Foil Printing Tutorial
One of CatPrint's premier products is our custom foil printing. Give your wedding invitations, stationery, and art prints a luxurious look and feel.
Request a Free Sample PackOur current available foil colors are: gold foil, silver foil, rose gold foil, green foil, red foil, and iridescent foil.
To learn more about our foil printing, please visit our foil printing page.
File Setup - Projects with White Background
This setup tutorial is for projects that do not include a colored background, or any images or artwork that touch the gold foil.
You will need to provide two files:
- Foil Only File
- Non-Foil File
Foil Only
This file should have ONLY the foil elements, in solid black on a white background.
Non-Foil
This should be a separate file with ONLY the non-foil design elements.
To view a downloadable pdf of these images at a larger size, please click here.
File Setup - Projects with Backgrounds or Imagery
This foil tutorial is for projects that have imagery or backgrounds that touch the foiled area.
You will need to provide two files.
Due to natural shifting during the printing process, we have additional file setup requirements to minimize visible misalignment. During the foiling process, we apply the foil first and print the non-foil elements second. Please note that even with the additional file setup requirements, some shifting may still occur during printing.
Foil Only File
This file should have ONLY the foil elements, in solid black on a white background. Add on 1pt stroke or 3px stroke to these elements to reduce the risk of extreme shifting between the layers of foil and toner. (Approximately 1/32" of shifting may still occur, and is unavoidable.)
Non-Foil File
This should be a separate file with ONLY the non-foil design elements. Provide white space where the foil finishing will be applied. Do NOT add any additional stroke to these elements.
To view a downloadable pdf of these images at a larger size, please click here.
How to Properly Add Stroke in Photoshop or Illustrator to Your Foil Files
Adding stroke around your foiled areas helps to prevent unwanted white gaps caused by the natural shifting process when foiling.
In Photoshop
In Adobe Photoshop, in the Layers Panel click on the thumbnail square on the layer that you would like to add stroke to. A window like the one featured below should pop up.
Select the "Stroke" option on the left-hand side of the toolbar. Make sure that the color you are using to add stroke is black (#000000). The recommended size of the stroke is 3px with the stroke on the Outside.
Tip: If you have a lighter background for your design or illustration, you may not need the full 3px stroke. We highly recommend selecting a free hard-copy proof when you order your prints to see the output and determine if any adjustments need to be made.
In Illustrator
In Adobe Illustrator, make sure that the objects you would like to add foil to are selected.
In the toolbar at the top, select "Object" and go down to "Path" (towards the bottom of the toolbar). Hover over "Path" and another menu should appear. From there, click on "Offset Path".
A window like the one shown here should appear.
At this point, you will want to add in a stroke of 1pt, as shown.
Limitations of Foil Finishing
When ordering two sided foil finishing, both sides must be printed as foil only without any additional non-foil elements.