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Category: Imprinting Tips

Foil Stamping vs. Printing: What’s the Difference?Foil stamping versus printing: what's the difference?

Foil Stamping vs. Printing: What’s the Difference?

Published March 6, 2024

Hello, there. My name is Amanda, I have worked at Studio Style for almost a year now. I’ve learned a lot since I have joined the Studio Style fam. One thing I have learned is not everyone knows about all our awesome personalization methods. From elegant foil stamped personalization to full-color digital printing, there is a wealth of creative options. I would love to share some knowledge from an official “insider.”

We’re party people here at Studio Style, in the most professional and chic way we can be. We love nothing more than some flashy branded party swag. And personalized photo folders and frames are a great way to remind party guests of the great time they had at your event.

We use a couple methods to help promote brands and adorn our products like foil stamping and high-quality digital printing. Some branding is best suited for one method over the other.

What is Foil Stamping?

Metal foil stamping plate with the imprint reversed
Metal plate for foil stamping
Rolls of metallic gold foil
Rolls of metallic foil
The convention imprint is on a black portrait folder in metallic gold foil
Plate + Foil + Heat + Pressure = Foil Stamping

If you like bling, foil stamping is for you. The first step in the process is converting a digital file of art to a physical die. A foil-stamping die is a metal plate that is etched or engraved into. The metal plate gets placed into a machine that uses heat and pressure to affix the foil to the paper surface of our products.

Since the process can cause some indentation, a heavier paper is ideal. Textured paper such as our linen stock is best for foil stamping (digital printing cannot be done on this paper). 

Textured white portrait folder with metallic gold foil wedding imprint on the front cover.

These products are perfect for foil stamping:

The look of a foil stamped logo gives a polished and classic look. Due to the method of application not all artwork transfers well. Artwork for foil-stamping should not contain fine lines, drop shadows, or textures and if they do, full-color printing is the better option. To achieve the best foil imprint outcome the digital artwork should start out as a black and white image. We cover all this and more in a separate post. 

If you don’t have a logo, you can even foil stamp simple text in various font styles. With several metallic and pigmented foil options to choose from, foil stamping can really make a statement. If your logo or event branding already pops or is super detailed or textured you will want to utilize one of our digitally printed products.

What is Digital Printing?

With full-color personalization options, digital printing is an ideal method to personalize your photo folders and frames.

Digital printing starts with a digital file that is rendered by a computer and sent to a printer. The digital printer then uses different kinds of ink or toner to place the image on the paper substrate. Digital printers are even capable of printing on fabric and vinyl surfaces. 

If a logo event branding is full color, has a color gradient, or a lot of fine details, printing is the better—and sometimes only—option. Digital printing utilizes CMYK colors which stand for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Key, which is black. Different percentages of each of these four colors combined creates different hues of printable pigment.

The great part about digital printing on our photo folders and frames is you are able to fully customize them with your colorful logo or event branding. 

Black and blue custom printed photo folder for a branded event giveaway.

The following products are perfect for digital printing:

Our digitally printed folders and frames are perfect for those who have artistic talent and are knowledgeable in Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator. We offer templates for our custom folders and frames in PDF form so you can design your own.

We also have 100+ stock designs in various themes that you can customize. Even if you’re not an artistic person, give us your ideas and we can create a folder or frame for you.

If you have any questions, please reach out to our team at (800) 346-3063 or send us an email. We’re always happy to help!

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Learn All About Foil Stamping on Custom Photo Folders and FramesFoil stamped photo folders

Learn All About Foil Stamping on Custom Photo Folders and Frames

Published May 30, 2017

Hot Foil Stamping is one of our favorite personalization techniques at Studio Style. Great for personalizing photo folders and paper frames for holiday events, weddings, fundraisers, galas, prom, graduation, golf events, company parties, and special celebrations.

Foil stamping takes a plain paper folder and turns it into an upscale keepsake.

The shimmering embellishment brings a truly elegant look to your custom photo folders, photo cards, and paper photo frames. Here’s an overview of the Studio Style foil stamping process, and some of our photo products that look beautiful when customized with a decorative foil imprint.

The foil stamping process

1. Choose the folder or frame product you’d like to personalize. Almost all of our products can be foil stamped! We have horizontal and vertical styles available for all of our products. Type in your desired quantity, and click the teal Personalize button. On our imprint form, you can type in any text you want to be included, choose your foil color, imprint location, and upload your logo or artwork.

