Foil Sleeking vs. Foil Stamping vs. Gold Ink – Printing Methods
Gold is a classic wedding color and there are several ways to incorporate it into your design - they all have benefits and downfalls so here is a short post to explain each and help you choose the method that suits you.
Stamped Foil ( the Ivory and Gold Menu belong to Paulina and Steven above)
Stamped foil is the tried and true traditional method for printing. It involves creating a custom metal plate of your design and stamping it using a letterpress style machine onto the card stock or acrylic of your choice.
Pros : Beautiful crisp print with a slight indention into most card stocks , can be done on just about any type of material, many colors available for foil.
Cons: Price - the creation of the metal plate and the stamping process with foil ribbon are costly. Designs of this variety start around $7 and go up.
Foil Sleeking ( The Champagne Glass Design above)
Foil sleeking is a relatively new method of printing. It is a Multi step process that involves digitally printing first then running the specially printed card through a second time with a laminating process to adhere the foil.
Pros: It is affordable! It only adds around $1 to the cost of digital printing to add some beautiful foil to your design.
Cons: It has limited usage. It can only be printed on very specific stocks - the most common one is a heavy white gloss. It is currently only available in gold, silver and rose gold. The other big negative is it is a little spotty. Most people probably wouldn't notice but it just isn't as crisp of a print as the foil stamping. Because of the two step print process it can also have a very slight shift but less than 1/16" typically.
Gold Metallic Ink- ( The Black Skyline Design above)
* silver and white ink are also available with this method
Gold and Silver ink are specialty digital methods.
Pros: It is affordable! It only adds about $1.00 per card to upgrade to this method. It can be done on many different card stocks. It is crisp, precise and relatively quick to have done.
Cons: It isn't shiny. It is a true gold ( or silver) ink and in the light it does have a shimmer BUT it isn't shiny like foil.