Gold laser foil

[Jeff Chumbley]

Has anyone used the gold laser foil to create the embossing look on leather? The possible order that I have involves a couple hundred leather bookmarks that the customer wants a website in 1/4" lettering on it using the gold foil.
1. I'm not sure how durable that will be.
2. I cannot see how feasible it will be to the customer. I see ALOT!! of weeding here.
Any thoughts?

[Joe Pelonio]

To clarify for some people, there's a "laser foil" made for use with a laser printer, where the foil will stick to the toner on the paper and turn it gold, but not to the rest of the paper.

The laser foil of the type sold by laserbits and others is nothing more than a film similar to the vinyl we plotter cut for signs that is laser friendly. The best use for it is to stick it onto a non-porous surface such as acrylic or finished wood, then rastor away the background, leaving the colored (gold) letters. That would not hold up on leather. The adhesive on it and the fact that it's stiff and leather is porous would prevent it from sticking well enough to vector and weed except for maybe a very stiff leather that's not going to get a lot of handling, like a journal or other flat book cover. I'd suggest instead (at a higher price) applying a strong masking tape like 3M 2040, rastor through it and paint fill.

[Bill Cunningham]

Has anyone used the gold laser foil to create the embossing look on leather? The possible order that I have involves a couple hundred leather bookmarks that the customer wants a website in 1/4" lettering on it using the gold foil.
1. I'm not sure how durable that will be.
2. I cannot see how feasible it will be to the customer. I see ALOT!! of weeding here.
Any thoughts?

Leather craft shops also have many stains that are used on leather.. This will probably work better than a paint fill, just use enough power to get through the mask, and not char the leather.. Other than stain which is best for back grounds etc.., Hot stamping is the best way to put colour, particularly gold text/logos on leather..

[Mike Null]

Hotstamping is the way.

[Jeff Chumbley]

Looking at hot stamping now. Any job shops that I could use?