a thin plate of metal, usually nickel, which is attached to a cylinder in preparation for the embossing process. The shim is produced by an electro-deposition process whereby the plate with the recombined images is immersed into a galvanic tank and metallic nickel is caused to accumulate on its surface. This metal plate is usually referred to as the ‘master’ or ‘mother’ shim. It is usually used to prepare ‘daughter’ shims which are used for the mechanical embossing process.