Coaster Articles Coaster Printing: 4 Colour Process or PMS/Pantone?

Coaster Printing: 4 Colour Process or PMS/Pantone?

We have the ability to print 4 colour process (CMYK) and/or print PMS colours for your custom coasters.

What is the difference between CMYK and PMS/Pantone?

CMYK: C stands for Cyan, M stands for Magenta, Y stands for Yellow and K stands for black.

These are the 4 ink colours that can be blended together to make the colours of the rainbow. Printing CMYK is a cost effective way to print smaller coaster runs.

PMS/Pantone inks are colours that are pre-mixed and can easily be found in a colour chip booklet. Typically these colours are denoted with a number and either a U or C following the number. U stands for uncoated and C stands for coated.  Since we print your custom coasters on uncoated pulpboard – you would need to refer to the uncoated colour book.

Why would I need to print PMS/Pantone Inks?

CMYK is an excelling printing option because you can get so many different colour combinations with only using 4 (CMYK) colours. One limitation of CMYK printing is that certain colours cannot be created from blending CMYK.

A perfect example would be metallic gold/silver inks. This is a special PMS/Pantone colour that has a metallic fleck in the ink giving it a little shine when light hits the ink. If you want to have a metallic ink colour on your custom coaster – you would have to request a quote for Pantone/PMS colours. (additional charges may apply)

Most of our customers have their custom coasters printed 4 colour process because you are not limited to only 4 specific colours in your artwork. If you have a very colouful design with multiple colours – CMYK is the best way to go.