How to make a cliche for imprinting on metal. Making clichés for embossing at home

Logos and advertising stamps are used by companies and individuals to express their individuality. Original gifts or personal items should also bear the imprint of the personality of their owner. Therefore, embossing on leather products is popular, but often this service is unaffordable. Making cliches for embossing on leather is also possible at home.

Embossing refers to the hot or cold pressing of a polymer film or foil onto leather or leatherette to improve the appearance of the material. Thanks to production printing, products acquire individuality.

Companies whose list of services includes the production of cliches for embossing on leather and the creation of impressions, They offer several types of embossing:

• metallized foil;
• blind;
• heating (with or without foil).

A laminator is used in production. All you have to do is find a suitable design, print it out and place a sheet of paper with the pattern facing up on the material. It is covered with foil and paper on top, and this stack is passed through a laminator. The foil and paper are removed from the skin slowly. At home, the laminator can be easily replaced with an iron. The foil is placed on the sheet with the pattern, matte side up., cover with a sheet of paper and iron with a warm iron for several minutes. If the design is not printed, then the heating temperature of the iron is increased.

To stamp leather with foil you will need a stamp. The product is covered with foil, ironed with a hot iron and a stamp is immediately applied. The cliché is held for about a minute. The metal inscription is almost impossible to remove, so it is better to practice on paper or unnecessary pieces of leather.

Blind embossing is used on leather and textured paper. In this case, a polymer film is used, not foil. The hot press gives leather and paper products a better smoothing or glossy shine.

With an embossed print without foil, a convex image is obtained by pressing the skin between the stamp and the counter part. The reverse procedure makes it possible to obtain a concave image. Using foil involves embossing in two stages: pressing the foil itself and forming the relief. The process takes place at high temperature.

Features of stamps on leather

Leather is one of the most wear-resistant materials and is used to make various items: shoes, clothing, office supplies, document covers, cases. Procedures for processing and decorating leather and leatherette must be of high quality, which is why embossing is used.

Its main advantages:

Making cliches

A cliche (matrix) is a printing form with a relief pattern. It is pressed onto the material to produce an inscription or stamp. The matrix is ​​made of various metals, silicone rubber or polymers.

Brass stamps are used for stamps on printed products. Brass allows you to create high embossing elements due to its rigidity, and the inscriptions themselves can be made at different depths. The material easily conducts heat, which allows it to be used when working with leather, wood and soft metals.

For soft materials, magnesium matrices are suitable. The magnesium plate itself is very thin, but the height of the elements can be significant. Magnesium cliches leave deep stamps on leather covers, diaries, and notepads.

You can make a stamp for cold or hot stamping with your own hands. The production uses special machines that cost several thousand dollars. But in hardware stores you can purchase the necessary equipment for little money.

The cold stamping print is made by using a noodle cutting machine and rolling out the dough. It is necessary to choose models that allow you to adjust the rolling thickness up to 6 mm. A cheaper option is a device for rolling out polymer clay or plasticine, but it does not have knives for cutting dough. You can buy the machine at office supply stores. A paper embossing machine is also suitable. In this case, the cliche is made by rolling it between metal presses or device shafts.

Hot stamping is done with an iron cliche. But when making it yourself, it is better to use a thermoplastic polymer.

You will need the following materials:

• the polymer itself;
• glass plate;
• container for making a mold;
• plaster or alabaster;
• needle, scalpel or toothpick.

First you need to make a blank for the casting mold. You can take a paper or plastic cup for yogurt or sour cream. The container is cut into a ring 2-3 cm high. It is fixed to an organic glass plate using plasticine. In a separate container, mix the alabaster solution and pour it into the prepared ring by 1-1.5 cm. It is better to prepare several forms that you don’t mind ruining when working with cliches. After 30-40 minutes, the alabaster is removed from the mold. It should dry within 2-3 days until white.

During this time, you need to prepare the inscription itself. The thickness of the lines should not exceed 1 mm, it is better not to use small parts. The design is applied to a frozen alabaster form using carbon paper. After this, the pattern lines are deepened into the plaster by 1-2 mm, using an electric engraver, scalpel, needle or even a toothpick. The surface of the alabaster is lubricated with any vegetable oil, carefully pouring it into the recesses. Excess is removed with a paper napkin.

