I wrote awhile back about trying to iron metallic foil onto laser-printed paper. See this post and this post for my first attempts and how I ended up working with this stuff. I don't think stationery is its intended use, but I like experiments. Recently I ran out of birthday cards, so I tried to make some quick foiled options. Foiled being the key word— most of my prints didn't turn out very well and went into the trash.
Using this metallic foil on paper has been hit or miss for me, probably because I'm too cheap to buy this laminator and modify it like the company recommends. I keep trying to make my iron work. I've gotten one or two nearly perfect prints, some decent ones, and A LOT of bad ones where some of the foil doesn't adhere. Here are the best results from my latest attempt.
This project uses metallic film from DecalPro FX. Using my home black-and-white laser printer, I printed black lettering onto cardstock. I laid a roughly-cut piece of metallic foil on top of the printed design. With my iron set on #2, the nylon setting, I slowly, smoothly ran my iron over the foil, pressing very hard. A few sheets of cardboard under the print protected my table.
After the foil was ironed on, I peeled off the excess around the edges, leaving shiny letters where the film adhered to the toner.
You can see these aren't perfect— there are little black flecks showing where no foil stuck to the toner. Among the many variables that can affect outcomes are the type of toner your printer uses, and even the type of paper seems to make a difference. (Heating the toner with a hairdryer first has no affect; I tried that.) I still like the idea of making cards this way. Maybe I'll try again another day or look for another product that might yield similar shiny awesomeness.
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