Choose the metal by the light it returns.
Gold, silver and copper are families, not single colours. Temperature and surface: matte, mirror, brushed or holographic: change the result more than a screen swatch can show.
Start with the finish
See what gold, silver and copper foil does with your own brief.
Free · about two minutes
White cotton·Mirror vs matte gold
Charcoal colour-through·Mirror vs satin silver
Warm white cotton·Copper and rose gold
How it is made
Warm gold carries yellow or red; cool gold leans pale and champagne. Silver is the neutral reflector and takes on the room around it. Copper is warmer and darker, especially beside cream paper. Mirror foils return a sharp highlight, matte foils spread it, brushed foils add a directional grain, and holographic films split it. We select an exact foil code only after the stock and surrounding ink are fixed.
A screen can suggest temperature, not reflection. The named family gets you close; the physical foil code is the specification.
What the screen cannot show
A screen physically cannot show this finish. It is a reflection, not a colour, and every image on this page is light hitting a surface at one chosen angle.
Hold the finish in your hand: order the sample kit →What it runs on
| Substrate | Verdict | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Uncoated & 100% cotton | Excellent | Soft sheet takes the die cleanly; the impression is part of the effect. |
| Colour-through (dyed) stock | Excellent | Metal on saturated ground is the highest-contrast thing we print. |
| Coated silk & matte stock | Excellent | Clean release and very sharp edges, but almost no impression : a coated sheet is hard, so you get shine without depth. |
| Soft-touch laminated stock | Good, tested | Adhesion varies by film : we proof it. |
| Thick board, duplex & triplex | Excellent | Thick board takes the deepest stamp of anything we run : all that ply absorbs the hit. |
Minimums and specs
- Families
- Gold · silver · copper
- Surfaces
- Mirror · matte · brushed · holo
- Specification
- Foil code
- Selected from the physical library
- Same-tone metallic stock
- Avoid
- Sheet and foil reflections collapse together
Choose the process by the outcome
- Whole sheet shines
- Metallic paper may replace foil.
- One precise reflective mark
- Hot foil.
- Colour-shifting reflection
- Holographic foil.
Pairs well with
Foil stamping
A heated die transfers a metallic film onto the stock under pressure. Not printed, not simulated: a layer of metal with an impression around it.
Foil on dark stock
Ink borrows its colour from the sheet below it. Foil does not: it lays an opaque metallic film over black, navy and saturated colour-through stocks.
Seen in
Common questions
- Is matte gold less metallic than mirror gold?
- No. Both are metallic films; matte scatters the reflection while mirror returns a sharper highlight.
- Should copper foil go on cream paper?
- It can, but both are warm. We compare it with the surrounding ink and stock so the metal does not disappear.
- Can a screen identify an exact foil code?
- No. Use the physical library for the final code.