Printing Terms - Volume 1

I'm not planning on listing an all existing printing terms, but I thought a few would be useful, because they pertain to wedding invitations. The following terms are processes that you can use to make your wedding invitations more exciting (from a printing standpoint). They're also useful to know when shopping for any kind of stationery or paper product.

Foil Stamp: In this process, a metallic or pigmented coating is literally stamped onto paper with a heated die. The stamping creates a slight impression, similar to what you will find with letterpress printing. Foils come in a rainbow of colors, some are metallic, some are pearly, some are matte. I'm a big fan of the foil stamp. Below are images of some of my products that use foil stamps (Collected Keepsake book and Daily Fortune Matchbook).


Emboss/Deboss: In this process, an image is pressed into the paper so that it creates a raised (emboss) or recessed (deboss) relief. You can use embossing & debossing in conjuction with inks or foil stamps, or you can use it without - which would be called a blind emboss. (Image below from about.com)


Die Cut: This terms refers to the cutting of shapes out of paper. For example, you could cut a flower shape out of paper, OR you could punch it out, and leave its negative image behind. Below are some examples from my line (Letterpressed Cupcake Cards and Die Cut Flowers).