All About Foil Fusing
There are a lot of ways to dress up documents to create something truly special and eye-catching. With our selection of foil fusing rolls, foil fusers, and foil laminators, you can add a little sparkle to documents that everyone is sure to love. Foiling is a perfect way to create wedding invitations, award certificates, craft projects, framed prints, business cards, letterhead, and anything else that could potentially benefit from bright metallic, glittery, holographic, or iridescent color accents.
What is Foil Fusing?
Foil fusing is the process of adding a foil, usually metallic, onto a printed document. It uses a specialty foil that will stick to dry-toner printed designs on paper, while leaving the unprinted portion of the sheet untouched. It accomplishes this using a uniquely-formulated heat-activated adhesive that is embedded on the back of the foil. With multiple foiling methods, you can create custom foiled documents for personal, or high production use.
What You Need to Foil:
With multiple foiling methods, you can create custom foiled documents for personal, or high production use. We mentioned above that you can apply foil with either a laminating machine or a foil fuser, and depending on which method you choose, you will need different tools. To decide which method is best for you, consider that individual users and most businesses that foil for mostly internal use prefer the pouch laminating method, while high volume users that sell their items to clients typically use foiling machines or capable roll laminators for the higher speed and continuous feed benefit. Check out the comparison chart below that will highlight some of the primary differences in the methods to help you decide what will work best for your individual needs or intended applications.
| Method | Foiling with a Pouch Laminator | Foiling with a Roll Laminator | Foiling with a Foil Fuser |
|---|---|---|---|
| Volume Intended | Low to Medium Volume | High Volume | High Volume |
| Tools Needed | • Foil Laminator • Pouch Carrier • Smooth Paper Stock • Dry Toner Copier/Printer • Foil Roll • Scissors |
• Compatible Roll Laminator • Foil Roll Cutter • Smooth Paper Stock • Dry Toner Copier/Printer • Foil Roll |
• Foil Fuser • Foil Roll Cutter • Smooth Paper Stock • Dry Toner Copier/Printer • Foil Roll |
| Compatible Foil Rolls | Any Size | 12", 12.6", 24", 25" (Check Core Sizes) | 24" (1" Core Sizes) |
| Basic Instructions/ Process |
1. Cut a piece of foil off the roll to fit your printed design 2. Place your sheet into a pouch carrier 3. Run the carrier through your foil laminator 4. Peel off the foil to reveal your foiled design |
1. Cut your roll with the foil roll cutter, if needed 2. Install the roll onto a compatible roll laminator & turn it on 3. Run your printed sheet through the machine 4. Peel off the foil to reveal your foiled design |
1. Cut your roll with the foil roll cutter, if needed 2. Install the roll onto the foil fuser & turn it on 3. Run your printed sheet through the fuser 4. Peel off the foil to reveal your foiled design |
Kinds of Foil:
There are a huge number of foiling roll colors, patterns, and designs available. Metallic foil rolls offer a consistently bright and vibrant solid color, holographic foils offer unique patterns, glitter foils sparkle and shine, iridescent foils offer a rainbow look and gloss pigment foils are non-metallic matte opaque colors. Most of our foil rolls come in various roll sizes, including 8" or 12" wide with a 100' length (8 or 12 inches by 100 feet) and a 1/2" core, or a 24" wide and 500' length full-size roll (24 inches by 500 feet) with a 1" core. Our thermal reactive foils are top-quality and considered some of the best foil rolls on the market.
Gold
Rose Gold
Silver
Hot Pink
Red
Turquoise
Dark Blue
Purple
Dark Green
Matte Gold
Matte Silver
Matte Turquoise
Matte Fuschia
Gold Rainbow
Rainbow
Pearl Rainbow
Bubbles
Hearts
Stained Glass
Shimmering Water
Sparkle
Red Glitter
Gold Glitter
Tips for Success:
1. Tone it Down - All of our foil rolls are toner-reactive and require a heat source to fuse. Toner-reactive means that they will only stick to the dry toner that is printed on your sheet. Dry toner can be found in most office copiers. It will not, however, work with wax-based inks, which are often found in laser and inkjet printers. Check your printer ink cartridge for compatibility with foil rolls. If you're not sure, call us at (866) 537-2244 and we can test your printed pages in-house and mail back the results. If your office printer is not capable, you can call local print shops and simply consider outsourcing the printing.
2. Smooth it Out - The best foiling results will be achieved when using smooth paper stocks with no coating. In order to achieve a solid foil across all of your print, the paper stock that it is printed on needs to be smooth and uncoated; texture prevents the foil from going inside the crevices and will leave you with a spotty design, and often, coated paper can prevent the foil from adhering to the stock. The thickness of your paperstock doesn't usually cause an issue, however, when using thicker paper you will need additional heat to compensate.
