Foil Blocking v Digital Foiling
Gold, copper, silver and rose gold - our top four foil options available to add a touch of shiny luxury to your wedding invitations and elevate your stationery to another level.
There are two different ways of applying these foils to your wedding invitations, so lets start with the one that’s been around longest…
Traditional Foil Blocking or as it’s also know ‘hot foil stamping’ has been around for many years (possibly first used to add gold leaf to manuscripts) and uses metal dies under pressure and heat to stamp the foil onto the card, giving a desirable, tactile impression in the card. A metal die (or stamp) usually made from magnesium or brass has the design etched onto it. It’s then fixed to a press, heated up and foil is passed between the die and the card under pressure, transferring the design onto the card in foil. This technique can be time consuming to set up and take the press operator time to perfect. It also requires one die per artwork version, which is reflected in it’s cost and the reason traditionally foil blocked stationery is more expensive.
2. Digital foiling or ‘toner foiling’ as it’s sometimes known, is a far more recent technology which eliminates the need for costly dies and set up time. Instead of a die or stamp, the design is digitally printed onto the card stock in black toner ink. Very smooth card or laminated card works best. The printed card is then passed through a pressurised heat source (like a laminator) where the toner heats up and acts like a glue. When the foil is passed over it under pressure, it sticks to the black ink transferring the foil to that specific area.
Both techniques have their pros and cons, so which to use may depend on budget, requirements and essentially the desired outcome.
One process may suit an item better like, for example, place name cards. These require a different name on each card so would suit digital foiling. The main wedding invitations would be better using traditional foil blocking, unless each invitation needed to have the guest name added in which case digital foiling would be the best choice.
Here at Lovestruck Stationery we are lucky enough to have our very own in-house hot foil press (a beautiful powder green John T Marshall), where each item of luxury wedding stationery is meticulously foiled by hand, in our studio based by the coast in Portishead.
Drop us a line if you’d like to discuss foiling options for your wedding stationery
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