Commercial printers use a printing technique called spot varnish. It’s a technique that they have used forever. The term refers to a printing a coating of varnish onto selects parts of a design. Usually the varnish is glossy. But it doesn’t have to be. Spot varnish can also be matte or satin. Whether the varnish is glossy or not is inconsequential. The uses of printing spot varnish are all the same: either to draw attention to a specific part of a printed page or to serve as a decorative design element.
In designing a sign or a point-of-purchase display, spot varnish can also be very effective. Butch “SuperFrog” Anton sent me a picture (shown below) of an example of how he used this technique in creating a subtle decorative border for a menu board.
Mounted just below the menu board (pictured) is a metal match box with chalk in it as well as a bottle of Rapidtac and a cloth for cleaning between uses.
For this project, Butch refurbished a menu board that had been in service for five years. After applying RTape ChalkTalk® chalkboard film to a metal plate in the center of the sign, Butch plotter cut the border design using RTape ProGrade™ paint mask. The design was reverse weeded and applied to the ChalkTalk® covered panel. He then brushed Frog Juice onto the border image area and removed the mask.
When the Frog Juice was dry, Butch applied the cut vinyl reading “Welcome to the Lake” and the airbrushed vinyl graphic of the loon of the lake to the sign. The ChalkTalk® menu board was ready for use. On today’s lunch menu are Bloody Marys. I have a feeling that someone’s not going back to work this afternoon.
What a great idea, Butch! What do we call this sign technique? Spot Frog Juice?