It is better to cast cliches from the material used to make glue sticks. It is highly resistant to oils, water, solvents and paints. Cardboard sides are glued to the gypsum disk to prevent the polymer from spreading. The liquid material is poured onto the alabaster to a depth of about 0.5 cm, heated with a construction hairdryer for better penetration into the recesses.

The polymer is removed from the mold after 10-15 minutes. When lit from the side, it is easy to notice the lines of the cliche pattern. It is better to cut off excess material with a stationery knife, otherwise the surface of the cliche will sag. The finished stamp is dipped in ink and the first impression is made on paper or soft leather.

Detailed instructions allow you to make an embossing cliche and use it to apply stamps or small inscriptions on soft materials. If you have a ready-made metal mold with an engraving on the bottom, you can make brass or tin dies, but polymer makes it possible to create clichés with unique patterns.

Foil stamping is mainly used to give souvenirs and gift printed products individuality and originality. They decorate business cards, postcards, folders, notepads, bags, leather goods, etc. in this way. There are several methods of printing with foil, differing in the method and material of application. Technologically, embossing is not a particularly complicated procedure. You can decorate any souvenirs in this way even at home.

Foil stamping methods

You can do something like this in two ways:

• using a laminator;
• iron.

How to apply a design using a laminator

To print in this case, you will need, in addition to a laminator, it is better if it is not full-color, but regular. As for the laminator, it is worth purchasing a model with a very high compression force. You will also need tone-sensitive foil. If desired, you can use either matte or glossy, or holographic.

It is best to use plain paper. Textured or special decorative ones for embossing at home are not very suitable. When using such material, the drawing will turn out sloppy and ugly. In the recesses of this type of paper, the metal simply will not stick.

Foil stamping using a laminator is done as follows:

• Find a beautiful vector pattern or ornament. You can also write in some program, for example in Photoshop, the appropriate text in the original font. It is only desirable that it not be too thin.
• Print the drawing on a printer.
• Place a sheet of paper with a pattern or message on the table and cover it with metallic foil of any color.
• Place another sheet of clean paper on top of it.
• Pass the resulting “pie” through a laminator. Thin foil will definitely stick to the picture. If the pattern turns out to be sloppy and intermittent, the procedure can be repeated. Run the sheets through the laminator until you are satisfied with the result.

The material must be removed from the sheet carefully, slowly.

Foil stamping at home with an iron

Of course, not every household has a laminator. This device is inexpensive, but it is not necessary to buy it in order to make beautiful embossing. You can also use a regular iron for this purpose. With regard to the inscription or pattern, the procedure in this case will be exactly the same as when embossing with a laminator.

The printed sheet should be placed on a hard surface with the pattern facing up. The foil is placed on it with the wrong side down. That is, the shiny side should be on top.

The iron is set to minimum heat. They need to move them along the foil as carefully as possible. If it does not stick to the pattern, increase the heat setting a little. You need to iron the foil for about 2 minutes until the thin metal sticks to the heated paint. Do not remove the foil from the sheet immediately. Wait until it cools down.

Embossing on leather

Using the technology that will be presented below, you can decorate almost any leather product: bag, boots, wallet, notebook, belt, etc. To complete the design in this case, you will need a cliche - a special stamp with a pattern. You can take, for example, some large metal button. The procedure for foil stamping in this case is as follows:

• The skin is placed on a hard surface.
• A small rectangle is cut from the foil (the size of the future drawing). It needs to be applied to the skin.
• Next, heat the iron and press it onto the foil. You need to keep the hot sole on the material for about a minute.
• After the thin metal has warmed up well, the iron is removed.
• Without waiting for the workpiece to cool, you need to attach a button to it and press down firmly. The “cliché” should be kept on the skin for at least 30 seconds.

Foil stamping on leather at home is a simple procedure, but in any case, it’s still worth practicing on an unnecessary piece of material first. If you underexpose the iron or stamp, the design will turn out sloppy. Removing foil from a bag or wallet will be quite problematic.