3. Heat Check - Heat is very important factor when it comes to foiling. Our selection of foil laminators all have some important functions that are needed to foil, the most important of which is heat (and/or speed). A minimum of 300° F is needed to foil, and the ability to get hotter is highly recommended, especially if you will be using transparent foils or holographic patterned foils, which require more heat (or more time in the heat) to properly fuse. This is why not all pouch laminators will always work, and why some will only work with certain foils. We have more information about what capabilities your pouch laminator will need to work on our foil laminators page (just hit "view more" on that page). If you want us to send you a sample piece of foil to test on your machine, just give us a call at (866) 537-2244 and we would be happy to do so!
3. Test and Scrap - Make sure you have some scrap sheets for testing so you can tune your laminator to your foil and paper stock; this may take several runs to get the right settings. If you're using a pouch laminator, then you should also have thin scrap paper available to place on top and below your pages.
4. Saturate - Solid black ink is the most saturated "color" and, therefor, will work best with toner foils. If you are using a standard foil, then you won't see the color underneath anyway, so it is best to use black ink. If you are using a transparent foil, you can still use a colored toner underneath, but keep in mind that you may need more heat to help the foil saturate best.
Foiling Videos:
Click to see our Foiling Playlist on YouTube
Troubleshooting:
Having some trouble getting your foiled print to look perfect? Check out these troubleshooting tips to help you figure out what is going wrong, and fix it.
Foil Not Transferring - If the foil is not transferring onto your page, there are a few things to try, all of them very simple. Starting from the top...
• Is your ink a dry toner? Remember, foil will not stick to anything but dry toner, so if you are not using the compatible ink, it will not transfer. Check your printer cartridge to see what you're using.
• Is your paper stock smooth? Foil won't be able to penetrate into the crevices of textured paper well. Switch to a smooth, uncoated stock instead.
• Is your paper uncoated? Coating on some stocks can prevent the foil from transferring.
• Is your laminator hot enough? 300° F is the minimum recommendation that your laminator needs to reach, and hotter is better. Some paper stocks (like thicker sheets) and even some foils will need more heat to transfer properly. If your laminator is already at it's top heat, then try slowing down the speed. If you do not have adjustable speed or heat, then try just running it through a 2nd time. Note that it can only be heated a couple of times before the foil becomes unusable, so you may need to use a new piece of foil. And if you already peeled up your foil, you may need a new sheet of foil/a new printed sheet, as the adhesive may be compromised.
Foil Transferring onto Paper too - It is a good idea to have a paint or dusting brush handy to lightly dust off the page after foiling, as some speckling on your page is normal. This will help remove those speckles. If they are not being removed,then your laminator may be too hot or too slow. Try lowering the temperature or increasing the speed and running a new sheet to see if that reduces the speckles.
Foiling FAQs:
Q: Can I get a sample? A: Yes, we would be happy to set you up with some free foil samples to test out! If you need us to test samples before you buy, just give a call at (866) 537-2244 or email info@buy101.com and we would be happy to do so! There are two ways that we can do foil samples for you: (1) we can send you a piece of foil for you to test with your machines, or (2) you can send us a sample of your printed sheet and we can test with the professional equipment in our demo room.
Q: Can I foil multiple colors on the same page? A: Yes! If using the laminator method, you have total control over where the foil lies on your sheet, so you can use as many or as few colors as you would like by just cutting the pieces and placing them on the toner. If using a foil fuseer, you would want to print your first toner, run it with color number 1, then add your second toner and run it with foil number 2.
Q: What is the best paper for foiling? A: The best paper stock for foil fusing is going to be a smooth and uncoated sheet. Real textured paper with mountains and valleys won't allow the foil to properly adhere, but some very lightly textured pages may work. Coatings like gloss will resist foil, and may not get a completely foiled finish.
Q: What is the smallest font size foil will stick to? A: We've tested text as small as 6pt with a nice foil adhesion. Anything smaller than that generally does not have enough toner saturation to attract the foil.
Q: Can I make stickers with foil? A: Yes, we have many customers who use our foil with their sticker papers to make metallic stickers. Just make sure the paper is smooth and uncoated for the best adhesion.
Q: Why would I need a foil roll cutter? A: When using the foil fuser method, your machine will have a core size requirement and may only accept a certain foil width. For example, Therm-O-Type foil fusing machines use 1" core foils and the width allowance varies by machine. That being said, foil rolls with a 1" core are only available in a 24/25" roll width. So if your machine needs a 12" width, having a foil roll cutter will allow you to turn that one roll into usable rolls.
Q: Will your foils work with Minc machines? A: Yes, thermal toner foils will work with nearly any heat source, including the Minc machines (which are essentially little laminators). With our experience, Minc machines do not reach a hot enough temperature to work with all foils, and without an adjustable speed or heat, the finish may not always be perfect. That is why we actually recommend using a foiling laminator instead.
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