This installment of Banter & Charm’s Wedding Stationery Guide is all about foil stamping! This luxury printing method has been around for over a century, commonly used for high end packaging and book covers. But in recent years, foil stamping has become very popular for wedding invitations. (Gold foil invitations are actually one of the most common requests I get from my brides!) It’s not hard to see why – foil stamping adds elegance and glamour to traditional invitation designs. It is the perfect touch of shine for a traditional typographic layout, or an extra sparkle for an art deco inspired invitation suite. Hot foil is also the only way to print invitations that have a shiny metallic gold, copper, rose gold, or silver finish.
Foil stamping is similar to letterpress printing – it uses pressure to transfer color from a printing plate to paper. It requires experience, special equipment, and time. However foil stamping uses sheets of thin metallic foil instead of ink, resulting in a pressed design with a shiny finish.
Like letterpress, a custom die is made, and paper is pressed one piece at a time. However with foil stamping, the die is made out of magnesium and is heated prior to stamping. The heat seals the foil to the paper. You need to make a separate die for each color of foil used in a design.
Foil will be the last step in the printing process – it is printed after any letterpress or flat print portion of a design. It can be printed on top of letterpress – this results in a stunning design with lots of texture.
Foil is shiny and opaque as opposed to letterpress inks that are slightly transparent. This means it can be printed on dark papers with no show through. You can also foil stamp on top of a flat print photograph – this makes for a stunning save the date! I offer four metallic foil colors: gold, silver, rose gold, and copper. Other colors (like white, red, shiny black, or bright pink) are also available.
Because it is a labor intensive process, and due to the cost of creating a custom metal printing plate for each invitation design, foil stamping is the most expensive printing process I offer at Banter & Charm. But it is the only way to have a true shiny metallic finish on your invitation. If you love the look of foil stamping but it’s a little too costly, metallic gold silk screen printing can be a budget friendly alternative. I also offer three ready made foil designs that can be paired with flat printing for a lower price point: Refined, Enchanted, and Shimmer
Foil stamping works best on minimal designs without delicate lines or large areas of color. I offer foil wedding invitations, inserts, envelopes, save the dates, and day of stationery. Banter & Charm’s foil stamp wedding invitation collection showcases designs that truly shine in foil! And I’ll gladly adjust other designs to work with metallic foil printing.
Just like letterpress printing, foil stamping needs to be seen in person to be truly appreciated! Head over to the shop and order a sample foil wedding invitation so you can see the shiny gold, silver, rose gold, or copper foil in person!