Embossing printer

Today, if you wish, you can purchase special electronics for making inscriptions and patterns with thin metal. This is a so-called hot foil stamping printer. It connects directly to the computer via a USB connector. Of course, this device is not very similar to a regular printer. The foil in it is wound on two shafts located on both sides of the working part. Below them is a movable flat solid surface. The device comes with a disk containing software specially designed for printing.

Of course, a foil stamping printer is not cheap. Yes, and buying it is still quite problematic.

Industrial embossing

So, we found out how to decorate souvenirs, things or cards using foil. Now, for general development, let's talk about how embossing is done in an industrial setting. In this case, of course, much more complex, professional equipment is used, for example, a foil stamping press. The procedure itself is carried out in compliance with specially developed technologies.

In fact, foil stamping is nothing more than a type of printing. The only peculiarity is that the drawing or inscription is applied using thin metal rather than paint. When embossing in this case, the letterpress method is usually used. This means that those parts that are directly responsible for the pattern itself protrude above the surface of the cliche stamp. The industrial stamping procedure is performed as follows:

• The printing plate is heated using electricity. The required temperature is maintained using a thermostat.
• With each working stroke, a strip of multilayer foil, designed specifically for embossing, moves a specified distance. This process is called pulling.

That is, when using such serious equipment as a foil stamping press, the procedure for applying a pattern is carried out approximately according to the same principle as when using a printer.

How to make a cliche for embossing using an industrial method

Foil stamping technology involves the use of special wear-resistant and durable stamps. Cliches for such decoration can also be made in different ways and from different metals. The design is applied to the surface either by mechanical engraving or chemical etching. Clichés are usually made from metals such as brass, magnesium, copper and zinc. Most often the first two materials. Magnesium clichés are used if stamping is not required for a very large batch of products. The wear resistance of such dies is not particularly high.

Brass foil stamping dies are used to process large quantities of products. Copper and zinc are rarely used, which is mainly due to environmental problems.

Types of foil used for industrial stamping

When applying printing, enterprises use a variety of materials. This could be foil:

• Metallized. This is a well-known shiny material: golden, silver, bronze. Using such foil, you can create both concave and convex patterns.
• Pigmented. After embossing, this variety looks like ordinary paint.
• Transparent varnish. This type of material is used to emboss matte surfaces. After its application, a spectacular shiny pattern remains on the product.
• Texture. This foil can imitate different materials: wood, leather, stone, etc.
• one of the most interesting types of material. Holographic foil stamping is performed, for example, on banknotes to prevent counterfeiting.
• Scratch foil. This type is used to temporarily protect information from being read.
• Diffraction foil. Used for printing on plastic.
• Magnetic. Used in the manufacture of credit cards.

Material for cold and hot stamping

All foil can be divided into two main types:

• Designed for cold stamping. Using this foil, you can print on products that cannot withstand elevated temperatures. Typically these are thin films intended for the manufacture of bags and packaging. The advantageous difference between a procedure such as cold foil stamping and the “hot” method is that this method can produce designs with halftones.
• Designed for hot stamping. This variety is used most often in industry. The types discussed above belong specifically to this group.

Using foil stamping, you can apply patterns, logos, drawings, advertising and greeting inscriptions, panels, etc. to products. The technology for performing such printing is simple, and the procedure itself is characterized by low cost.

Hot stamping, which is performed on leather, is one of the types of artistic changes in the texture of various surfaces under the pressure of a cliché with a certain ornament or inscription. This embossing is most often used on leather, paper, cardboard, and textiles. Each material has its own temperature level; in order to get an excellent result, it is necessary to make several temperature tests of embossing. After exposure to a cliché heated to the required temperature, a design, ornament or inscription will be imprinted on the surface of the product.

The hot stamping method allows you to decorate leather items, accessories or shoes, giving them a unique and expensive look. Embossing on a leather surface with gold or silver turns the simplest, most ordinary accessory into a truly luxurious one.

In order to perform hot stamping at home, it is not necessary to have a special machine or plates; it is enough to know what materials and devices are needed for this. Learn more in our master class using an ordinary metal button as an example.

We study the main types of hot stamping on leather

Blind or embossed hot stamping is obtained on leather using heated flat stamps; sometimes such stamping is performed without heating. Prints are characterized by a smooth surface, which most often changes color.

