What is Foil Stamping?
Foil stamping is a specialty printing process that uses heat, pressure, metal dies and foil film. The foil comes in rolls in a wide assortment of colors, finishes, and optical effects.
The Printing Process
Foil stamping is somewhat similar to letterpress and engraving, in that the color is applied to paper with pressure. As a result, the foil process leaves a slightly raised impression on the paper.
Once the design is finalized, metal dies are created in the appropriate shape for each color foil to be applied, and for embossing if a three-dimensional effect is desired – most commonly known as blind embossing.
The dies are heated and then stamped with enough pressure to seal a thin layer of foil to the paper.
Tips and Advice
As with any printing process, there are pros and cons. Here are a few tips to keep in mind if you’re considering foil for your wedding invitations or personal stationery.
Pros
Foil is an opaque medium. Unlike thermography, lithography and letterpress, foil stamping does not use any ink. As a result, the foil color does not change based on the color of paper on which you are printing. This makes metallic or lighter color foil great for darker or colored papers. Foil can be used for a variety of finishes, including metallic, matte, glossy, pearlescent and patterns such as marbling. There are also semi-transparent tint foils, if you do want to allow the paper color to show through.
Metallic foils have a shiny, lustrous finish. With thermography, lithography and letterpress, metallics can fall flat and don’t have much in the way of shimmer.
Cons
Because foil is applied by heat, it should not be applied near text or designs already applied by thermography. The heat will melt the thermographic resins.
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