Here at Artis, we know that the small touches really matter. A flawlessly elegant finish can mean the difference between a truly memorable piece of print and a forgettable brochure.
That’s why we proudly employ an extensive range of printing techniques, ensuring that every possible vision is available to our customers. In the last article, we looked at embossing and debossing, and how they can be used to add texture and depth to a business card or invitation.
Today, we’re going to explore ‘Hot Foiling’, also known as ‘Hot Foil Stamping’. This isn’t a new invention; in fact, the technique has been used for hundreds of years to decorate the most important texts and manuscripts.
You might also be surprised to learn that you’re probably carrying an example of this technique around in your pocket. Those metallic stamps and motifs that you see on your banknotes are created using this very method, albeit in a much more high-tech way.
So, let’s take a closer look at how this technology came about. In the old days, pieces of pure, soft gold would be hammered down into incredibly thin ‘leaf’ sheets and then hand-formed into beautifully ornate patterns and designs.
These would then be attached to the covers and pages of texts to give them a truly luxurious and lavish finish. This, as you can imagine, was a complicated and expensive process.
The technique of applying gold leaf to printed texts emerged around 400 AD. Scribes in monasteries in Ireland decorated the borders of their important religious texts with incredibly intricate images, using gold leaf to highlight and illuminate areas of their illustrations. The same was done in Constantinople and in Italy, where throughout the Middle Ages, the method was regularly used for important Christian manuscripts.
Luckily, these days we can produce the same opulent finish without breaking the bank. Real gold is no longer used, but our techniques at Artis create the same beautifully gleaming effect. Modern hot foiling can be applied to business cards, invitations, business stationery, and any other printed material that you feel requires an extra touch of luxury.
A few articles back, we looked at edge gilding, which uses a similar foil material laid along the edges of a book, card, or brochure. Hot foiling differs from this in that the metallic foil pieces are applied to the face of the card or paper and then affixed using heat and pressure.
A common application of this method is to add foiled lettering and patterns in conjunction with printed text or images. The reflective metallic foil can be stamped onto selected details, specific fonts, or entire designs. The foil catches the light and adds movement to the image or text.
Hot foiling can be combined with some of our other techniques at Artis, and it pairs particularly well with debossed text or images, as we discussed in our last article.
Traditionally, hot foiling used gold or silver only, but with modern technology all sorts of colours and finishes are available. The logo on your brochure, for example, can be hot foiled to give you an eye catching reflective effect while sticking to your brand’s colour palettes. Another effective example is making the text of a wedding invitation shimmer by using a reflective foil lettering.
At Artis, we’re passionate about ensuring that our customers achieve the best possible results from their chosen printing design. Our extensive experience in the field gives us a deep understanding of every nuance of the printing process, which we leverage to execute your vision with precision.
Sales display books, settlement boxes, and luxury brochures all represent and reflect your sense of taste and style, and therefore need to be produced in the most elegant and beautiful way possible.
Whatever the project, hot foiling creates a glistening, gleaming effect that will draw the eye and leave a lasting impression on the viewer.
Trellis is a stunning Brisbane development by Aria Property Group, with the creative done by Sexty Design. They used a beautiful lay-flat bind brochure to full effect with embossed colour plan endpapers and covers and a black foiled logo.
Tom Dooley Developments used an exceptional range of x7 different brochures present Argyle, New Farm, with each apartment type and penthouse brochure using the unique Artis Layflat bind for seamless presentation.
Long Pocket is a classy collaboration between PHNX Digital and developer Shayher Group. Situated in the lovely Indooroopilly suburb of Brisbane, it uses a beautiful Artis Layflat brochure to display the stunning creative to maximum effect.