When using hot embossing, a multi-level pattern is obtained with a convex-concave relief, which is obtained as a result of compression of leather or leatherette between a heated stamp and a counter-stamp. Typically, such embossing is performed in special presses or crucible printing machines. Embossing technology does not involve the use of paint or foil.

If gold, silver or multi-colored foil is used in embossing, then it is embossed foil stamping. In addition, the concepts of “foiling” and “foil stamping” do not mean the same thing; they are different hot stamping techniques, although they have a lot of similarities. For foil stamping, one stamp is made, which is used to create identical prints in multiple quantities. If several different prints are required in one copy, foil is used. This embossing allows you to successfully print modest-sized editions of wedding invitations, postcards or business cards in small printing shops that do not have special equipment for this. Quite fast and reliable method.

How to make hot stamping with your own hands at home

We present to your attention a small master class on how to make a hot print with your own hands using foil.

To work you will need:

• A sufficiently hard, flat surface, for example, a wooden board of a suitable size
• Thermal foil for embossing
• Metal button

For a beautiful ornament or inscription on leather/leatherette, you will need to purchase or order a cliche, but for the first time, to understand what embossing is and how to make it, you can use an ordinary metal button. The sequence of the master class will be described on the use of just such a button.

Leather or leather substitute is laid on a hard, flat surface. A small piece of thermal foil is placed on the surface of the skin, the size of the future design or ornament, in our case it is a 2x2 cm square the size of a button.

An iron heated to 200 degrees Celsius is placed with a corner on the foil and presses it against the skin for about a minute. After the foil has warmed up well, remove the iron from its surface.

Immediately after removing the iron from the leather surface, a metal button-stamp is placed on it and pressed with force for about a minute or two. After the leather has cooled, you can remove the button.

As you can see, foil stamping using an iron at home is very easy to do. The first time or two, to get ideal results in the future, try making an impression on an unnecessary piece of leather. A prerequisite for a high-quality print is holding the iron heated to the required temperature for sufficient time and pressing the cliche into the surface of the material. If there is insufficient retention of one or the other, the pattern on the leather surface will turn out to have uneven edges and an unpresentable appearance, and removing the foil will become problematic. By the way, about foil. It must be thermal for embossing, otherwise you will get a very disastrous result with cloudy marks on the product that cannot be removed. The foil can be replaced with a special protective film for embossing, which is multi-layered and therefore can be used repeatedly.

This print is made using cliches and protective film for embossing.

Video on the topic of the article

We bring to your attention several video clips that will tell and show how to make foiling with an iron at home, how cliches are created and how to do hot stamping with your own hands.

Cliche - product marking

Cliche is a printing form used for making images, embossing and patterns, for example, coats of arms for printing. They are a small plate where the applied symbols are convex and the spaces between them are deepened. This way you can apply text and designs to leather, paper, cardboard, wood and plastic.

Depending on the required circulation, clichés are made from various materials, since not all are equally able to withstand the pressure exerted by the printing machine.

Use and types of cliches

Cliché for printing are used as part of printing units, which forms the image. They are replaceable, so if necessary, you can completely change the format and appearance of the products issued. Based on the material used, production can be divided into:

