Perhaps this is a stupid question, I am quite capable of a few of these each day. I get a fair number of calls for gold embossing onto leather - diairies, daytimers, Bibles, etc. and always have to say no and don't know where to refer them. I would like to be able to offer this as a service.

Would anyone have an unused machine or tell me what I should look at or consider for this? Like most things you can do a little or a lot depending on the size and functionality of the machine. Right now I think all I want to do is keep it simple but I don't know, so I'll throw it out there just for fun.

Thanks,
Jim

Kwik Press with text fonts and foil

Have you considered making ribbons also. rosette pleeter, ribbon press, eyelet punch, stringer, auto heat press for ribbons, button press
zinc/lead die maker...... lots of ribbon and foil
and then you can add silk screening and pad printing

Mark,

Vendor/supplier(s)?

Thx,
Jim

http://www.kwik-print.com/

http://www.hotstamping.com/

http://hotproducts.alibaba.com/manufacturers-exporters/Hot_Stamping_Foil.html

http://www.printa.com/

The old Kingsleys require a feel. That means experience on non-customers product. I have one of those machines and do not use it. You need to set type and to make a change in type you need to wait about 20 minutes for it to cool to unset it, then about ten minutes for the newly set type to heat up.

For leather you need to use true gold foil. The standard gold foil is brass and turns green within a week on leather due to the large amount of tannic acid in the leather. (That is where tanned leather came from.)

Philadelphia, PA (Really Bensalem)

Harvey's Tips Page When you finally understand it completely... it changes.

Harvey,

When I remove type from a hotstamping machine, I set it on a metal surface. Cools very quickly.

I set the new line and by the time I put the previous letters back in their case, the new line is ready to go.

There are "crossover" foils that emulate true gold foil.

Any hand-operated hot stamping machine requires an acquired feel for heat, pressure and dwell time.

I only occasionally use the Kingsley machine. Most of the work I do is on a Kwikprint.

When I say "most" of the work, I mean the times I get someone to pop for my $30 minimum charge, which isn't very often.

Perfect! I don't want to go through the motions, for any less than that.

I finally "won" a Kingsley machine on E-Bay this week. Wow, the bidding on these is cut-throat as well as any type fonts that come up. On the good side there are a fair number of them out there for sale at any givin time and they seem to be reliable. I have seen some people buying multiple machines, could be spare parts or stock-piling, interesting. So soon I will at least enter this on an entry level and then go from there. All the ribbon stuff intrigues me.

Thanks all!

Jim

Is there a method to "gold stamp" on leather?

Is there someone who sells an attachment (similar to what Signature has)that goes on my rotary engraver that does gold stamping?

Whoa!! You guys are great!!!

This forum is faster than a phone call!!

Do you know if this was a cost/labor/time/quality effective piece?