What is Foil Blocking?

Foil blocking is a dry process in which a colour pigment or metallic material is transferred from a continuous roll to the object being decorated. the application of controlled heat and pressure releases the colour from the carrier using metal dies (or 'blocks') and bonds with the chosen object (e.g. paper) permanently. The process is clean, dry, fast and free from problems often associated with wet ink printing processes.

The effect is striking and thus is often used for business stationery as well as greeting cards, wedding stationery and packaging amongst others. This type of printing is often used for advertisements as it is printed to an extremely high level of quality and finish.

What is Embossing?

Embossing is a similar technique to foil blocking and uses the same machines, although without the application of foil. The 'block' pushes directly onto the paper and leaves an impression. The finished result is an 'embossed' image that stands proud on the paper.

This technique can also be reversed to create a sunken image that adds extra 'depth' to a product. This is called Debossing.

What products can be foil blocked and embossed?

• Business cards / letterheads / comp slips / other business stationery
• Wedding stationery
• Birthday / Occasion cards
• Adverts
• Promotional items
• Packaging
• Security e.g. concert tickets

We can print onto most items but please contact us for further or specific queries relating to your order

We also offer a range of paper colours and textures for use with your work and can usually source any colour or texture as required.

Gold and silver foil blocking used as a dominant feature on an advertisement: