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If you were lucky enough to receive a Valentine’s Day card last week, you might have noticed some of the intricate gold detailing on the letters. That kind of value-added finishing may have cost your partner a bit extra, but it certainly grabs your attention. And it was all achieved through foil blocking.

A growing trend towards jazzy effects on greetings cards and packaging means foil blocking, and foiling, is becoming increasingly popular.

“The range of foil-blocked products has gradually increased,” says Chris Cooper, managing director of Terry Cooper Services. “There was a time when only prestige work contained foil. Now you are as likely to find it on stationery as on a corporate brochure.”

The number of different effects available has also dramatically increased. While gold and shiny products were once considered the norm, today there is a distinctive range of coloured foils on the market. Transparent foils can also be used to create an effect similar to that of spot varnishing.

How it works
Foil blocking works by etching a metal blocking die or plate so the image is raised – this is placed in the blocking machine and heated. Between the two is a foil running from one reel to another, attached to a carrier film. When the hot block is put under pressure against the paper or board with the foil in between, the foil attaches itself in the form of the image.

Thermography is also becoming resurgent in the greetings card and packaging arena. “New colours and effects are catching designers’ eyes,” says Richard Caslon, managing director of Hertfordshire-based Caslon.

Previously, the use of thermographic images was in decline because they melted when overprinted by a laser printer, but now special UV powders ensure that the finished raised image is ‘laser-proof’.

“Glitters can be added to the thermography powders to give a limitless array of striking finishes,” says Caslon.
The manufacturer has also developed a new treatment to eliminate static. According to Caslon, this means that the resulting powders run through the machine more easily and clear from the non-image areas of the substrate.

When investing, buyers should consider run lengths and substrates, while knowing a machine’s limitations is also a must. “In this day and age, buyers seem to be too concerned with buying at rock-bottom price,” says Caslon. “Apart from the obvious questions about discount and ‘what else can you throw in’, they should also be concerned with understanding the process, back-up, service, warranty and support.”

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WHAT'S NEW IN… FOILS, HOLOGRAMS AND THERMOGRAPHY
• Label printer John Watson installed a Gietz foiling machine last July, as part of a £5m investment in new presses. A further 25 staff are also expected to be taken on over the next few years, which would boost the firm’s workforce to 105
• API, the foil manufacturer, unveiled a new cold foil TD, at Labelexpo last September. The company already offers gold, silver and metallic colours, but the new TD is over-printable by UV curable inks
• In June last year, OFT Technology said it expected demand for its inline cold foil technology to result in 100 units being installed worldwide over the next two years. The UK-based company added that 30 of its Foiltone systems were currently in operation