The finishing touches
Foil stamping and embossing techniques offer a way of adding that defining detail to a printed project. When you need to bring that book or piece of packaging to life, these are the methods for the task at hand. When used effectively, foil and embossing can add layers of visual aid and help to make a product bespoke and tailored to the individual taste.
But, can these techniques help printers add value to printed work? Yes, they can, quite easily and efficiently. Hot foil pressing for example, is a simple process that needs but three things to be a success. Those being heat, pressure, and a suitable foil. This method allows printers to broaden their creations and give them an extra edge with buyers.
The most common colours used for foiling tend to be gold and silver. They add a touch of style and sophistication when stamping. Advancements in foil tech are often being made, with new effects and designs being tested on everything from packaging to pamphlets.
This simple technique is just one example inside the trendy world of foiling and embossing. Many companies are putting time, effort, and coin into mastering these techniques. In this feature, we speak to a few industry leading specialists and learn the true benefits of these tools.
A new gloss
Putting the cover in coverage, Opus UK is the one-stop provider for all your printing needs as the company offers everything from foil services, custom covers, bespoke binding, and more. They help their customers’ communication materials stand out above the rest and give them the confidence to present their image in an expertly crafted fashion.
Back in the day, sales started with student thesis binding using a desktop binder and foiling head. Now the company offers five different vertical foiling machines and specialises in short-run foiling and binding that’s perfect for personalisation.
This expansion of the business has led to its equipment being found in 56 universities across the UK, from Brighton to St Andrews, and students are now finding it easier to customise their projects and assignments thanks to Opus UK.
Michael Shier, managing director of Opus UK, has been involved with the company for numerous years and has an expansive knowledge of the print industry and all its tools. He says: “Print techniques are definitely progressing with toner foiling in the digital market through to cold foiling added to litho presses. More options with traditional foiling now ensure foiling and embossing is available to all budgets and business sizes.”
A golden ticket for this sector of the industry was the emergence of online shopping and the needs of the customer, with many wanting to go the extra mile when it comes to personalisation. The e-commerce world is quickly becoming a vendor for tailored gifts, and this has been a massive plus for someone like Opus UK.
Foiling techniques can add a pristine finish to a product and give it an entirely new direction
Shier adds: “The biggest emerging trend that has benefited Opus is online gifting. We go to the high street less often, but we always need gifts for family and friends. So, the growth of online gifting has created a demand for innovative products with great wow factor, and so personalisation with foiling and embossing is a perfect option in this arena.”
Although still a relatively small business, Opus has sold over 500 foiling machines into the short-run market in the UK. In the last 12 months, the company exceeded expectations by selling over 100,000 book binding products for personalisation. These items could then go into a presentation box that may also be foiled or embossed for an even more personal touch.
Foiling, embossing, and debossing can add extra personalisation
Shier is keen to see more innovation when it comes to foiling and embossing techniques. He says: “Innovative thinking like Journals for Wellness, IVF, Dementia, Travel and many more reasons are great opportunities to create printed products that tap into our tactile nature. Add personalisation with foiling and embossing, and you have a very exciting offer.”
Showcasing opportunities and possibilities is vital to driving business forward – the more of this we can do and learn about what is possible, the more doors we open”
He signs off with a simple, yet effective statement: “Showcasing opportunities and possibilities is vital to driving business forward – the more of this we can do and learn about what is possible, the more doors we open.”
New inventions
Whether or not these doors are foiled or embossed is beside the point, but what does matter is the direction the industry is going in. With a massive drive on sustainability always being top of the agenda, it’s a fact that any methods of foiling and embossing that a company offers must be environmentally friendly.
Luckily, this method tends to be quick, clean, and friendly to the environment, meaning that you can use it with the assurance of knowing that it’s a sustainable service to offer. In fact, all paper products are recyclable, whether created using hot stamping, cold foiling, or digital foil printing. This was confirmed by a study by The Foil Stamping and Embossing Association (FSEA).
Digital foiling is much more efficient at achieving the least amount of waste as it prints straight from a computer file and eradicates the need for custom stamping plates. Suitable for use on digital printed materials with a coated finish such as soft touch laminates, this method is being favoured by many in the industry with its low cost and environmentally friendly approach.
Morgana Systems is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Plockmatic International, a part of the Plockmatic Group. This company is responsible for supplying a wide range of offline post-press equipment for customers and clients of the printing industry throughout the world.
Starting life with the launch of the revolutionary AutoCreaser in 2000, Morgana Systems has been a frontrunner for developing new and innovative solutions to cope with the special requirements of the digital printer. Two decades on and the company has extended its portfolio with a wide range of bookletmaking systems to meet every production requirement.
Ray Hillhouse, vice president of sales and marketing at Morgana Systems, says: “Whilst Morgana products are generally considered to be offline devices for finishing printed work, owner Plockmatic creates post-press machines to work inline with digital printing engines from all of the major manufacturers, aiding a high degree of automatic binding and finishing of printed work.”
Keen innovators of the industry, Plockmatic Group made the acquisition of Morgana Systems in 2013. Today, the group’s solutions are sold primarily under the Plockmatic and Morgana brand names in over 50 countries.
Developing relationships with customers on a worldwide basis, the company is always looking to place and provide only the latest updated equipment that offers benefits to the industry. More recently, Plockmatic acquired Intec Printing Solutions, headquartered in Poole, Dorset, a major global supplier of unique equipment solutions for the print and graphic arts market.”
