In December 2024, the colour experts at Pantone unveiled Mocha Mousse as the Pantone Color of the Year 2025. Pantone’s Color of the Year has wide-reaching implications. It influences apparel, home goods, tech—you name it. Knowing how to use the Pantone Color of the Year, then, is a must for designers in all spaces. For designers whose work includes print, working with a printer that can reproduce a Pantone colour is vital. Here’s your insider’s look at how the pros in North America’s only in-house ink mixing room can match Pantones or any colour with a custom ink mix.
Custom Ink Mixes for Custom Colour Needs
Hemlock Printers can create a custom ink mix based on any colour reference you choose. Simply provide a swatch, like a cut of fabric or a block of chocolate, and our dedicated ink technician will delve into the 45-minute to 2-hour long process of measuring, pouring, and mixing individual hues, targeting your sample by eye. This can include use of specialty inks like pastels, metallics, or fluorescents that each add a distinct look.
Colour Proofing to Deliver Precision
Once close to the target colour, a quick swatch is printed with a roller and cured under UV lights. Our ink tech then checks this swatch against the original colour sample to assess the match.
We target nothing less than perfection. It takes multiple cycles of mixing, printing, and curing to fine-tune a batch of custom ink mix. All this is done by hand and eye until the targeted colour is achieved.
To prepare for client approval, a piece of equipment called a Mickle Proofer transfers the ink mix evenly onto a roller and then a transfer blanket. A different unit then presses the transfer blanket with the mixed ink onto a strip of paper, mimicking the offset printing process.
Remember: Substrates matter. Whether your project ends up on a coated or uncoated sheet, our technician specially formulates your ink mix to print as desired on the paper specified.
A Database of Colours to Help our Customers and the Environment Win
Finished ink mixes can be stored as “wet samples” to keep on hand. These wet samples last a year to a year and a half before they degrade.
A database tracks each wet sample and its unique colour recipe. More than just a counter, the database tells us when an existing sample can be used to achieve a new colour target.
Hemlock is currently housing about 5,200 wet samples. With so many mixes in inventory, our expert ink technician gets to your target colour faster and with less waste—a win for our customers and the environment!
If you have a project that calls for a critical colour match, you know Hemlock can help. Learn how to specify Pantones in Adobe from our Prepress experts, or contact us with your wildest colour sample.
Want to learn more about using this year’s Color of the Year? Check out Pantone’s resource on designing with Mocha Mousse.