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Precious Metal Printing in Dubai

Sun Studio prints directly onto solid gold and solid silver at our Al Quoz studio. The artwork is printed onto the metal itself and cured there, so there is no sticker, no vinyl and no transfer film between the image and the piece.

This is a different job from printing gold-coloured ink or foil onto paper. Here the precious metal is the substrate, and it stays visible as metal.

Ask about a precious metal pieceSend a brief

Tell us whether the face is flat or shaped, and send a photograph taken from the side.

Solid gold commemorative pieces printed with a black ground, the Dubai skyline left as bare metal, each sealed in a clear capsule

What we can print on

Precious metal arrives in a narrow range of forms, and the shape of the face matters as much as the metal:

  • Gold pieces and bars — commemorative, collector and protocol pieces.
  • Silver pieces and bars — the same work in a brighter, more reflective metal.
  • Shaped and contoured faces — pieces whose surface rises and falls rather than sitting flat.
  • Medals, coins and tokens — small formats where artwork has to stay legible at scale.
  • Plated and filled stock — where the surface is precious metal over a base.
  • Presentation pieces — printed before encapsulation or framing.

Printing capabilities

What suits a piece depends on the finish, the shape and what the artwork has to do:

Silver commemorative pieces with a Dubai skyline printed in black across the bright face
On silver the artwork is printed onto the bright face. On gold the same design is often reversed, with the ground printed and the metal left to be the artwork.

Printing on precious metal or printing in gold

These are different services and are often confused when a job is specified, so it is worth separating them before anything is ordered.

Printing on precious metal

The substrate is gold or silver. The piece has material value before anything is printed, the metal stays visible as metal, and the ink is cured onto its surface. This is the work described on this page.

Printing in gold

The substrate is paper, card or board, and gold is the effect — hot foil, metallic ink or a gold-toned varnish. Nothing precious is involved. It is a finishing process, and a commercial printer is usually the right supplier for it.

Who this is for

Precious metal work reaches us from:

  • Minting houses and bullion brands — commemorative issues and series pieces.
  • Jewellers — bespoke and one-off commissions.
  • Government and protocol offices — delegation and state gifting.
  • Corporate VIP programmes — board, founder and milestone pieces.
  • Event and anniversary organisers — dated keepsakes in a counted run.

What to send before we can quote

Precious metal is quick to assess once we can see the piece:

Ask about a precious metal pieceSend a brief
  • The metal — gold, silver, plated or filled.
  • The shape of the face — flat, domed, shaped or contoured. This is the key fact.
  • A photograph from the side — surface shape is far easier to see than to describe.
  • Dimensions of the printable face.
  • Quantity, and whether the pieces are already finished or still to be made.
  • The artwork, and whether any part of it should be left as bare metal.

How it works

Step 1Send

The metal, the shape of the piece, the quantity and the artwork.

Step 2Review

We confirm whether the face is flat enough to print as is, and whether white should go under the artwork.

Step 3Test

On precious metal we always print and check a sample on the real material before committing a batch.

Step 4Produce

The run is printed, checked and packed.

Precious metal work we have produced

Sun Studio work, printed direct onto the metal in Al Quoz.

Gold and silver commemorative pieces with a waving profile, printed with a Dubai skyline
Gold pieces printed with a black ground so the skyline reads as bare metal
Silver pieces printed with a black Dubai skyline across the bright face

Technical considerations

Precious metal is demanding for reasons that have little to do with its value and everything to do with its surface. Two things decide the outcome: how bright it is, and whether the face is flat.

What matters in practice:

The metal is part of the colour
process UV inks are semi-transparent. Light passes through the ink, is returned by the surface underneath and passes back out, so a bright metal changes every colour laid over it. An opaque white base is the fix where colour has to read true.
A flatbed sets one height
the printhead crosses the bed at a fixed gap, and that gap has to clear the tallest point in its path. On a shaped face the ink crosses a longer distance over the lower areas.
Detail costs distance
drop placement error grows with the gap and with carriage speed, so the further ink has to travel, the more a hairline drifts from where the file put it.
Reflected UV is managed in setup
a polished surface returns some of the press's own UV toward the nozzle plate, where it can begin curing ink at the nozzle. It is a geometry problem, handled in how the job is run.
Adhesion is decided at the interface
nothing soaks into metal, so the bond depends on how thoroughly the surface is degreased, on the ink chemistry and on the cure.
There is no spare stock
pieces come in a counted run and cannot be reprinted on fresh material, which is why a sample is proved first.

Common questions

Can you UV print directly onto real gold?
Yes. Sun Studio prints artwork directly onto solid gold pieces in Dubai and cures the ink onto the metal, with no sticker, vinyl or transfer involved. Because the metal is bright, we agree first whether the artwork should be printed over a white base to read as true colour, or laid straight onto the gold so the metal shows through.
Can you print on real silver?
Yes. Silver is brighter and more reflective than most metals we handle, which affects how colour reads and how the job is set up, but it is printed the same way — direct onto the surface and cured. We prove a sample on the actual material before a run.
Can UV printing be done on a curved or non-flat surface?
Within limits, yes. A flatbed press carries the printhead at one height, and that height must clear the tallest point of the piece, so ink crosses a longer gap over lower areas. Gentle shaping prints well. The greater the height difference across the face, the softer fine detail becomes, which is why we ask for a photograph taken from the side.
Does reflective metal damage a printhead?
No. The substrate is passive. What has to be managed is the press's own UV light: on a mirror surface some of it is reflected back toward the nozzle plate, where it can begin curing ink at the nozzle. That is handled in how the job is set up and run.
Will the print rub off precious metal?
Nothing soaks into metal, so adhesion is decided entirely at the surface. It depends on how thoroughly the piece is degreased before printing, on the ink and on the cure. We test on the same material the job will run on rather than quote a figure, because finishes vary between suppliers.
Can you print a single piece or a small run?
Yes. Direct UV printing has no plates or screens to make, so a one-off commission and a counted series are both practical. Precious metal work is usually small-run by nature.
Is this the same as gold foil printing?
No. Gold foiling puts a gold-coloured effect onto paper or card. This service prints onto solid precious metal, where the gold or silver is the object itself and remains visible as metal.

Have a precious metal piece to print?

Send the metal, the shape of the face, a photograph taken from the side and the artwork. We will tell you whether it can be printed as it is, whether white should go underneath, and what a sample will take.

Ask about a precious metal pieceSend a brief

Or call +971 4 346 7422 · info@sunstudio.ae

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