The Journal

This is part twenty-four of a series called One a Day in May, where we will review one wedding stationery term every day in May!

---

Ever see a dark card, maybe black or navy blue, with a beautiful, almost-glowing, gold design on it? I can say with almost 100% certainty that it was created using foil-pressing.  Foil-pressing is a printing method that involves heat and transfer foil. At times it is also called foil-stamping or embossing. Traditionally, a metal plate is customized to your specific text or design. It is then heated up and a foil layer is applied between the plate and the piece to be printed. The hot plate and foil are then pressed into the paper or other material.

Certain craft machines (*ahem* Cricut *cough cough*) have  created a new way to achieve foil-pressing at home as well. They also use transfer foil and a small tool inserted into the machine’s housing that runs along the foil in your determined design, pressing it into the paper below. This is fun for small projects and does turn out a surprisingly professional product but we’d still recommend using a professional printer for large quantity foil-printed projects.