For years, I wanted to try Ink It Lab’s gumdrops charms, ever since I acquired the sample kit. They look interesting and delicious, of course, with the semi-transparent effect and attractive base colors selections. Now I bought them and must say I’m in love with this huge investment.

Ink It Labs is a printing company for personalizing acrylic and wooden charms based in Texas since 2011. Apparently, they are the only ones in the USA that work with frosted (gumdrop) charms with a decent selection of colors for a minimum quantity. They have a selection of 22 materials, finishes (matte, gloss, and candy gloss spot), and they even work with transparency.

Reality About Templates

If you are new ordering products that require specific setups or templates, like acrylic keychains or standees, let me remind you it is a tedious and meticulous job to do. If you don’t follow protocols, you may end up with faulty products (due to your mistakes) and possibly paying a lot of money for others to correct your mistakes or initiate properly the process of your templates. Please be advised that designing your product is not enough, you must provide the correct size of the final product, make sure the artwork has no missing pixels, have the correct format, and arrange the hole section (where the chain goes).

Rigorous Protocols

Ink It Labs has a way to work with their formats and time management. The team probably is loaded with a lot of work, and they need to maintain a controllable workflow in order to fulfill each client’s order. When I first landed on their gumdrop page I was bummed that they didn’t make more than 2″ of charms, this somehow prevented me from buying until I asked them directly via email. They did make them larger, and it was something that needed to be requested via email, since their webpage is designed to take an order of 2″ and/or less. This means a special quotation will be sent to you.

A Wobbly First-Time Set-Up

The process started with a few questions to figure out how the final product should be produced. Gumdrops are unique products, you can print on the shiny gloss (candy gloss required) or frosted side, I choose frosted. Then you add your desired finish, an overlay coating to protect and enhance the colors like Candy Gloss, Spot Candy Gloss, Matte Finish, or none. I suggest being careful with the non-coating since the printed image may be damaged due to a lack of protection. It has a MOQ of 20, 50, 100, and 500 per gumdrop color. Although they do let you pick up a certain number of designs (on the same gumdrop color) depending on the total amount. Example order of 100 charms (1x color) with 2 designs or an order of 100 charms with 5 designs.

File Set Up

• The golden rule is to always send a version in CMYK. They do not provide soft proofing automatically after files have been uploaded, you must ask for it before pre-production.
• Double-check that your designs are completed (no missing pixels on canvas) and in the correct format (Ex: .psd)
• Follow correctly the instructions about naming the files.
• In clear acrylic charms, the orientations of the text should be facing the opposite direction of the printed outcome.
• These are charms, not keychains, you have to buy the materials separately.

If you still have so many questions, I suggest you check their F.A.Q page for more clarity.

Expensive Material and Processes

A few markets in Alibaba only accepted a MOQ of +500 per design, with a limited color base, and god helps me with the shipping price. So working with these “gumdrop” charms has either a meticulous or specific process and probably doesn’t have high demands.

We don’t offer the candy gloss finish on the larger sizes as the outcome is unpredictable. One tiny speck of dust captured in the gloss creates an unsightly bump on the surface of the charm. We consider this a flaw and a reprint must be made. We try to be mindful of the material waste and cost. Despite working in a clean room environment, dust bunnies seem to find their way in. I think they are attracted to acrylic. ” – Deb

Cost & Shipping

Instead of saying the price for a 2.5″ is expensive, I rather say is an investment for a gumdrop or frosted acrylic. Shipping was affordable and fast (3 days shipping label in my case).

Quality

The frosted acrylic itself was mesmerizing, the matte-gloss coating gave out a unique texture and the colors were vibrant

Quantity

You could only order a MOQ of 20 or more. You can ask for a quote for a specific quantity, but not less than 20x per design.

Communication

The team ran into some issues but made sure to fix them and comply with some specific instructions I gave them. They were very attentive, oriented-detail, and prompt.

Overall 5 ☆ 5

This is absolutely an investment I’ve been dreaming of for a long time. I think the reason I never ordered from them was that I was discouraged that they only offered up to 2″ sizes for their charms.

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