Hillhouse says: “Innovations are frequent in the industry, one of the latest from our equipment range is a unique new die-cutting and embossing/debossing product – the AeroDieCut from Uchida. Best described as traditional meets digital, this product uses regular cutting and creasing forms, combined with a patented system of ‘moving press rollers’ that provide the pressure necessary to cut through and score the substrate, all housed in a really compact unit. The AeroDieCut is ideal for short-to-medium-run work, and can process complex cuts, creases, embossing or debossing, and perforations on printed materials in a single pass.”
The AeroDieCut is the latest piece of equipment from the Morgana range
Rounding off the discussion, Hillhouse goes over some of the inspirations that he has come across in the industry. One example is the Blue Cockerel Group, a long-established company based in Telford, which operates two businesses: Hen Party Superstore and its sister company, Play & Party. After a visit to The Print Show in 2018, Cockerel Group added a ColorFlare product to its post-press section. It gave the company more of an edge and allowed it to get a true colour on its products and opened its eyes to the world of metallic foiling and all the benefits it can have when utilised correctly.
Hillhouse finishes: “Creativity is in the hands of the print specialist. As an example of the tools available to them, an embossing die can be single-level or multi-level, where a single-level raises the image to one consistent height or depth, and a multi-level creates a more complex emboss or deboss. Whereas foiling can also bring a whole new dimension to a printed product. Imagine how a bright and shiny invitation, for example, would attract the eye, or how foiling on a book cover could attract the attention of a casual browser. If the graphic designer can use such features creatively, the potential is endless.”
He adds: “A key ‘added value’ feature offered with the AeroDieCut is the ability to produce both embossing and debossing work. These features allow the printer to offer customers something slightly different and classy to embellish the printed work, and something that definitely stands out from the everyday, run-of-the-mill printing.”
Roots in the industry
With a history dating back more than a hundred years, Friedheim was originally established as ‘Oscar Friedheim’ in London in 1884. Oscar was a paper merchant who quickly came to the realisation that he had a great opportunity to sell machines.
Today, Friedheim has adapted itself to offer digital, packaging, and converting solutions alongside its original post-press department.
Seth Morgan, marketing manager at Friedheim has seen it all when it comes to foil and embossing and is well-equipped when it comes to knowledge about this sector. He says: “There is a lot of innovation in the print industry, and it happens at various scales. Technologically speaking this seems to happen in smaller pockets of innovation, where specialists develop their next products.
“Foiling is a great example where innovation has solved a number of problems already to achieve more accuracy, adhesion, or endurance, such as hot and cold foiling, holographic stamping and nano-foil embossing, over-toner foiling, and most recently digital foiling – using a mixture of polymers and foils. Many manufacturers have invented secondary or tertiary technologies to improve results further, such as anti-static devices and positioning systems. Innovation is everywhere, the challenge is bringing effective products to market.”
The ColorFlare CF350 can give proajects a premium quality finish
Friedheim has gained invaluable insight into the industry and is fully committed to meeting customer requirements since it understands the importance of providing greater efficiency, productivity, and cost savings.
Morgan expands: “These applications add extra dimensions to the designers’ playbook. Unique brand guidelines built to differentiate companies and their products create unique challenges when it comes to print – the ability to create textures, introduce foils or emboss copy provides solutions to these problems as well as a premium effect that lesser embellished print cannot achieve. This is why addressing setup costs in the digital era has been key for our manufacturers precisely because these embellishments are already so popular – we need to lower the bar for entry.”
Foilco was established in 1987 by David Hornby, guided by the hands of the Hornby family. The company has a passion for providing customers with the most efficient service, top quality products, and offering bespoke work to meet all of its customers’ requirements. The standards for the business were set upon creation, with Foilco having ambitions from the onset to be known globally as the most creative and innovative producer of decorative stamping foils. Thirty-five years later, the company still strongly upholds these principles.
Matt Hornby, sales director at Foilco, and son of David, has seen positive signs for the company as it looks to stamp even more authority inside the industry. He says: “The print industry is certainly embracing the speed and versatility of digital print and Foilco works alongside several machine manufacturers who are cold and digital foiling. We were also one of the first producers of the zero transfer Holo-emboss technology. Packaging is however, a sector where we’re seeing a large increase in demand for innovation both from the foil and foiling techniques. A ban by many brands on the use of lamination films in their packaging (laminated board cannot be recycled) has been a positive for the foil industry.”
O Factoid: In 2000, big interest in the use of holographic effects in packaging started to emerge – so much so that Foilco set up a separate division to service demand for holographic lamination films and foils in this sector O
For many customers, it’s the aesthetic of a finished product that will catch their eye and lead them to turn curiosity into a purchase. Foiling and embossing are examples of how to make a product even more attractive and refined, as Hornby explains: “Good foil and embossing techniques open up a whole new creative dimension, way beyond that achievable with ink or even cold foiling. Packaging is a brand’s most important touchpoint. The quality of the packaging and the integrity of the brand are intrinsically linked, and to physically handle packaging brings about a sensory and emotional connection that can often increase the trust in that brand.”
Quality foil and embossing is the ultimate embellishment for packaging which attracts consumer attention and drives purchase intent”
In summary, he says: “Quality foil and embossing is the ultimate embellishment for packaging which attracts consumer attention and drives purchase intent. The metallic shine gives a luxurious, quality finish that cannot be obtained by any other print process. Packaging using foil can also be fully repulped, allowing brands to shift away from plastic lamination techniques without loss of identity.”
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