Foil Stamping: A Thorough Insight into the Process

The process of foil stamping, also known as foil printing, involves using metallic or pigmented foils to decorate surfaces. Foil stamping involves applying pressure and heat to a thin foil film to bond it permanently to a paper-based substrate. Several textures can be achieved using foil stamping, including matte, metallic, glossy, and holographic. Businesses can use it for product packaging, greeting cards, business cards, book covers, wedding invitations, etc. In addition, it makes it ideal for patterns and lettering. Moreover, it can be used to create holographic foil stickers. Another useful application of foil stamping is the hot stamping of foil holograms – Holographic hot stamping uses a continuous carrier film to transfer holographic impressions from the film to the desired substrate, either film or paper.

Foil stamping creates a lustrous surface finish and is opaque without containing any ink. This ensures that the color of the stamped design is unaffected by either the dark or the light color of the printed substrate, so this method is suitable for dark or colored papers.

As opposed to pad printing or silk screening, stamping can be used for printed products with dark colors since there is no ink used, so the product's color or texture is not affected. Since the 19th century, foil stamping has been used to create holiday cards, baby announcements, scratch-off foil, wedding invitations, save the date cards, business cards, presentation folders, book covers, etc.

Process of Executing foil stamping:

A copper or metal die used to etch the design for foil stamping. After the die has been able to successfully etch the design, the foil is positioned over the product. With a letterpress, a heating element adheres foil to a designated area of the paper substrate by pressing it onto the die or plate. A portion of the foil is permanently bonded to the design area, and the remainder is discarded.

While running the foil and paper through the machine, a quality check ensures the process has gone smoothly. Though foil printing requires a little more setup time and can be more expensive, the results are stunning.

Different types of foil stamping:

There are four types of hot stamping techniques you can use based on the substrate and type of finish you want:

Flat foil stamping:

This process transfers foil onto the substrate with a copper or magnesium metal stamp. It achieves a foil design that relatively rises from the surface.

Vertical foil stamping:

A unique method is used to apply foil designs to flat materials and cylindrical shapes.

Sculpted foil stamping:

In this type of hot stamping foil, the image is raised using brass dies to give it a carved appearance.

Perimeter foil stamping:

While creating perimeter foil stamping, heat transfer foil is applied across the entire perimeter - the circumference - of the product.

Why Choose Holostik for foil stamping?

Holostik provides dependable and high-quality foil stamping and related holographic solutions that help in several fields such as counterfeiting, supply chain improvement, tracking and tracing of products, and more. You can always rely on them to safeguard your products against counterfeiters.

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