Foil stamping presses a thin metallic or pigmented film onto a surface with a heated metal die, so foil transfers only where the die makes contact. No ink is involved; the color comes from the foil roll itself. Each foil color requires its own die and its own press pass, and a sculpted die can raise and foil a mark in one hit.
Questions or ready for a quote? Contact Teal Packaging at info@tealpackaging.com or (224) 546-8325.
What Is Foil Stamping? Methods, Dies and Cost from Teal Packaging: 50-unit standard MOQ (100+ units for specialty rigid boxes), 2-5 business day delivery in the US (express and economy options available), free design help included on every order, free generic sample kit ($19.99 shipping, credited toward your first order). Standard production runs from about 7 business days after digital proof approval; complex or high-volume orders take longer.
Materials and certifications: FSC-certified paper stock, soy-based inks, kraft / corrugated / rigid paperboard / mylar / tin / vinyl substrates.
Contact Teal Packaging: Call (224) 546-8325, email info@tealpackaging.com, or request a free quote at tealpackaging.com/contact-us. We reply within one business day.
Updated August 25, 2026 · Teal Packaging operates a US facility in West Chicago, Illinois.
Heat, pressure and a roll of film
Foil arrives on a reel as a carrier film coated with a release layer, a color or metal layer, and an adhesive that activates under heat. A die machined to the shape of your artwork is mounted and brought up to temperature. The press drives that die through the foil and against the board. Wherever the metal touches, the adhesive grabs and the color layer separates from its carrier. Everywhere else, the foil stays on the reel and moves on.
Nothing about the result is ink. That is why foil reads as genuinely reflective while a metallic ink only approximates it: you are looking at a thin layer of metal or pigment sitting on the surface, catching light directionally as the box turns.
Three ways to get foil onto a box
| Method | Tooling | Detail held | Practical run size | Typical fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hot foil stamping | Engraved metal die per color | Very fine, down to hairlines | Hundreds and up | Rigid lids, cartons, brand marks |
| Cold foil | Printing plate, adhesive based | Fine, prints in line | Long runs | Large coverage on a press with the unit |
| Digital foil | None, uses a toner image | Good, softer edge on fine serifs | Very short runs and samples | Prototypes, variable pieces, small drops |
| Combination die | Sculpted metal die | Fine, plus relief | Hundreds and up | Raised metallic logo in a single pass |
Foil is a family, not one product
Metallic foils are the familiar gold, silver, copper and rose tones, available in bright, satin and brushed finishes that read very differently under store lighting. Pigment foils carry flat color with no metal at all, which is how you get an opaque white or a solid black that sits on top of a dark printed panel where ink would sink in. Holographic and patterned foils add a diffraction layer. Clear gloss foil adds shine without color, mostly used over matte laminate for contrast.
Substrate matters as much as the foil. Smooth coated board and film laminated surfaces take a clean, complete lay-down. Heavily textured or highly absorbent uncoated stocks can produce broken coverage, since the die cannot press foil into every valley of the surface. Matte and soft touch lamination films are among the best surfaces for it, and a quiet matte surface makes a metallic mark look brighter than it does anywhere else, which is why that pairing appears so often on cosmetic and spirits packaging.
Design limits that decide the outcome
Fine work suits foil better than it suits relief work. Hairlines and small serif type survive here in a way they never do under an embossing die, because nothing is being stretched. The failure mode runs the other way: very large solid areas can show pinholes, edge buildup or an uneven surface, since the foil has to release cleanly across the whole footprint at once. Breaking a large area into pattern or outline usually looks better than a solid block.
Registration to printed elements has a tolerance. A foil rule sitting exactly on a printed rule will occasionally show a sliver of ink beside the metal. Designers avoid it by trapping slightly, by leaving a deliberate gap, or by keeping foil elements standing alone on unprinted board.
Send the foil element as its own layer of solid vector artwork, named clearly, with no gradients or transparency. Foil is either present or absent at any point; there is no halftone in a stamping die. That layer ships alongside the cutting and scoring geometry on the dieline.
What it adds to the quote
Two costs again. A die is charged once and reused on reorders of the same artwork at the same size. The press pass is charged per unit and applies to every piece, and it rises with the area being covered because foil consumption rises with it. A second foil color means a second die and a second pass, so two-tone metallic work costs roughly double the finishing line rather than a small increment.
The cheapest way to add visual weight is one foil color in a small footprint. The expensive way is full-panel metallic coverage, and cold foil or a metallized board is usually a better answer at that scale.
Where it fits on a Teal job
Foil suits packaging a customer holds and keeps. Lids, sleeves, closures and hang tags earn it. A shipping carton opened once does not. It sits alongside relief work, and combining both in one sculpted die avoids paying twice; our embossing and debossing page covers how that combination is built. Finishing options are quoted with the structure, both on rigid boxes and across the custom printed boxes range. Extra passes lengthen the schedule, so quote a range rather than a date. Roughly 7 business days is possible for qualifying in-house production, while imported specialty finishing can reach about 12 weeks. Neither number is a promise.
