Volume 14, Number 4
Jul 1990

Letters

To the Editor:

I'd like to pass along information about a technique I learned from Barry Morentz at a Society of Scribes workshop. I think it has a number of potential uses for bookbinders and book artists.

You can color the printing an any photocopy or laser-printed page with foil. Several kinds of foil can be used for this purpose. Two of the ones I've used successfully are: Color-Tag (from Letraset) and Createx Foil (from ColorCraft Ltd., 14 Airport Park Rd., East Granby, CT 06026). Color-Craft sells a kit containing a heating tool (it costs about $100), but both of these foils can also be applied with a tacking iron.

I understand that the process works by reactivating the toner, which then acts as an adhesive. Regular hot-stamping foils generally do not work--they coat the entire paper with color, instead of just the printed parts.

Temperature is crucial, so it is necessary to use a tacking iron with a temperature control or a rheostat. With an Ademco tacking iron, I've found the correct temperature to be a little more than half of the maximum. With a Sealector II iron, medium is about right. The Createx foil will work in a hard-bed dry-mount press (set at about 50�C), but the Color-tag will not. I also saw several other unidentified foils bought in craft shops that worked well.

The Createx foil is available in several different colors--I think they are all metallic. The Color-Tag is available in a great variety of colors, some metallic, some not.