Toner Reactive Foil Rolls

Toner reactive foils bring the brilliance and convenience of foil printing into the hands of all users, from individuals to businesses. Previously only achievable in print shops with specialty equipment, these new unique foil rolls let you make beautiful foiled prints with just a few tools: a toner printer, a pouch laminator or foil fuser, a pouch carrier and some scissors (if using a pouch laminator), and a foil roll cutter (if using certain foil fusers).

Kinds of Foil:

Metallic foil rolls come in many different colors, and is our most popular category of thermal foil. Some of the premier colored foil choices include a shimmery metallic gold, reflective silver, soft rose gold, and a wide range of blues, purples, pinks, and reds; some colors even have a matte option with a bit less gloss. Metallic foils have a brilliant finish that shimmers and shines, reflecting the light. The bright pop of color works perfect on papers of all colors.

Matte satin foil rolls come in select popular colors and offer a gentle shimmer and smooth matte finish. Stunning and sophisticated, these foils are available in two different golds and silvers, as well as a copper, fuchsia, and teal. They have a unique aesthetic that is modern and soft.

Glitter foil creates a stunning sparkly foiled print! You might think that there is just 1 kind of glitter, but we have several! Our silver glitter comes with different size speckles; "pixie dust" with tiny, "glitter" with medium, and "sparkle" with large. The glitter medium sized foil also comes in a red or gold option. Some also offer a transparent option, which allows the color of your ink to show below the foil.

Iridescent foil rolls offer a beautiful pearlescent/opalescent look that evokes class and elegance. Available in either a rainbow or gold iridescent option, these foils are unique and graceful in their soft vertical glow. The rainbow iridescent foil roll also comes in a transparent option that shows your printed ink color below the foil.

Holographic foil rolls are a cool way to add a pattern to the metallic silver finish, and several options are available. You can find foil patterns like "bubbles", "stained glass", "shattered glass", "shimmering waters", "oil slick", "mirage", "hearts", and more! Many of these holograph foils are also available in your choice of a silver or transparent underlay; the silver is most popular, while the transparent allows your colored ink to show below the pattern.

Gloss pigment foils are not metallic or graphic, but instead, offer a glossy look that looks similar to traditional ink with a coating. Pigment colors foil rolls have a color shift when fused, which means that the underlying color of your toner will affect the final foiled color, as it shows slightly through. This makes them very versatile, as you can achieve different hues of a single color, without needing multiple colored rolls. We always recommend testing with various ink colors to achieve the final look that you desire. One great way to test is to print a sheet of labeled solid bars in various colors from yellow to black, and foiling that page to create a swatch for your reference. We have several stocked pigment foil colors available, including black, white, pink, blue, green, purple, yellow, beige, and more.

Most of our foil rolls come in various roll sizes, including 8" or 12" wide with a 100' length (8 or 12 inches by 100 feet) and a 1/2" core, or a 24" wide and 500' length full-size roll (24 inches by 500 feet) with a 1" core. Our thermal reactive foils are top-quality and considered some of the best foil rolls on the market.

Important Details & Considerations:

All of our foil rolls are toner-reactive and require a heat source to fuse. Toner-reactive means that they will only stick to the dry toner that is printed on your sheet. Dry toner can be found in most office copiers. It will not, however, work with wax-based inks, which are often found in laser and inkjet printers. Check your printer ink cartridge for compatibility with foil rolls. If you're not sure, call us at (866) 537-2244 and we can test your printed pages in-house and mail back the results.

In addition, foiling is accomplished best on only smooth paper stocks with no coating. In order to achieve a solid foil across all of your print, the paper stock that it is printed on needs to be smooth and uncoated. Texture prevents the foil from going inside the crevices and will leave you with a spotty design. Sometimes C1S or C2s paper, the coating on some stocks blocks the foil from adhering. The thickness of your paperstock doesn't usually cause an issue, however, when using thicker paper you will need additional heat to compensate.

Heat is very important factor when it comes to foiling. Our selection of foil laminators all have some important functions that are needed to foil, the most important of which is heat (and/or speed). A minimum of 300° F is needed to foil, and the ability to get hotter is highly recommended, especially if you will be using transparent foils or holographic patterned foils, which require more heat (or more time in the heat) to properly fuse. This is why not all pouch laminators will always work, and why some will only work with certain foils. We have more information about what capabilities your pouch laminator will need to work on our foil laminators page (just hit "view more" on that page). If you want us to send you a sample piece of foil to test on your machine, just give us a call at (866) 537-2244 and we would be happy to do so!

What You Need to Foil:

Now let's get into a bit more detail about the tools you will need to foil. We mentioned above that you can apply foil with either a pouch laminating machine or a foil fuser, and depending on which method you choose, you will need different tools. To decide, consider that individual users and most businesses that foil for mostly internal use prefer the pouch laminating method, while high volume users that sell their items to clients typically use foiling machines for the higher speed and continuous feed benefit. Check out the comparison chart below that will highlight some of the primary differences in the methods to help you decide what will work best for your individual needs or intended applications.

Sample Testing:

And remember, if you need us to test samples before you buy, just give a call at (866) 537-2244 or email solutions@buy101.com and we would be happy to do so! We can either send you a sample piece of foil for you to test on your own machines, or you can mail us a printed sheet and we can test the foil on select foil laminators that we have available in our demo room. You can also click here to see our variety of foil resources including FAQs, troubleshooting tips, and fun/creative ideas for foil.