Printing logos and labels onto silver & gold self-adhesive foil. - UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum

David G4EBT · 4th Mar 2018, 1:16 pm

A recent thread about the possibility of printing logos onto foil for the Bush DAC10, (now resolved), caught my eye.

A point worth noting is that self-adhesive peelable ink-jet printable foil paper is available in gold and silver, as well as clear and white for printing self-adhesive labels, stickers and and artwork. The downside is that you have to buy eight sheets, which is of course far too many for the occasional logo - especially one as tiny as the DAC10 logo. I've no personal experience of the paper, but videos on youtube (mostly Stateside) claim that the ink on the foil label paper is smudge-free and needs no additional protection, though I'd have thought a couple of coats of clear acrylic lacquer wouldn't be amiss. Obviously if contours are called for, the logo would have to be applied to a substrate (as mentioned in the Bush DAC10 thread, a foam plastic takeaway tray), and contoured with a blunt crafting tool to emboss it.

Here are some links, where reviews can be read, some of which are negative, but most are positive.

Gold foil:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Silhouette-.../dp/B00B3Y0U8Y

£9.99 for eight sheets plus post.

Silver foil sheets:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Silhouette-...G8QNKP5XKEQQ0S

Clear sheets:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Silhouette-...THPKF5TYQ9RYQS

White sheets:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Silhouette-...S0H088ARAPVJMA

In my experience of using an Epson ink-jet printer for printing transfers ('decals') on clear and white decal paper, and printing PCB artwork onto micro-porous film, you need to experiment with the printer settings to get optimum results and I don't doubt that this foil paper would present the same challenge. I don't personally have a need to try the foil paper at present, but thought it might be of interest to others.

kellys_eye · 4th Mar 2018, 2:21 pm

To print gold onto anything, I found that printing it in black on a laser printer then ironing gold thermal transfer paper over it makes the gold stick to ONLY the black.

You can get the gold thermal stuff quite readily - used for mug printing etc - and if your printer has an accurate, repeatable throughput alignment then overprinting after 'golding' is easily achieved for the added text etc.

Dave Moll · 4th Mar 2018, 3:49 pm

This is, of course, the reverse of the OP, where the intention is to print onto a gold or silver background. It is, however, an excellent suggestion for those occasions where gold text is required.

I used to be able to print in gold (or for that matter, silver) with a Citizen Printiva, which used a thermal dry transfer technique - for which I had both gold and silver print cartridges in addition to the normal colour ones. Unfortunately, the printer gave up the ghost many years ago, though I still have the cartridges.

4th Mar 2018, 1:16 pm	#1
David G4EBT Dekatron Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Cottingham, East Yorkshire, UK. Posts: 5,765	Printing logos and labels onto silver & gold self-adhesive foil. A recent thread about the possibility of printing logos onto foil for the Bush DAC10, (now resolved), caught my eye. A point worth noting is that self-adhesive peelable ink-jet printable foil paper is available in gold and silver, as well as clear and white for printing self-adhesive labels, stickers and and artwork. The downside is that you have to buy eight sheets, which is of course far too many for the occasional logo - especially one as tiny as the DAC10 logo. I've no personal experience of the paper, but videos on youtube (mostly Stateside) claim that the ink on the foil label paper is smudge-free and needs no additional protection, though I'd have thought a couple of coats of clear acrylic lacquer wouldn't be amiss. Obviously if contours are called for, the logo would have to be applied to a substrate (as mentioned in the Bush DAC10 thread, a foam plastic takeaway tray), and contoured with a blunt crafting tool to emboss it. Here are some links, where reviews can be read, some of which are negative, but most are positive. Gold foil: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Silhouette-.../dp/B00B3Y0U8Y £9.99 for eight sheets plus post. Silver foil sheets: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Silhouette-...G8QNKP5XKEQQ0S Clear sheets: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Silhouette-...THPKF5TYQ9RYQS White sheets: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Silhouette-...S0H088ARAPVJMA In my experience of using an Epson ink-jet printer for printing transfers ('decals') on clear and white decal paper, and printing PCB artwork onto micro-porous film, you need to experiment with the printer settings to get optimum results and I don't doubt that this foil paper would present the same challenge. I don't personally have a need to try the foil paper at present, but thought it might be of interest to others. __________________ David. BVWS Member. G-QRP Club member 1339.

4th Mar 2018, 2:21 pm	#2
kellys_eye Octode Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Oban, Scotland, UK. Posts: 1,129	Re: Printing logos and labels onto silver & gold self-adhesive foil. To print gold onto anything, I found that printing it in black on a laser printer then ironing gold thermal transfer paper over it makes the gold stick to ONLY the black. You can get the gold thermal stuff quite readily - used for mug printing etc - and if your printer has an accurate, repeatable throughput alignment then overprinting after 'golding' is easily achieved for the added text etc.

4th Mar 2018, 3:49 pm	#3
Dave Moll Dekatron Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: West Cumbria (CA13), UK Posts: 6,130	Re: Printing logos and labels onto silver & gold self-adhesive foil. This is, of course, the reverse of the OP, where the intention is to print onto a gold or silver background. It is, however, an excellent suggestion for those occasions where gold text is required. I used to be able to print in gold (or for that matter, silver) with a Citizen Printiva, which used a thermal dry transfer technique - for which I had both gold and silver print cartridges in addition to the normal colour ones. Unfortunately, the printer gave up the ghost many years ago, though I still have the cartridges. __________________ Mending is better than Ending (cf Brave New World by Aldous Huxley)