SWATCH CARDS
Product styles of different shapes of swatch cardsAn eyeletted swatch card is created when we collate cards together, knock-up and fasten in one position with a brass or nickel eyelet. The most common shape for a swatch is rectangular with rounded corners. This is generally the easiest to collate, knock-up and to eyelet. Circular, egg-shaped and random-shapes create problems when trying to line up the holes for eyeletting. As a consequence, these shapes are much more expensive to work on just because they take a lot longer to do.
What we need from you – die cutting, stripping out and all holes cleared
Each piece of your swatch card must be supplied to us ready die-cut. We require you to supply all pieces stripped from the sheet with waste cleared from all holes. If you don’t do it, we will have to charge you for this time consuming process. Each piece that is to be eyeletted must have a hole at the centre to accommodate the nickel or brass eyelet.
Guide for hole sizes for swatch cards
Swatch cards are to be supplied with a 5mm diameter hole to accommodate the eyelet. The hole is usually positioned at the top left of the card but this is entirely at the discretion of the designer. If the job has to be fastened with an interscrew then the hole diameter needs to be 5.5mm or 6mm depending on which interscrew is used.
Optimum sizes for eyeletting swatch cards
The most common sizes for swatch cards seem to be A7 and credit-card-sized though there is no reason why they cannot be larger. The number of cards that can be eyeletted to make a swatch is limited by the capacity of the most common stationery eyelets. If the swatches are too thick for our stationary eyelets we usually recommend the use of interscrews (binding screws) though this is a much dearer option.
Packing of swatch cards fastened with eyelets
As with any eyeletted product, damage may occur if rough handling is experienced in transit. This is usually caused by an eyelet rubbing against an adjacent product. We usually stagger or step the swatches in the act of packing so as to try to keep any possible damage to a minimum. We are able to interleave the products but this service IS charged extra.
