Now this sounds like a fun party! Sarah from The Happy Envelope sent over these invitations that she printed for the upcoming International Biscuit Festival (who knew?) over Memorial Day Weekend in Knoxville.  Sarah combined multiple typefaces and letterpress printing in chocolate and chartreuse inks for a southern-meets-swanky invitation to the festival’s fundraising brunch.  Any Top Chef fans out there?  You might recognize the name of the festival’s guest chef…
From Sarah:Â Everybody loves biscuits! The International Biscuit Festival is a huge weekend event held in downtown Knoxville, Tennessee. Â This year, Guest Chef Michelle Bernstein will be participating in a special fundraising event to raise money for Share Our Strength, so the hosts of the event wanted to send out invitations that were luxurious and swanky while still maintaining the casual, laid-back mood of the Biscuit Festival.
The invitation and reply postcard are letterpress printed in chocolate ink on ultra-thick 220 lb board. Â The reverse side picnic pattern on the invitation is letterpress in a chartreuse ink. Â All pieces were wrapped up together with mocha and white threaded baker’s twine in multiple wrap with knot. Â The Biscuit Benefit Dinner pieces was printed on standard 110# letterpress stock and matted with chocolate brown stock to create a dark border on the white paper. Â Khaki envelopes were flat printed with chocolate ink reply card.
The National Stationery Show is coming up in just a few days and I’m starting to get really excited for this year’s show.  It almost feels like Stationery Christmas – putting together my walking list of exhibitor booths and checking it twice!  Katrina from Paper Mill Designs sent over a quick sneak peek at some of the new designs that she’ll be exhibiting at the show (in booth #1966).  I can’t wait to see them in person!
The first week back from vacation is always a bit rough, so I’m definitely welcoming this weekend with open arms.  I’m hoping to finally process the photos from my trip to Italy to share with you next week, before I go running off to New York for the National Stationery Show.  I can’t believe this year’s Stationery Show is just over a week away – my favorite week of the whole year!  But in the meantime…
I have a deep love for calligraphy, and the romantic calligraphy from Mara of Neither Snow always seems to take my breath away. Â These wedding invitations featuring Mara’s beautiful script and a sweet asterisk illustration are no exception. Â And the combination of calligraphy and letterpress printing? Â Be still my heart…
While I’m away on vacation I’m running a series of guest posts on the various printing processes, from digital printing to engraving. I’ve asked some designers and printers to share their expertise and lots of photos to fill you in on what you need to know about different stationery printing methods. Today we’re talking about one of my very favorite specialty printing methods – foil stamping!
Foil stamping is a specialty printing process that uses heat, pressure, metal dies and foil film. The foil comes in rolls in a wide assortment of colors, finishes, and optical effects. Metallic foil is most commonly seen today – particularly gold foil, silver foil, copper foil, and holographic metallic foils – but foil rolls are also available in solid colors in both glossy and matte finishes.
Early foil stamping was done using hand-set lettering or custom engraved dies. Because foil stamping was so labor intensive, early foil stamping was primarily restricted to book covers and literary titles. To print gold text on a book cover, printers used separate fonts of lead or brass type, with text assembled by hand, one letter at a time, or a custom engraved die with a single image. Once the text or die was assembled, it was loaded into a press, which then pressed thin sheets of metallic foil into a book cover or other material.
The development of modern hot foil stamping took place in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Ernst Oeser, a master bookbinder in Berlin, is credited as a pioneer in the development of hot-stamping foils as early as 1880. In the 1930s, an English foil manufacturer, George M. Whiley, introduced atomized gold on thin sheets of polyester film. Hot foil stamping using these rolls of gold foil increased in popularity in the 1950s through the late 1960s.
Foil stamping is somewhat similar to letterpress and engraving, in that the color is applied to paper with pressure. Once the design is finalized, metal dies are created in the appropriate shape for each individual color foil to be applied for a particular design. The dies are heated and then stamped with enough pressure to seal a thin layer of foil to the paper, and each color is applied individually through multiple runs of the press to create the final design. A final die may also be created if an embossed (raised) image or effect is desired for the design.
As with any printing process, there are pros and cons. Here are a few tips to keep in mind if you’re considering foil for your wedding invitations or personal stationery.
Foil is an opaque medium. Unlike thermography, lithography and letterpress, foil stamping does not use any ink. As a result, the foil color does not change based on the color of paper on which you are printing. Â This makes metallic or lighter color foil great for darker or colored papers. Foil can be used for a variety of finishes, including metallic, matte, glossy, pearlescent, holographic, and patterns such as marbling. There are also semi-transparent tint foils, if you do want to allow the paper color to show through.
Metallic foils have a shiny, lustrous finish with a big visual impact. With thermography, lithography, and letterpress, metallics can fall flat and aren’t very shiny.
Like letterpress, foil stamping is a labor-intensive printing method that requires multiple runs through the press to achieve multi-color designs. As a result, foil stamping can be expensive.
Because foil is applied by heat, it should not be applied near text or designs already applied by thermography. Â The heat will melt the thermographic resins.
To see more of the foiling process, check out the video below of some foil stamping in action from the Crane & Co. production facility!
