MyBinding Knowledge Base
Laminating Foil: How to Use It to Make Your Documents Stand Out
One of the best ways to make your documents and crafts stand out is by decorating them with foil accents. This can add an eye-catching touch to a number of materials including business cards, report covers, photo albums, party invitations, greeting cards, certificates, and more.
It used to be expensive to have items accented with foil and it usually involved having your materials processed by a third party. However, it’s now possible to do this in the comfort of your home or office thanks to the production of laminating foil. This article will look at the benefits of laminating foil and how you can add pizzazz to your documents with this type of product and your pouch laminator.
Laminating foil is designed for use with your pouch laminator. It comes in rolls that are either 8” or 12” inches wide and 100 feet long. There are a lot of great colors available including the old standards (black, blue, red, yellow) as well as metallics (silver, gold, even holographic) and vibrant hues such as purple, pink, turquoise, and so on.
You’ll need a pouch laminator to use laminating foil. Some great ones to use include the GBC HeatSeal H600 and 700. The Speedy-Lam 330R-10 from James Burn is also a great choice. Once you have your machine and your foil, you can get started. Here’s what you need to do:
- Print your text or design with a laser printer – not an ink-jet one. The foil will only adhere to laser printer toner and not a water- or wax-based ink like the kind you use with ink-jet printers. However, if you only have access to an ink-jet printer, you can try copying the image or text on a photocopier and trying that instead.
- Once your print-out is ready to go, get your laminating foil and cut out a piece that will full cover the area of your document you want to work with. Also, make sure your laminator is ready to go and that it has warmed up completely (if necessary). The ideal temperature for this type of application is approximately 250 degrees Fahrenheit. Your machine’s rollers should be turning slowly.
- Place your document (with the foil) on it in a laminating carrier that’s larger than the document. This is to ensure that the foil won’t accidentally come into contact with the machine’s rollers. (This is bad for the device and can do some real damage.) Insert the carrier into the laminator.
- After the carrier comes out, give your document a few minutes to cool off. You can then peel back the foil and see how great your document looks.
Using laminating foil is easy and it will give your materials a high-class look that everyone will love. All you need is your documents, a roll of foil, and your pouch laminator and you’ll be ready to go. Be sure to follow the instructions in this article to ensure the process goes as smoothly as possible. Good luck!
< Over the years, a number of customers have asked me whether they can use twin loop wire with their plastic comb binding machine. These customers often don’t want to have to buy a brand new machine but like the look and feel of twin loop wire binding. However, the answer to their question isn’t as simple as it seems. You see, they actually do make twin loop wire that is designed to work with the plastic comb binding hole pattern. With that said, if you want to use these wires you are going to need a way to close the wires. What is Spiral-O Wire? Let me explain a little bit more…There is a product that we carry called Spiral-O Wire. This wire has 19 loops and is designed to work with the hole pattern from a plastic comb binding machine. Spiral-O Wire is sometimes called Wire Combs or Ibico Wire and was originally designed for use with some of the older Ibico binding machines. A number of the older Ibico plastic comb binding machines also included a twin loop wire closer on the front of them to allow users to use both plastic combs and wire. This 19 loop wire was designed for this purpose. What Equipment is Needed? As the Ibico brand has been phased out by GBC and all of the older Ibico plastic binding machines have been replaced with new models, they no longer have the twin loop wire closer on the front of them. This presents a problem in trying to use these spiral-o wires since you can’t use the wires without a way to close them. One of the only options left is to purchase a Twin Loop wire closer. However, since twin loop wire closers are not incredibly cheap this option usually only appeals to users who have larger electric plastic comb binding machines. Otherwise, it is often advisable to simply buy a low end 3:1 pitch twin loop wire binding machine (the supplies are cheaper). This being said, if you have one of the older Ibico binding machines that has a wire closer included you are in luck. The Spiral-O binding supplies that we carry will work perfectly with your machine and you will be able to use both plastic combs and wire depending on your needs. These Spiral-O binding supplies are available in Black, Silver, White, Blue and Red and in sizes up to 1″ in diameter. If you aren’t sure what type of wire binding supplies that you need to work with your machine simply give us a call. Our trained sales representatives will be glad to help you find the correct supplies for use with your machine.(Read More)
