Foil, fabulous foil!
Who doesn't like a little bling?!
Ok, agreed! Sometimes your brand doesn't fit the bling, but foil definitely has its place in design production. Foil adds that extra emphasis you need to stand out on shelf and feel a little more luxury.
You have a couple of options in foil now - not just foil "stamping". Very basically, there is cold foil application and hot foil stamping. Then you search for the right foil material - that's when your options really open up! Holographic foil, silver foil, shiny foil, satin, pigment foils are all available to try to help your brand convey the right image.
Holographics and silver foils are standard materials for cold foil - traditional hot foil has the huge variety of colors and finishes. You can even do a combination of foil and embossing to really make a statement!.
COLD FOIL
One of my favorite informational sites is for ITW Shinemark - here's the link to their Cold Foil section: ITW Cold Foil. Some great stuff here.
The gold areas are actually silver cold foil with a yellow transparent ink printed on top. This gives large areas of shimmer!
I like cold foil when the customer wants an artistic look with the benefits of foil shimmer. Cold foil is applied inline on the printing press with a glue and then printed on top of the foil. Cold foil is usually a silver or holographic base. Since offset inks are transparent for this application, whatever color you print over the foil becomes foil like. If your art calls for multiple colors of foil or a gradation with foil support, this is the way to go. So you can lay down the silver foil and print over it giving your artwork the shimmer of the cold foil. Think: not just line art, but photos as well! Plates are used on press for the foil so there is no separate tooling for cold foil.
HOT STAMPING
Have no fear! There is still plenty of use for hot foil stamping! This method of decorating has been around for ages and it is classic - so elegant! You see it on tons of packaging as well as business cards, portfolios, presentation folders. All over the print world!
Stamping proof pearl foil on white paper
Why do we say “hot” foil stamping?? Of course, your Packaging Chic will tell you! It's produced with a combination of heat and pressure to transfer the foil material to your substrate including paper, plastic, and even corrugated. Most equipment uses a platen (flat application) base, but there are also rotary stamping machines. Rotary machines have cylindrical stamping tools - platen tools are flat.
The rotary tools are more costly, but both last a reaalllly long time! Kurz is a supplier of foil around the world and has been my go to vendor. They always have over the top production samples to show the amazing possibilities of foil stamping.
Get the guide to choosing cold foil or hot stamping here. Cold foil vs. Hot Stamp, the PDF.
