Business cards on black card stock?

December 19, 2005 10:29 PM

Where can I find black (on both sides) business cards? Online if possible...

I want to have business cards printed on black card stock - not card that is only black on the front. I've googled, looked through numerous online printing sites and asked in regular stores, all to no avail. Aside from the impossible to find black card, I want pretty standard cards, although the more luxurious the better. I would want them printed in a light blue or dark red.

Any ideas? I didn't think this would be such an impossible search, and I have my heart set on black cards. I'd prefer them to be available online, but at this point I'm open to any suggestions, including possible workarounds. Thanks!

posted by crabintheocean to Shopping (12 answers total)

At 4by6.com, you can get business cards that are four-color on both sides, so you could design it to be pure black on one side, black with colored text on the other. I haven't ordered business cards from them (just postcards), but I imagine the business cards would be on slick postcard stock rather than cardstock. $120 for 100 cards, $125 for 250.
posted by lisa g at 10:40 PM on December 19, 2005

well, since your only possibility for putting color on TOP of black stock are either silkscreen inks (usually not opaque enough without several passes, and then you won't be able to keep in register), engraving inks (again, not opaque enough) or colored foils (opaque enough but expensive to print. I'd suggest following lisa's idea: flood black with text either knocked out or knocked out + spot red/blue (with a little spread). Then you're only dealing with 2 colors, rather than four, although certainly a four-color black would be "blacker" than even the darkest pantone black.
posted by luriete at 10:51 PM on December 19, 2005

Response by poster: I think I'm looking for the foils option. I want matt paper, and that slight difference in texture too. I've had napkins and match boxes made at foyyourparty.com that were pale blue foil on black and turned out great, but they don't do business cards.
posted by crabintheocean at 10:55 PM on December 19, 2005

www.overnightprints.com will print full color, satin on both sides with full bleads. So, you could have them print the cards all black as you want. We've used them literally hundreds of times. They are very good and very inexpensive.
posted by richardhay at 5:41 AM on December 20, 2005

4over4.com also does full-color two-sided business cards, but you'd have to order a minimum of 1000 ($89). I've used them in the past for two-sided advertising flyers and gotten great results, but I've never checked out their business cards.
posted by Gator at 5:45 AM on December 20, 2005

Ages ago at a local printing shop, I had silver metallic ink printed on black cardstock. That doesn't help your situation, other than letting you know that it can be done.
posted by tomierna at 5:51 AM on December 20, 2005

I was recently looking to have some invitations printed with similar requirements, and found that MyGatsby.com prints on a couple of different black stocks for some of their custom cards and invitations. I don't see anything as small as a business card, but it might be worth looking into. (We didn't end up using them, but I did get someone on the phone right away whenever I called them.)
posted by staggernation at 6:23 AM on December 20, 2005

I have been a business card manufacturer for the past ten years and I think that you should probably have your cards foiled on black card stock, the stock comes in a variety of textures and the foil comes in different colors. This could be pricey as you have to make a die for both sides before you go to print. Do you have a design made up to take advantage of this. The printing is magnificent looking and would certainly stand out in a crowd. I am in the New York area if you would like help with this project let me know.
posted by aisleofview at 6:59 AM on December 20, 2005

I don't have an answer, but experience demands that I provide a small argument against all-black cards:

A few years ago my company re-designed our business cards along with our identity. Our cards were red on one side, black on the other. The red side had all the personal info, the flip side had office location, etc.

The red side was full and left no room for writing notes, misc info, which happens a lot. The only side with room on it was the black side -- which, unless you carried around a silver paint pen, was useless for taking notes.

We ended up re-re-designing a few months afterwords.
posted by o2b at 10:55 AM on December 20, 2005

Response by poster: Thanks everyone. I am definitely looking for foil on black stock cards, and I only need printing on one side. I want these so bad! Thank you for the advice o2b, but these are for personal use, and almost 100% decorative, so I'm not concerned with being able to write on them.

Aisleofview, I think I'm going to do a little re-googling now I know what I'm looking for better, but if I can't find them I'd love your help. Thanks so much.
posted by crabintheocean at 12:01 PM on December 21, 2005

I used 123print.com to print my business cards. They print on both sides. Price is $4.95 for 100 business cards. Quality is very good.
posted by Jason Fung at 8:06 AM on July 27, 2006

crabintheocean, if you are still checking this thread, I would like to know what you worked out with the cards. Basically I am trying to do the same thing. Who did you use? Satisfied? etc. Thanks.
posted by GhislainTwo at 5:13 PM on November 26, 2006