The first thing that probably comes to mind when you hear the term scratch strips is, well, scratch cards. Honestly, who hasn’t experienced the excitement of scratching a silver or gold strip with a coin while waiting to see what you may have won. You may also remember scratching off strips in order to get your PIN, PUK, or another password needed for registration. The most common use of such scratch strips is in connection with competitions, variable data, hidden codes, or gift vouchers. But did you know that this special effect can also be applied to labels? And at Label we know how to do it!
We all instantly recognize the classic embossing which adorns wine labels or decorative packaging for cosmetic products. However, the technique used for refinement need not only be for decoration, it can be used for other purposes as well. Embossing can even hide secrets. Such specialized modification is called scratch embossing, and that is what we will shine a little light on here.
Scratch-off material is used to hide information that, of course, should not be visible at first glance. This means that perfect coverage with absolutely no translucency is needed, and it is these qualities that scratch embossing offers. It covers 100% of the area so that the text or image hidden underneath it is not visible.
The standard color used in the area intended for scratching is a gray silver, but it is no problem to choose a different color. The scratch embossing can also be combined with classic color embossing or any other printing technology. In addition to scratch embossing, we also offer classic wiping paint, which is applied using screen printing or flexographic printing. The difference between scratch embossing and wiping paint is very subtle, they differ only in how they are applied.
The most suitable materials for the application of scratch embossing are glazed paper or polyethylene/polypropylene films. These are generally more resistant to tearing or abrasion. We offer all these materials in different colors, including special colors such as metallized or holographic effects. In contrast, highly textured material is not suitable for the application of scratch embossing.
