Foil stamping, typically a commercial print process, is the application of pigment or metallic foil, often gold or silver
, but can also be various patterns or what is known as pastel foil which is a flat opaque color or white special film-backed material, to paper where a heated die is stamped onto the foil, making it adhere to the surface leaving the design of the die on the paper. Foil stamping can be combined with embossing to create a more striking 3D image.

Description

Foil stamping machines, also known as hot foil stampers, use heat to transfer metallic foil to a solid surface. Examples of items that are foil stamped include pencils, napkins, matchbooks, photographs and books. The foil stamp is a permanent process. These machines are popular with wedding businesses, photography studios and other businesses that need to brand or mark products.

A similar machine, called a foil fuser, creates a similar look in a process called foil fusing in which foil is fused to printer toner by means of heat.

Types

There are two primary types of foil stamping machines. The first type is manual and the second is pneumatic (air powered). Manual foil stampers are ideal for low to medium volume jobs and the pneumatic is ideal for medium to high-volume jobs.

Safety

Foil stampers do create a lot of heat in order to transfer the foil to the surface of an object. Safety must be observed when changing type sets to prevent one from being burned.