2. Please check our artwork guidelines for our accepted file formats, and file size. For a great foil imprint, we need a crisp, clean, black and white image. Your artwork can be a graphic, a logo, typographic lettering, just text, or a combination of these elements. Artwork should not contain fine lines, gradients, drop shadows, or textures as these will not produce a desirable result for foil stamping. (If you cannot supply us with satisfactory art, our experienced art department can help.

File formats we accept: PDF, AI, EPS, PSD, JPG, JPEG, TIF, TIFF, and PNG file formats. As a general rule, we require a minimum of 300 dpi for foil stamping

3. Next, submit your order. Our team will review the art and we’ll contact you if we need any further information. We’ll prepare a free proof if you requested one, and will send it your way within 1-2 business days for approval. Let us know ASAP if your proof looks ready to go, or if you need changes. Once your layout is finalized and approved, we’ll move into production.

4. Your image or artwork is now etched onto a magnesium foil stamping plate (also known as a metal die). New imprinting orders are charged a new plate and machine set-up fee. Foil stamping plates are kept on file for one calendar year. If your order is repeated within a one-year time frame, the next order will only be charged the machine set-up fee, as we are able to re-use your original plate.

5. Finally, we take our blank product, your magnesium plate, and a large roll of your chosen foil to our specialized foil stamping press. The foil film is unrolled and sandwiched between the magnesium plate (which has been heated to an appropriate temperature) and the blank photo folder, frame, or card. The plate and folder, frame, or photo insert card are then pressed together. Through heat and pressure, the thin layer of foil is transferred off the roll and onto the product.

A Few More Tips for Foil Stamped Photo Folders & Frames

  • Please allow 7-10 business days for production time on custom foil-stamped photo products. Often, we can turn them around sooner than that, but we want to ensure that we have enough lead time to do a great job and get them shipped to you well before your event day.
  • Your first order will incur a plate and setup charge (to make your custom plate, and set up the machine). You’ll also have a small running charge for each piece ordered.
  • Have an annual event? Leave off the date and order extra product for next year! We keep your custom plate on file for one calendar year, after which it is recycled. If you place a repeat order with us, we can re-use your original plate, and you won’t be charged a plate fee the second time around.
  • We do offer several ready-made foil stamped photo folder designs, so if you don’t have enough time to personalize a custom folder, we can ship out a pre-made design right away. Just look for the “quick ship” emblem in red on our products page. We have these ready to go for most major holidays and for golf events.
  • Want multiple foil colors? We can do that! For an extra charge, we can create your frames, photo cards, or folders with two foil colors.
  • If you need an exact PMS color match for your art, we’ll move you to an ink-printed photo folder instead of foil
Lavender and white cardboard frames with foil stamped logo imprints
Gold foil city logo on smooth black photo folder
White 4 by 6 photo folders with foil stamped logo imprints

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Personalized Event Folders – Print Your Own Custom Labels

Published July 16, 2014

In a rush? No time for custom imprinting? Print your own custom labels for instant folder personalization.

Photo event folders personalized with custom labels

Did your event sneak up on you? No time for custom photo event folders? What’s an event planner to do?!?!

We have the answer: custom labels.

While our professional foil imprinting services are by far the best complement to our folders, we understand that sometimes you need folders in a hurry.

When photographers and event planners come to us with a last-minute project, foil imprinting is usually no longer an option. In these cases, we suggest ordering our blank portrait folders or standard event photo folders. Then print off some labels at home or at the office, stick them on the cover, et voilá! Personalized photo folder frames, just in time for your event.

Although we do not sell self-adhesive labels, they can be purchased at any store that sells office supplies. Print your logo, artwork, or event name onto the labels according to package instructions, then just peel and stick your custom labels to our portrait folders. While it might not have the same classy look as a foil stamped portrait folder, it gets the job done. In the end, a custom photo folder is about event or company branding.

Custom labels work with any of our blank photo folders, including our portrait folders and foil imprinting services. Not sure what you want? Browse all photo folders. While printing your own custom labels is no substitute for the beauty of foil hot-stamped imprinting, it is an easy personalization solution when faced with a tight event deadline.

But hey, there’s always next year! Our standard production time on custom imprinted photo presentation folders is generally 7-10 business days. Please allow a few days for proofing your artwork or design, plus time for shipping. We see many customers begin the ordering process a month before their event. We usually start making custom Christmas foil stamped photo folders before Halloween!

With a little creativity (and a lot of peeling and sticking), custom labels really can turn a blank photo folder into a one-of-a-kind branded photo souvenir.

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