Also known as foil printing, or hot foil stamping.

• A process that uses heat and pressure to apply your logo or design with a very thin layer of pre-glued foil film to the surface of the gift box.
• First, your logo or design is etched into a metal block (also known as a die, plate or stamp).
• The metal block is fixed into the foil blocking machine and heated to a high temperature.
• Under pressure the metal block presses your selected foil film colour into the box surface in the shape of the etched design.
• Foil film is supplied on rolls and cut down to the required logo width from larger rolls.
• Traditionally foil colours were commonly gold or silver but foils are available in a wide selection of colours, including matt finishes. Copper and rose gold are currently very popular.
• Foil is most commonly used and recommended if you want a metallic shiny effect to your logo and produces a premium quality finish.
• Foils have their own colour references depending on the manufacturer. Kurz, Phillips Foils and Foilco are the most common foils used.
• Foils are not supplied as Pantone colours but we can usually find a close workable match to a Pantone reference.
• Foil is a solid colour, shading and half-tones cannot be achieved.
• Due to the application of heat and pressure, the logo is depressed slightly into the surface of the box.
• Each box is printed individually by hand, this is not an automatic process and requires a skilled printer.

Example of Brass Dies

Example of Foil Rolls

Also known as foil printing, or hot foil stamping.

• A process that uses heat and pressure to apply your logo or design with a very thin layer of pre-glued foil film to the surface of the gift box.
• First, your logo or design is etched into a metal block (also known as a die, plate or stamp).
• Each colour element of the logo requires a separate metal block.
• 2 colour foil is exactly the same process as 1 colour foil, it’s just done twice!
• The metal block is fixed into the foil blocking machine and heated to a high temperature.
• Under pressure the metal block presses your selected foil film colour into the box surface in the shape of the etched design.
• One colour is applied to all the boxes, the 1^st colour block is then removed from the machine and is set up with the 2^nd colour block for the 2^nd foil colour to be applied.
• Foil film is supplied on rolls and cut down to the required logo width from larger rolls.
• Traditionally foil colours were commonly Gold or Silver but foils are available in a wide selection of colours, including matt finishes.
• Foil is most commonly used and recommended if you want a metallic shiny effect to your logo and produces a premium quality finish.
• Foils have their own colour references depending on the manufacturer. Kurz, Phillips Foils and Foilco are the most common foils used.
• Foils are not supplied as Pantone colours but we can usually find a close workable match to a Pantone reference.
• Foil is a solid colour, shading and half-tones cannot be achieved. Your logo will need to be modified to a solid colour if it normally includes shading.
• Foil colours cannot touch or overlap because the process of applying the 2^nd colour will lift the 1^st colour off the box.
• We can achieve quite tight registration between colours but some designs are not recommended or suitable for 2 colour foil.
• Due to the application of heat and pressure, the logo is depressed slightly into the surface of the box.
• Each box is printed individually by hand, this is not an automatic process and requires a skilled printer.

Example of Brass Dies

Example of Foil Rolls

Also known as foil printing, or hot foil stamping.

• Tone on Tone foil printing is simply a description for the use of glossy foil applied to the same colour matt finish gift box - black on black, gold on gold, rose gold on rose gold, white on white etc.
• All our boxes have a matt finish, so tone on tone glossy foil looks especially good.
• It is exactly the same process and price as 1 colour foil printing, it’s just the foil is the colour of the box.
• If you use our on-line price estimate, just select 1 colour foil.
• The print process uses heat and pressure to apply your logo or design with a very thin layer of pre-glued foil film to the surface of the gift box.
• First, your logo or design is etched into a metal block (also known as a die, plate or stamp).
• The metal block is fixed into the foil blocking machine and heated to a high temperature.
• Under pressure the metal block presses the foil film colour into the box surface in the shape of the etched design.
• Foil film is supplied on rolls and cut down to the required logo width from larger rolls.
• Traditionally foil colours were most commonly gold or silver but foils are now available in a wide selection of colours and match all our box colours.
• You don’t need to specify the foil colour if you want tone on tone, we’ll match it to the box.
• Foil is a solid colour, shading and half-tones cannot be achieved. Your logo will need to be modified to a solid colour if it normally includes shading.
• Due to the application of heat and pressure, the logo is depressed slightly into the surface of the box.
• Each box is printed individually by hand, this is not an automatic process and requires a skilled printer.

Example of Brass Dies

Example of Foil Rolls

Also known as blind debossing.

Debossing presses the logo down into the surface. Embossing is where the design is raised up from the surface. Embossing is not possible on stock gift boxes.

• A process that uses heat and pressure to depress your logo or design into the surface of the gift box.
• First, your logo or design is etched into a metal block (also known as a die, plate or stamp).
• The metal block is fixed into the foil blocking machine and heated to a high temperature.
• Under pressure the metal block presses your logo into the box surface in the shape of the etched design.
• Debossing uses exactly the same process principle as Foil Printing but minus the coloured foil!
• Debossing is the same price as 1 colour Foil Printing.
• The block is usually etched deeper for debossing than it is for the application of foil.
• Large and bold designs work well for debossing. Very thin lines, tiny text and small registration marks can lose definition.
• Each box is debossed individually by hand, this is not an automatic process and requires a skilled printer.

