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How To Foil Art Prints – Diy Tutorial

How to foil art prints – DIY Tutorial. A simple step-by-step tutorial to show you how to elevate your art prints by adding foil.

How to foil art prints step-by-step tutorial by Vial Designs

Prefer watching over reading? Feel free to watch the video below see the step-by-step tutorial to create this How to Foil Tutorial. All the tools I use are linked below.

How to make a foiled art prints video tutorial

You can find more video tutorials on our Youtube Channel

HOW TO FOIL ART PRINTS – DIY TUTORIAL

Foil prints are so beautiful that they seem extremely difficult to make. The truth is foiling elevates your project instantly, and the actual process is a lot simpler than you’d think!

Are you as excited as I’m to try foiling? I hope you are because I’m going to show you in a few simple steps how to foil prints, and create gorgeous art.

I’ve had my Minc Machine for a while now. And honestly, I was scared to use it. It looked very intimidating because I had no idea how to use it. My foiling machine stayed on its box for longer than I’m willing to admit.

Lately, I’ve been on a quest to do things scared, so I opened the box and decided to give foiling a try. To my surprise, foiling art prints was easier than I thought – not to mention extremely satisfying!

That’s why I want to show you how to create foil art prints using a few supplies and following some simple steps.

Quick note: This post contains some affiliate links for your convenience (which means if you purchase after clicking a link I will earn a small commission, but it won’t cost you a penny more)! Read my full disclosure policy here. 

Supplies you’ll need to foil your art prints

  • Cardstock.  This is the smoothest and best cardstock I’ve found for foil prints, so I highly recommend this one. I’m using white cardstock for this tutorial, but you can use any color you’d like.
  • Foil Transfer Sheets. They are also known as Reactive Foil. I’m using Rose Gold from Heidi Swap.
  • Minc Foil Application Machine.
  • Minc Transfer folder. 
  • Laser printer. You don’t have to buy a laser printer. But you do NEED to get your art printed using one. You can get your print done anywhere that makes prints and copies. A few places that come to mine are Staples, Office Depot, or FedEx. Just make sure they print your art with a laser printer. I bought this laser printer. The printer was on sale when I bought it. And at that time, getting that laser printer was cheaper than to buy ink for my inkjet printer.
  • Art print of your choosing.
  • Scissors

Optional Tools:

The tools below are optional. They do make your life easier when cutting the foil sheet to fit your design. And they are great not only for this tutorial but also for DIY in general. If you don’t have these handy, use scissors.

Now that you have everything you need let’s get to the fun part. HOW TO FOIL ART PRINTS!

HOW TO FOIL YOUR ART PRINTS: Step-by-Step DIY Tutorial

STEP 1: Print any art of your choosing using a laser printer.

I am using white cardstock, but you can use whichever color you prefer.

For this tutorial, I will be using my Floral Dream Big Inspirational Art printable.

Getting your art printed on a laser printer is essential. The toner of the laser printer is what makes the foil react and adhere to it when the heat is applied. Sadly, an inkjet printer won’t work for foiling!

Dream Big Printable by Vial Designs_How to Foil Your Art DIY Tutorial

STEP 2: Pick the foil transfer sheet of your choosing and cut it down to the size of your image.

You can either put the foil over the design and cut it using scissorsOr if you want to be more precise, you can measure it and cut it using a cutting mat and an X-ACTO knife.

Make sure your cut foil sheet completely covers the part you want to foil.

How to foil art prints - DIY Tutorial | How to make gold foil prints By Vial Designs | Step 2_Cut the foil sheet

STEP 3: Turn on your Minc Machine, and set it to the appropriate heat setting.

For cardstock, I use the #4 setting. You need to wait a few seconds until the red light stops blinking and turns green.

The green light is the indicator that the Minc Machine is heated and ready to go.

The Minc Machine comes with a set of instructions letting you know which setting you should use depending on the type of paper you are using.

STEP 4: Place your print inside the transfer folder.

Make sure the image is facing up, and the foil transfer sheet is completely covering the design with the shiny side up.

Gently close the top part of the transfer folder over the project making sure the foil sheet is still well covering the design.

How to foil art prints - DIY Tutorial | How to make gold foil prints By Vial Designs | Step 4

Pro Tip: make sure the whole design on your print is covered.

If you don’t want certain parts of your design to have foil, you still need to cover it with a piece of paper. The laser toner will react with the heat and will get stuck to your transfer folder.

This will ruin your transfer folder! As you can see in the image above, some black parts are showing. That’s because I didn’t cover one of my designs entirely and part of it got into the transfer folder.

I had to replace my transfer folder after I completed this tutorial because this black part of the design was getting imprinted into all the prints I was foiling!

STEP 5: Feed the transfer folder (with your print and foil sheet inside of it) through the Minc Machine.

This process takes about a minute. Don’t rush the feeding process. The head of the Minc machine needs time to work its magic!

How to foil art prints - DIY Tutorial | How to make gold foil prints By Vial Designs | Step 5

STEP 6: Once the folder is through the Minc machine, remove the print and the foil from it

Then, slowly peel the foil from the cardstock. Peeling the foil is my favorite part! It’s so satisfying to watch the foil pare from the print…

How to foil art prints - DIY Tutorial | How to make gold foil prints By Vial Designs | Step 6

STEP 7: Take a moment to appreciate your creation! It’s magic!!!

Yes, look at that gorgeous print you created!

I have to say that probably the only bad thing about foil prints is that they are sooo hard to photograph. It’s so difficult to capture that beautiful shine in photos. But you will appreciate all the shine better in person.

How to foil art prints - DIY Tutorial | How to make gold foil prints By Vial Designs | Step 7
How to foil art prints - DIY Tutorial | How to make gold foil prints By Vial Designs

You can display the print in your favorite place or frame it! This foil art print makes for a great gift, and it’s beautiful for decor.

How to foil art prints - DIY Tutorial | How to make gold foil prints By Vial Designs | Framed Foiled Print

I hope you find this tutorial helpful and get on a great start to foiling ALL the things.

If you’d like to start learning calligraphy so you can create your prints, then you will get to a great start with these blog posts:

Any questions? Be sure to leave your questions in the comments below! I’ll be happy to help 🙂

Have a fantastic day!

Maira Vial Signature

WANT TO REMEMBER THIS? SAVE THIS FOIL ART PRINTS TUTORIAL TO YOUR FAVORITE DIY PINTEREST BOARD!

How to foil art prints - DIY Tutorial by Vial Designs | How to make gold foil prints | DIY Gold foil printing | Free Dream Big Printable | Hand-lettering tutorial step by step

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4 Comments

  1. Hi Maira,
    I’m inspired by your penmanship in Calligraphy. It’s beautiful and elegant. Thank you for sending me cool the Printables letterings. Your free gifts are greatly appreciated. Thank u, Maira!
    Sincerely,
    Lynn❤️🙏🏼☮️🌱🦋

  2. Amazing!! my question is, how long after printing using a laser printer can i leave prior to doing foiling.

    Thank you in advance,

    1. Thank you! I’d say no longer than 24 hrs. Also, make sure when you get it printed, you put a protective cover/paper because you don’t want any dust to stick to the paper. This will stick to the foil as well when you’re ready to foil it!
      Hope this helps!

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