Printing
There are many ways to put gold lettering on book covers that only use computer generated text and art. The method shown here is very much a work in progress, but I'm satisfied that the results are good enough to make my own books. So far, I've only explored putting titles on cloth. I hope to find time to explore leather next.
I won't discuss all the methods I've investigated here because most readers will want to get on with finishing their books. For those who want to go deeper and hopefully improve this process, I've written up a discussion of alternatives.
This technique is based on what I learned from reading and practicing the methods developed by Frank Miller at Pulsar for his DecalPro product.
I have departed slightly from his technique in ways I feel improve the results when putting titles on cloth, but I still recommend a visit to the Pulsar site for materials and further instruction.
An important advantage of this process over all others I've tried is that you get gold letters without any decal backing. It is also an advantage that no water is used on the cloth itself. You can put a gold title on a finished book.
Another advantage is that the DecalPro method is by no means limited to gold: all sorts of metallic foils and/or color laser printing can be transferred.
I should point out that I've only used this technique to put lettering to paper and cloth. I'm pretty sure it works well on smooth hard surfaces because those are the examples used at the Pulsar website. In that case, a spray adhesive is used instead of ironing the toner to set the image.
The original art is laser printed on dextrin coated transfer paper. Then gold is bonded to the toner on the paper using special foil and a hot roller laminator. A thin mylar film is placed over the image and run though the laminator again. When the paper and mylar are soaked in water, the mylar floats free taking the gold letters along. This mylar "decal" is ironed onto the cloth. The toner under the gold melts and bonds to the surface. The mylar can then be pealed off, leaving only the letters. A dilute matt varnish is applied to the whole book. This helps bond the letters and protects the book from water damage.
You can buy a kit on the Pulsar website that has nearly everything you'll need to try this method. The kit was less expensive for me than trying to buy just what I needed for gold titles al la carte.
The most expensive thing you need is a hot laminating machine. These are sold in office supply stores for making plastic laminated documents and cards. Small machines are less than $100. Some are better than others for toner transfer - rather than taking my chances at the local office store, I decided to buy my unit from Pulsar.
I had a hot air gun I bought for heat-shrinking tubing used in electronics projects. You can find one in any craft shop.
The only other thing I need was a big bag of cotton balls, a bottle of rubbing alcohol (isopropanol) and a roll of 3M blue low-stick masking tape.
I prefer to use techniques that are "open source:" ones that don't involve proprietary products. The DecalPro process is relatively open: I've tried using other brands of foil and dextrin paper and the process worked. But I've also found that the foil sold on the Pulsar site definitely leaves less residue (none) on the toner-free areas of the dextrin paper. I'd like to find out where Mr. Miller gets this stuff or at least a description of the generic attributes of this foil.
Before launching into a photo essay, here is a quick rundown of the steps required to put on a gold title. Once you've practiced this a few times, it takes about 10 minutes to do one label, but if you're making multiple books, much time can be saved by creating multiple labels on one sheet of mylar.
I use this list of steps when I've been away from the process long enough to need a reminder. You will probably want to skip this on your first reading and proceed to the photos in the next section.
These steps follow the method illustrated on the Pulsar website until we get to attaching the mylar decal to the cloth. I've found that toner bonds well enough when heated, so there is no need to use the messy and slightly dangerous spray adhesive Pulsar recommends when bonding the graphics without heat.
I used the sheet feeder because the transfer paper is a bit too thick to feed reliably on my printer from the main tray.
You will want to print a full sheet to allow for mistakes. It does take a little practice to make this process work, but the only requirement is following the instructions exactly.
On the paper towel above, you see the gold foil on the left, the original art cut out from the sheet, and a small square of mylar. Off to the right is the fiberglass carrier and below that, a piece of baking parchment with a tab folded over at the top edge. At the bottom of the photo is a black rectangle of fabric used as the target surface for this demonstration.
Take note of the 0.2" border around the title: This will not be part of the final transfer, but it is essential to protect the image at a later step when the letters are transferred to mylar film.
This is the laminator recommend and sold on the Pulsar website. There are others that work and many that don't. I was not in the mood to experiment.
This is a hot air gun I've had for many years. I got it for shrinking tubing used in electronics projects. It may be a bit hotter than the guns sold in craft shops. It will set paper on fire.
The gun is used several times in the process. At this step, you apply hot air to the back side of the artwork. It will first curl as the moisture in the paper is evaporated. Then it will uncurl and lay flat as it drys out. It takes about 45 seconds for this to occur with my gun running on low heat and held about a foot from the back of the paper. Make sure you work on a heat-resistant surface. You'll need to hold the graphic down so it doesn't blow away. I use the tip of screwdriver to press down on one corner.
The artwork is placed at the top edge of the carrier. The foil sheet is longer than necessary to allow for wrapping around the top edge.
