Foil printing has become an increasingly popular way to add some extra flair and luxury to custom playing cards. The metallic sheen from foil creates a shiny, eye-catching effect that makes playing cards stand out. But what exactly is foil printing? And how does it work with playing cards specifically? In this post, as a professional custom playing card printing manufacturer, I’ll break down everything you need to know about foil printing playing cards.
What is Foil Printing in Playing Cards?
Foil printing is a specialty printing technique that transfers metallic foil onto paper or card stock. It’s done by applying heat and pressure to make the foil adhere permanently to the surface below.
How Foil Printing Works
There are a few different methods of foil printing, but the main ones used for playing cards are:
Hot Stamping – This uses a heated die to essentially stamp the foil onto the cards. The die’s imprint shape gets transferred, so it works well for bold designs or large areas of foil.
Cold Foiling – Instead of heat, this uses an adhesive to make the foil stick. It allows for more detailed and precise foil application.
Digital Foiling – This method prints and heats toner, making it sticky so foil will adhere to it. It’s the most advanced option, enabling complex foil designs.
So in summary – foil printing takes metallic foil and adheres it to playing cards through heat, adhesive, or digitally printed glue-like toner.
Why Use Foil Printed Playing Cards
There’s a few key reasons to consider using foil printing in your custom deck:
- Visual Impact – The shiny, reflective surface attracts attention and makes designs pop. Foil printed cards have an automatic sense of luxury.
- Durability – Modern foil printing holds up well to shuffling and gameplay without wearing down too quickly. It’s very durable compared to the past.
- Creativity – Newer processes like cold and digital foiling allow for more intricate and colorful foil use compared to just large hot stamped areas.
- Affordability – What used to be very costly has become much more affordable, making stunning foil effects possible even on lower quantity orders.
Essentially, foil printing has evolved to a point where any deck can achieve beautiful metallic accents without breaking the bank or compromising card quality.
Popular Uses of Foil in Playing Cards
Some of the most common ways that designers use foil printing on custom decks include:
- Card Backs – Entire card backs can be foil printed, usually done with a single color like silver or gold for a mirror-like look.
- Card Faces – Foil accents on faces for pips, courts, logos etc. Cold foiling allows multi-color effects here.
- Card Edges – Foil edging looks amazing when fanning and can use rainbow spectra style colors.
- Tuck Boxes – Shiny foil box printing complements and matches foil card designs. Embossing combines well too.
- Accessories – Foil can even be used on custom tokens, coins or other accessories to extend luxury styling.
When used creatively on backs, faces, edges, boxes and other elements, foil printing playing cards can achieve truly spectacular results.
Should You Use Foil in Your Deck?
Hopefully now you have a good understanding of what modern foil printing techniques make possible today. The visual style and impact possible is hard to match.
But should YOU use it for your own custom playing cards? Here are a few quick questions to help decide:
- Target Audience – Are you selling to cardists, collectors, magic users or gamers? Some may appreciate foil more than others.
- Playing Card Style – Vintage, minimalist or courts-only decks may not suit foil accents as well as more colorful contemporary styles.
- Budget – Foil still costs more than basic card printing, so make sure it fits within your deck funding and business goals.
- Card Handling – Will foil negatively impact essential card handling for your audience? Some gamers may prefer non-foil.
If your deck style, audience and budget can benefit from and handle it though, foil printed playing cards can be an excellent choice to make your custom deck truly eye catching and unique in a sea of new decks.
When used with care, foil printing gives your playing cards an automatic sense of style and luxury – what’s not to love? It ultimately comes down to doing what’s right for your specific deck and brand vision.
I hope this overview gave you a good understanding of how foil printing for playing cards works though, and the possibilities it enables today! Let me know if you have any other questions.