We were excited to see the new Sirio Ultra Black this year in our 5th annual National Stationery Show scavenger hunt and even more thrilled to hear the reviews from designer Brad Woods at Maginating and printer Ronnie Williams from DeFrance Printing. This intense shade of black performed incredibly to create a clean and rich piece.
Why did you choose this paper?
We chose it because Marc recommended it. For the past couple of NSS/Legion promo pieces, I've contacted Marc, asked him what paper he would recommend, and go with his recommendation. Simple as that!
Is this your first time working with the paper?
It sure is!
How did the Sirio effect your design?
Design wise, it was a blank slate until I knew which paper stock we'd be using. Once we knew it was going to be this ultra-rich 680 GSM Sirio, I felt it would be striking it we kept the design fairly simple: let the contrast between the paper and two colors of foil tell the whole story.
When you're dealing with a colored paper as rich as the Sirio, you know that a large part of the design is the paper itself. And if you know what it's like to work with black stock, the simplicity tells a pretty compelling story. We'd worked with other thick, black stock in the past and it had been a bit of a mess. In fact, with the other paper, we'd had to slip-sheet each piece just to keep things clean. Over time, the paper began to show through both colors of foil! This is not the case with the Sirio. It's very clean and very dark. Initially we wondered if we'd encounter a problem with the white foil, particularly since the edges of the lettering would have nowhere to hide. But it wasn't a problem. Ever. That may partially be due to the fact that we work with one of the best letterpress printers in the country, DeFrance Printing. But Ronnie Williams, General Manager (and master letterpress printer) told me there were simply no issues with either the white or bronze foil - and there's a pretty decent amount of coverage with the bronze foil. It was a low-maintenance paper that was extremely flexible with the foil's adhesive. They didn't have to use any special foil, it was a standard off-the-shelf stock.
Would you recommend Sirio to other printers/designers?
Absolutely - you will not be disappointed!