[Himewad]

Has anyone used the clear labels on their poker chips? I was thinking that this would make it easier on the designs in which you try to match the label background color to the main chip color. You would only have to be concerned about matching the edge spot color(s).

Are the clear labels too glossy? Are they even available with a matte finish?

[Captn_All_In]

I have never even seen any! But that doesn't mean they don't exist!!

If you find some I want to check them out!!

[Himewad]

I know that they exist. I've seen them on label web sites. I just want to know if anyone has actually used them, and what they think of them.

Obviously, they aren't paper - must be some kind of plastic or vinyl.

[OnTheButton]

I've never put clear lables on chips, but I've put them on lots of other things.

Here is the important thing to remember...

ALL laser and inkjet toners/inks are semi-transparent. They use the white of the paper to get their brightness.

When you print on clear anything, you get more of a "stained glass" effect than you would "solid color" feel.

Printed blacks would show up OK but would be kind of grayish, and if you used a color that was lighter than the chip (say red text on a purple chip) it would be nearly invisible.

You also could not use a black chip at all, as nothing would show up against the dark chip color. Also if say you used red text and put it on a yellow chip, you would end up with an orange instead of red because the colors would mix.

Anyway, it is possible, but I don't think it will give you the results you are envisioning.

[Himewad]

That's exactly what I wanted to know. Thanks, OnTheButton.

I always wondered why the clear labels weren't more popular, but your explanation makes perfect sense.

[JM]

You could always try printing your proposed labels on transparency stock and then holding your chip under it to see how it would look. MAKE SURE IF YOU USE A LASER PRINTER, YOU USE LASER PRINTER TRANSPARENCIES!!!!! Otherwise it will melt and wreck your printer.

[OnTheButton]

Originally Posted by JM

You could always try printing your proposed labels on transparency stock and then holding your chip under it to see how it would look. MAKE SURE IF YOU USE A LASER PRINTER, YOU USE LASER PRINTER TRANSPARENCIES!!!!! Otherwise it will melt and wreck your printer.

Sounds like you've made this error, or know someone that did?

[JM]

I work in IT support, so I've seen this happen more than once! Even after warnings. Latest one trashed a nice expensive Tektronix color laser that we'd just spend several hundred to repair.

[Bostonpokerchips]

You can get a decent print on transparencies but you need to use good equipment. Believe it or not a high level inkjet would work a bit better than a laser print would, as it deposits more.

[rnelsonee]

Hi guys, first time poster here...

I have a set of chips with clear labels. I'm actually very happy with them, but keep in mind this is my first (and only) set, and it looks nothing like a nice set of custom ASMs

I use those 11.5 card suit chips (I was on a budget), so they're basically one color with some nice white graphics/edge spots. I couldn't find any poker label sites that made clear labels (this was a couple of years ago before it got big), so I found a little online mom-n-pop store, where the woman said she could print out a single black graphic onto some 1" clear stickers. I put them on my chips myself, and because of the uniform look of the chips, and the fact that the graphic is only black lines/text, it ended up looking really good.

The one thing I don't like is that the sticker is very glossy. But overall, all my chips have a very uniform look, which I like. And I don't have black chips because then the graphic wouldn't show up at all. I'll post pics when I get home tonight so you can check it out. I think the difference is I used one color - if it was multicolor, I don't know how well it would turn out.

The site was A-Peeling stickers, found at http://rightad.com/, and was $40+ for 1,000 stickers/labels.