• photopolymer - a cheap type of cliche, suitable for “one-time” use. Capable of printing up to 5 thousand units of printed products, which is the smallest possible value. Used for blind or flat embossing. The relief depth ranges from 0.5 to 1.5 mm, which is also one of the smaller indicators. The advantages are that they are made quickly, cheap, and it is easier to control the quality of the process of their creation than with other types;
• magnesium - more expensive cliches, with which you can print from 10 to 50 thousand copies. The relief depth is 2–3 mm; they are used for blind and flat embossing, but only on smooth materials. Typically, magnesium clichés are used to create thin and small images. They are one of the best combinations of price, ease of production and possible circulation;
• zinc - a classic cliche that was previously used everywhere, and still, by inertia, enjoys well-deserved fame. Used for manual blind stamping and foil stamping. The height of the surface relief is about 1.5 mm; up to 20 thousand impressions can be made. The production of zinc cliches is toxic, so the demand for them is still falling;
• silicone ones are even more productive, producing up to 100 thousand impressions. Used for embossing uneven surfaces or plastics. The depth of the relief varies and can reach 4 mm. The advantages of this type of cliche include the fact that silicone is soft, therefore, it handles the material more carefully, which makes it the only possible option for embossing fragile objects, for example, plastic;
• brass is one of the most expensive types of clichés, capable of creating up to 400 thousand impressions. In this case, the depth of the relief can reach different values, which are adjusted during manufacturing. Used for embossing and flat stamping on a large scale. The advantages of this material are that it is strong, practically does not deform, the quality is perfect even on the second hundred thousand of printed products;
• copper - a cliché for the production of large volumes of products. They are capable of creating up to 700 thousand impressions, and if the cliches are additionally chrome-plated, then a whole million. The copper cliche is well suited for blind, embossing and flat stamping, and it can be installed in high-speed machines. The relief depth is 1 mm, but larger values ​​can be achieved by engraving. The main advantage of such clichés is that they retain their shape even under strong heating, which is why they can be used in high-speed automatic presses;
• steel clichés are productive and durable clichés; they can be used to produce over a million prints. They are used for flat embossing on hard types of cardboard in automatic presses.

Making cliches

Printing clichés are made in different ways, differing in price, and may not be suitable for a particular material. There are currently 4 production options:

• photopolymerization is a cheap, fast and simple manufacturing method. It only requires a mock-up of the image on the cliche. The pattern applied to the film is illuminated with ultraviolet light and then washed, thereby removing all excess. In total, this procedure takes one hour;
• vulcanization - suitable for making silicone cliches. Silicone is poured into a mold made according to the customer’s sketches and compressed under great pressure, and the vulcanizing agent secures the contours of the future cliche;
• chemical etching - used to create cliches from magnesium, zinc and copper. The pattern on the cliche is burned out with acids in chambers. This is a productive and quick method, but is toxic and requires proper waste disposal. Chemical etching is often complemented by manual milling;
• laser engraving - used for cliches made of hard metals. Both manual and automatic engraving are used. The laser is today the most precise instrument, so the cliches produced will coincide with the plan down to hundredths of a millimeter. This is also an environmentally friendly option for producing cliches, but, alas, you have to pay more for this than for all other production methods.

Where can I order the production of cliches?

Of course, at RPK BrandPrint! The cliche is a key link in the embossing procedure, and if an error is made during its creation, it will appear throughout the entire production run. This scenario is impossible, so order the production of cliches from those companies that guarantee the highest quality of their services. For example, RPK BrandPrint can provide a guarantee for its products, not only in words, but also in deeds.

We employ qualified specialists who, using equipment, create clichés of ideal quality. At the same time, we will deliver them to you anywhere in Russia and countries included in the Customs Union. The cliché from RPK "BrandPrint" is not only a favorable price, but also the quality, strength and durability of the product!

How to make a cliche for embossing?

An embossing cliche is an excellent device, thanks to which you can refine, for example, leather products by creating various prints on them in the form of patterns and paintings. There are entire machines for such work, but you can create cliches yourself in the form of separate small relief plates. Of course, this will require some skills, but in general almost anyone can do it. So what does it take to create a cliché?

The easiest way to create a cliché for embossing is by casting from low-melting metals. If you have such skills, this procedure will not be difficult. Using casting you can create a whole set of different cliches.

First, you will need a mold into which the liquid metal will be poured. The shape can be created using wax or sculptural plasticine. All patterns will have to be sculpted from plasticine by hand, which is not particularly convenient. Working with wax is more interesting and simpler: using special cutters, any patterns are cut out and scraped out. For beginners, of course, simpler patterns are suitable, where you don’t need to tinker with small details for a long time.

After the mold is ready, tin or lead is poured into it. Lead is more suitable for simple forms, where there are no very small details. Tin has good fluidity, so it can be used for the most complex patterns. This metal can smoothly and beautifully fill all the details.

It is important to take into account the fact that in addition to good melting, tin and lead are also very soft metals. Therefore, you should not make a relief with a relief that is too high and thin - it can easily break during the work. But in this property of these metals one can also find a plus - this is the opportunity to refine and polish the cliche. Where to file, where to round, and where to symmetrically correct the pattern.