The technique of foil stamping is a creative one that can be used in many different ways. From stationery to labels, postcards to certificates and packaging for products it has a huge range of applications that can make your business branding and products much more distinctive and unique. If you’re keen to find out more about foil stamping, this is an overview of what’s involved.
How does foil stamping work?
The process of foil stamping is one that has a lot of history. It dates back to the late 19th century and has been consistently used over the years to create a unique aesthetic that often conveys a sense of luxury or specialness. Today, the process of foil stamping is much simpler and faster than it has ever been. Through the application of heat and pressure, metallic foils are transferred onto a material, such as cardboard for packaging or notepaper for headed paper. This tends to work best on a flat surface, creating a textural and aesthetically appealing finish.
What kind of foil stamping is available?
There are four main foil stamping techniques available:
- Flat foil stamping, which transfers a metal foil design onto a flat substrate, achieving a slightly raised finish.
- Vertical foil stamping, which is ideal for flat or cylindrical surfaces.
- Sculpted foil stamping, which uses brass dies to achieve a defined looking image.
- Peripheral foil stamping where the design is applied to the outer periphery of a product.
What are the options in terms of foils?
Metallic foil is the type of foil most often associated with foil stamping. This can include traditional metallic colours, such as gold and silver, as well as other shades of metallic blue, pink or green. There is also the option of a matte pigment foil (muted) or a glass pigment foil (high shine) as well as holographic foil, which is ideal if you’re keen to create a futuristic looking finish to the foil stamped design.
What are the benefits of using foil stamping?
- Foil stamping doesn’t use ink, which means that it’s not affected by the colour of the material it is applied to so the design remains pristine no matter what the substrate.
- Even on dark coloured paper or cardboard it’s easy to make metallic foil stamping stand out to create a super eye-catching design.
- There are lots of different finishes, foil shades and technique combinations to play around with (e.g. combining hot foiling with embossing), creating an endless range of opportunities when it comes to the finished product.
- If you’re looking for a way to ensure that your product stands out on the shelf, has that special customer engagement appeal and communicates a sense of high quality or premium branding then foil stamping is the ideal technique.
- Foil stamping is cost-effective – it’s easy to find the right option to suit your budget.
Foil stamping not only means that you can let your creativity run free but it’s also the ideal technique for creating a specific aesthetic and bringing branding vision to life.
We design and supply a range of top-quality hot foil machines that can breathe life into your designs! Get in touch with a member of the team today to see how we can help you achieve your hot foiling dreams.