 working days. A physical proof, where one is asked for, is counted on top.
- The common mistake
- Choosing the edge colour from a screen. The paint is mixed by hand and applied to a surface about as wide as a fingernail is thick, and colour at that width always reads darker and more saturated than the same colour on a face — a mid grey comes back nearly black, a soft coral comes back red. Match it against the printed card in daylight, and on a bonded stock check what the core colour does underneath a translucent shade before committing.
Print idea
Painted-edge card
Colour applied by hand to the guillotined edge of a stack and left to cure, so the card carries a band of colour nobody expects to find there. The edge does the work and the faces can stay quiet.
Standard turnaround is 7–14 working days.
What painted-edge card is
A stack of finished cards is clamped, the four cut edges are painted by hand, and the stack is left to cure before it is separated. The result is a continuous band of colour around the perimeter, invisible when the card is seen flat and unmissable when it is picked out of a wallet, seen at an angle, or stacked with others. It is hand work rather than a machine pass, so it is quantity-sensitive in a way that a printed finish is not, and it is the one finish on a card that is seen before the card is turned over.
A dense, closed stock that will hold a hard line. Bonded duplex and triplex are the natural home for it, because they are thick enough for the band to read as a band rather than as a line, and their own bond seam is already an edge detail. Coated card takes it well. A fibrous uncoated or cotton sheet does not: the paint wicks along the fibre and the line goes soft within a millimetre, which turns a crisp band into a stain.
- The printed face, drawn in this stock’s own shade and its own surface structure.
- The cut edge, drawn at the estate scale of 1 mm = 22 px.
- The bond seams — 1 of them, between 2 sheets. This is why a board this thick exists at all.
- The painted band. Colour at the width of a fingernail reads darker and more saturated than the same colour on a face.
The specification
Six fields, and the last one is the useful one.
The same six questions are answered for every entry in this section, in the same order, so two objects can be compared without reading two pages of prose. The mistake is stated last and stated plainly, because it is the one that costs a reprint and it is the reason this page is worth sending to a colleague.
Where this sits.
Every entry is indexed three ways, because a buyer arrives knowing the occasion, the object or the material and almost never all three.
- Application
- Format
- Material and effect
Also worth looking at
- Bonded duplex and triplex cardStandard turnaround is 7–14 working days.
- Coloured-core swing tagStandard turnaround is 7–14 working days.
- Combined finishes on one cardStandard turnaround is 7–14 working days.
- Name cardsThe specification, and how it is quoted
- InvitationsThe specification, and how it is quoted
- Every print idea, indexed three waysThe section index
- The materials libraryCaliper, weight and what each finish costs
Send the specification for this, and it comes back quoted.
Every job is quoted from its specification — stock, quantity, sides, finish, size and deadline.
- Quantity
- Stock — or the feel you want, if you do not know the stock
- Sides printed
- Finish
- Flat and finished size
- The deadline
Artwork is welcome but not required to start. Email sales@ezprint.com.sg if you would rather attach files.