How to Use Custom Ink

Am I limited to the standard Scout Books inks? How does custom ink work? 

We can print in a variety of custom inks, but custom colors can be tricky. If you're hoping to print with custom ink, we suggest that you start the conversation with us sooner rather than later, so that we can hash out any potential challenges without delaying your in-hand date.  

The easiest way for us to prepare a custom ink is from an Uncoated Pantone number. Every color prints a little differently on chipboard, so once you send us your Pantone number we can advise you on any difficulties we're aware of in the printing of that color range on our various cover stocks, or we'll give you the all-clear that it's going to print beautifully. 

Kraft chipboard has a tendency to darken ink colors - as a result, our custom ink manufacturer Great Western mixes us special chipboard versions of custom inks that include some opaque white ink to lighten the ink to counteract the kraft color of the chipboard. This darkening effect is less noticeable on our gray cover stock, so using gray covers often results in a brighter and more color accurate version of your custom ink color. And many inks are basically unrecognizable on our black cover stock, though we've had some awesome results with metallic inks on black covers. 

If you don't have a Pantone number for us to match, we can also match a color from a physical sample of the color. Digital examples and hex codes won't do the trick! There's just too much lost in translation. Though we'd be happy to make a recommendation!

Custom inks add a $115 fee to most orders, with orders over 5000 pieces resulting in a larger fee since we'll have to order more ink.

*Please note:* using a custom ink with a rush order can be very tricky, since it takes a little time for the ink to arrive once we order a can. We can usually still make it happen, but check in if you're in a hurry so we can plan ahead!