Also known as silk screen printing.

• A process that uses liquid ink pushed through a mesh screen to apply colour in the shape of your logo to the surface of the gift box.
• Mesh is stretched over a wooden frame under tension. Historically the mesh was silk but nowadays is made from fine nylon.
• Using an emulsion scooped over the screen and exposure to intense light, the logo is burned into the emulsion. This leaves the tiny pinholes in the mesh open for the ink to pass through, while blanking off any areas that are not the logo.
• The gift box is held securely in a jig to prevent it from moving.
• The screen is placed into direct contact with the surface of the box.
• A small amount of ink is flooded into the screen frame reservoir and a flat squeegee is dragged by hand across the screen, forcing the ink through the holes in the mesh and transferring the ink to the box surface.
• The ink is dried by passing the gift box down a heat tunnel.
• The advantage of screen printing is it enables specific Pantone colour matching.
• It is a good option if your logo or design covers a large surface area of the box lid, or your logo colour is very important to your brand.
• Screen printing uses matt finish inks. Metallic Pantone inks can be used but they do not achieve a true metallic finish in the same way foil does.
• The colour of the box can affect the outcome colour of the print, so true colour matching is best achieved on a white box.
• Colours must be solid, no shades, graduations, tints or half-tones.
• Screen Printing is a manual process, not automatic. One box is printed at a time and requires a skilled printer to ensure the quality and tension of the screen and to adjust the pressure of the ink application to achieve a crisp and even print on each box.

Liquid Ink Matched to your Pantone

Pantone Matched Print Colours

Also known as silk screen printing.

• A process that uses liquid ink pushed through a mesh screen to apply colour in the shape of your logo to the surface of the gift box.
• Mesh is stretched over a wooden frame under tension. Historically the mesh was silk but nowadays is made from fine nylon.
• Using an emulsion scooped over the screen and exposure to intense light, the logo is burned into the emulsion. This leaves the tiny pinholes in the mesh open for the ink to pass through, while blanking off any areas that are not the logo.
• 2 colour screen printing is the same as 1 colour but the process is done twice, once for each colour.
• Each colour element of the logo/design requires a separate screen.
• The gift box is held securely in a jig to prevent It from moving.
• The screen is placed into direct contact with the surface of the box.
• A small amount of ink is flooded into the screen frame reservoir and a flat squeegee is dragged by hand across the screen, forcing the ink through the holes in the mesh and transferring the ink to the box surface.
• The ink is dried by passing the gift box down a heat tunnel.
• This process is repeated for the 2^nd colour and the boxes must be fully dried between each colour application.
• The advantage of screen printing is it enables specific Pantone colour matching.
• It’s a good option if your logo or design covers a large surface area of the box lid, or your logo colour is very important to your brand.
• Screen printing uses matt finish inks. Metallic Pantone inks can be used but they do not achieve a true metallic finish in the same way foil does.
• The colour of the box can affect the outcome colour of the print, so true colour matching is best achieved on paler colour boxes.
• Colours must be solid, no shades, graduations, tints or half-tones.
• Colours must not touch and ideally not overlap.
• Some logos or designs are not suitable for 2 colour screen printing and we may recommend digital printing once we see your artwork.
• Screen Printing is a manual process, not automatic. One box is printed at a time and requires a skilled printer to ensure the quality and tension of the screen and to adjust the pressure of the ink application to achieve a crisp and even print on each box.

Liquid Ink Matched to your Pantone

Pantone Matched Print Colours

Also known as full colour, four colour process, or CMYK

• Digital printing is for the reproduction of photographs, multi-colour graphics, or logos that have shades, tones, graduations and fine details.
• Digital printing works best on white or ivory boxes. Some designs, but not all, can be printed onto black boxes. We will help you with this decision after we see your artwork or proposed design.
• It can also be used for 2 colours if registration is very tight, or the design requires shading that cannot be achieved with screen or foil print methods.
• Digital print requires your graphics be in a CMYK format. It cannot use RGB images. Check with your designer for help with this.
• CMYK means the image is only made up of 4 colours, Cyan (blue), Magenta (pink/red), Yellow and Key = Black.
• All images can be reproduced by layering and overlapping tiny dots of these 4 colours. You can see these tiny dots if you look at a digital print through a magnifying glass. The dots cannot be seen by the naked eye and instead you see the dots as a solid colour and a complete image.
• A digital print machine is similar to your office inkjet printer, but much larger and far more expensive. It uses the same four ink colours but is much more sophisticated.
• If your multi-colour image uses Pantone colours we can usually achieve a close match if you specify them as the target colours.
• Each box is printed individually. The gift box is loaded into the machine one at a time and aligned precisely so that your image appears exactly as you’d like.
• Each digital print project requires that the machine be set up and calibrated for your design, so there is a one-time cost, called ‘origination’.
• Digital print does not use physical plates or screens.

Linen Tester and CMYK Colours