Special Matte Laminate

[daenterpri]

Hey There!

I'm looking for a matte laminate without any texture. Something completely smooth and almost waxy looking. We brought in Arlon's 3420 Satin and that is too glossy. And our Oracal 210M is too textured. We need something almost between a Satin and a Matte. Something completely smooth.

Anyone have any ideas? So, Matte, but no texture.

Thanks!

 

[niksagkram]

We use Avery DOL 1080. Nice matte finish, and easy to work with.

Mark

 

[daenterpri]

We use Avery DOL 1080. Nice matte finish, and easy to work with.

Mark

Thank you. When you look at it at an angle in the light, does it have a slight sparkle or texture to it? Trying to avoid that.

 

[eahicks]

I like the look of Oracal 210 Semi-Gloss....it's kinda matte without the textury finish, with a slight hint of gloss.

 

[daenterpri]

Thanks guys. The attached picture should do a better job of describing what I'm going for. If you look at the top decal using Oracal 210M, you'll see it has a slight texture. And there's no silvering. The bottom decal has the effect I'm going for. Flat, but no texture.

 

[daenterpri]

I just got off the phone with Oracal, and they think it is a type of silvering that I'm experiencing because the latex inks sit on the top more. So the matte no getting down into it everywhere is giving it the textured look.

I recognize regular silvering, fresh out of the laminator, but this is different than that. It looks like it's supposed to be this way, it's just not what I'm wanting for this project. Oracal recommended I find a matte film with a thicker adhesive.

 

[visualeyez]

Bigfish has some good laminates. Hit him up!

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

Have you tried Arlon 3420 Matte. We use it to laminate photo prints and its smooth and very matte.

 

[daenterpri]

Thanks guys!

I'm going to give the Avery lams a try.

I've tried the Arlon 3420 matte and I'd say it's still not quite qhat we are looking for. But now I'm starting to wonder if it's something to do with latex printing. I'll let you know what I find out :|

 

[Christian @ 2CT Media]

Thanks guys!

I'm going to give the Avery lams a try.

I've tried the Arlon 3420 matte and I'd say it's still not quite qhat we are looking for. But now I'm starting to wonder if it's something to do with latex printing. I'll let you know what I find out :|

We are latex too, I'll see if I can take a macro pic of one of the photos we printed.

 

[daenterpri]

Ok guys, I'm still on the hunt. Here is a better picture of what we are trying to achieve (the bottom sticker). After a little more research, I'm starting to wonder if what we are dealing with is a thermal laminate. Which would be why none of us have had much experience with it since I imagine most of us are running heat assist at the most.

Again, the top sticker doesn't have any silvering. You are just seeing the mild embossing that gives it the matte effect, up close. If you were to hold that top sticker in your hand, you'd just think it was a nice matte sticker with no silvering.

What we are looking for is that bottom sticker's laminate which is still matte, but no visible embossing or texture. It's just smooth as butter.

What do you think?

 

[Tony McD]

I may be wrong, but thermal lam is usually more for indoor use.....are these for indoor?
If so, then it's very possible the original was printed on paper with an adhesive back and thermal laminate was added.
Don't think thermal laminate will work with printed vinyl.

 

[daenterpri]

Hmmm, I'm really not sure. I don't know much about hot lamination. However, the ones that seem to match the description of what I'm looking for say "for indoor and out". I think that in most cases, hot lamination is used more for indoor art applications where from the get go, you don't want any silvering. I think that's why we assume they are for indoor. But I think it depends on the laminate used.

Thanks!

I may be wrong, but thermal lam is usually more for indoor use.....are these for indoor?
If so, then it's very possible the original was printed on paper with an adhesive back and thermal laminate was added.
Don't think thermal laminate will work with printed vinyl.

 

[fresh]

could it be a liquid laminate?

 

[J Hill Designs]

..or a matte film with no laminate?

 

[daenterpri]

could it be a liquid laminate?

I'm not sure. I'm not familiar enough with liquid laminates to know. There's definitely some sort of something on top.

..or a matte film with no laminate?

It's definitely got something on top.

 

[J Hill Designs]

clearshield matte DOES dry with zero texture...might be worth it to grab a bottle for a test

 

[daenterpri]

Ok, I actually just bought some and gave it to a customer. I may go borrow a cup. Thanks for the recommendation!

 

[BigfishDM]

So many of the matte laminates out there are just mislabeled intentionally by the dealer, I do the same thing. You need to get a flat matte laminate, if you ask for matte lamiante almost everytime your going to get this version which has a slight grain to it. The main MATTE version I have always used has this texture to it but if you ask for a FLAT MATTE laminte it will not have this texture.

 

[daenterpri]

So many of the matte laminates out there are just mislabeled intentionally by the dealer, I do the same thing. You need to get a flat matte laminate, if you ask for matte lamiante almost everytime your going to get this version which has a slight grain to it. The main MATTE version I have always used has this texture to it but if you ask for a FLAT MATTE laminte it will not have this texture.

Thank you so much for that clarification! Where do I get Flat Matte Laminate? Nothing really pulls up when I search for it.

 

[BigfishDM]

When you order with your vendor you just need to request Flat Matte, is using a satin finish an option? The satin finish lams will give you the flat surface also.

 

[daenterpri]

When you order with your vendor you just need to request Flat Matte, is using a satin finish an option? The satin finish lams will give you the flat surface also.

Satin isn't an option. The surface is flat, but it's too glossy. Not the look we are going for.

The problem is that we've received every matte sample from pretty much all the main manufacturers, and none of them are flat. 3M, Avery, Oracal, Arlon, GF... unless I've missed something. And all of them seem puzzled on how to get the look I'm going for.