Foiling for Print
Foil stamping, also known as foiling, is a subtle yet beautiful way to enhance printed designs with metallic, shiny logos and text on business cards. At Business Cards, foiling can be added to your print run via digital foiling or hot foil stamping. But what’s the difference between the two methods and which one is the best option for your print requirements? Here’s a quick guide to both methods.
Digital Foiling
Digital foiling is a faster and more cost-effective option for adding foil to printed designs on business cards. It only requires a digital artwork file, which tells the digital foil machine where to ‘print’ the foil onto the paper. The pros of digital foiling are that it is cost-effective for shorter print runs and offers quicker production times, which is ideal for last-minute print runs. The cons of digital foiling are that it requires lamination to achieve a good result, and it has limited presentation quality compared to hot foil stamping, as digital foil sits on the surface of the print and won’t catch the light as well as hot foil.
Digital foiling at Better Printing
Hot foil stamping
Hot foil stamping is a method of adding premium foiling quality to paper products using a press, custom-made die, and foil. The die is heated and pressed onto the foil and paper, transferring the foil only to areas that come into contact with the die. There is an additional cost for the assembly of the foiling die, which varies based on the size of the area to be foiled. This cost may not be an issue for large quantities of foil-stamped items.
Custom brass die block for foiling
Coloured hot stamping foils
The pros of hot foil stamping:
More professional results. Hot foiling can achieve finer detailing and slightly de-boss the foiled elements, giving them a subtle shimmer. It is more economical for longer print runs, as the cost balances out when printing a large batch of items. However, it is more expensive for small-quantity orders.
The cons of hot foil stamping:
Increased production times. Setting up a hot foil job takes longer due to the time needed to create the die block, so if you have an urgent order, digital foiling may be a better choice. Business Cards offers both digital foiling and hot foil stamping in-house from their Southampton print factory, so there are no extra outsourcing costs to worry about.
Hot foil stamping machine
If you have any additional questions about any type of foiling then call us on 023 8087 8037 or email us.