When the laminator grabs the carrier, it is important to use your fingers to hold back the gold foil, stretching it so it has to be pulled from under your fingers. This prevents wrinkles. There is a video on the Pulsar site that shows this very clearly.
Despite my best efforts, I slip up sometimes and let wrinkles in the foil get though the laminator. Because of this annoyance, I found an alternative method not shown in the photos. Cut the foil just a bit longer than the artwork and tape the top edge of the foil to the carrier with a strip of blue 3M tape. Don't let the gummed part of the tape hang over the edge of the carrier or it will gype up the hot rollers. Put the graphic under the foil, but not under the part that is covered by tape. With this method, I have not found it necessary to hold onto the foil at all. (At least with small work like book titles.)
In all operations where it is necessary to peel back a layer, it is best to roll off the top layer so it folds back 180 degrees. This minimizes forces that might rip the graphics off the substrate.
I've found the gold foil works perfectly and leaves no residue on the toner-free areas of the graphic. The Pulsar website states that it is often necessary to remove extra particles of foil. If you have extra foil to remove, apply the blue 3M tape in strips, covering the whole surface of the graphic. Rub down the tape and then peel it off. This will pull off the extra bits of foil.
Wipe both the mylar and the graphic with isopropanol. I use two cotton balls: one for the mylar and one for the graphic. Don't scrub around on the graphic: you will spread dissolved dextrin onto the gold, which is a Bad Thing. Just take a quick swipe in two or three bands across the surface of the paper.
Quickly dry off the paper using a wad of paper towel. Also wipe of the mylar. Some alcohol gets under the mylar, so be sure to dry both sides. Then give them both a shot with the hot air gun. Avoid touching the cleaned surfaces with your fingers.
Put the graphic on the fiberglass carrier and cover with the sheet of mylar. Make sure the two clean surfaces face each other. I've botched several titles by getting confused about which side of the mylar was clean.
Now we use the sheet of baking parchment to cover the mylar. It has a tab folded over the top edge to keep it from getting pulled off in the laminator.
Put the assembly through the laminator twice in succession.
Things are delicate at this stage. Carefully remove the parchment and lift the graphic off the carrier so it will cool a few seconds.
Push the mylar covered graphic down under water edge first. Do it quickly and let go at once. The paper will instantly curl into a tube and if your fingers are in the way, the mylar will likely separate too soon.
The Pulsar website recommends pushing the graphic into the water holding it so the paper rolls up toward your hand: The far edge rolls toward the edge you're holding. This will happen only if you hold onto the proper edge. Paper has a grain structure. Usually the dextrin paper has a grain that runs the long way on a sheet. So if the image was printed in the regular portrait orientation, holding the paper by the side will work best.
In the photo, you will see that I'm holding the paper by the wrong edge. I've found that it doesn't make the slightest difference if you are quick to plunge the paper under water and let go quickly. Wicked people are always testing the boundaries.
Here you can see the paper curl up into a tube.
Now is the moment of reckoning: If you haven't been naughty for the previous day and if you followed the directions exactly, the mylar will float free with the letters attached.
You may notice that fragments of the border are broken off during the separation process. This is o.k.
You may wonder why we needed the border in the first place. To find out, try making a graphic without one: When you plunge the paper into the water, the letters will float away by themselves, unattached to the mylar. These be mysteries whereon but to think may snatch thee into peril...
Grab the mylar by one edge and lay it flat on a paper towel. Lay another paper towel on top and blot.
Shift the mylar to a dry area and blot again.
Now we are ready to cut off the sacrificial border.
I really like the roller trimmer for this step. You can buy these in sewing stores along with the special green cutting board shown. This cutting board has the property of "healing" when you roll over it with the cutter.
I call it a decal at this stage because it looks like one of the old water-slide decals that came with model airplanes. But this is a most unusual decal: When we apply it to the book, the backing can be removed.
Now you're ready to put the decal where you want the lettering to go on the cloth. Position it carefully. You can use a tiny bit of temporary adhesive on the corners to keep it from blowing away. The Pulsar kit comes with a spray can of this adhesive. I've also seen it sold in fabric stores. It doesn't take much to keep the decal from blowing away. We're not using the adhesive to attach the decal. I prefer not to use it at all because I don't like to clean up or breath the overspray.
For this demonstration, I'm going to "iron on" the decal using the laminator. The cloth is on the fiberglass carrier with the decal held in place by the parchment cover.
If you are going to put lettering on a finished book, position the decal and use a sheet of parchment as shown above. But then apply a dry clothes iron to bond the lettering. This is a bit tricky: too little heat and the letters won't bond well to the cloth. Too much heat will bond the gold foil to the mylar so it will never come off. Keep the iron moving and start with a medium heat setting. With my iron, it takes about 30 seconds to attach the letters.
Here I take the easy way out and use the laminator. Since I like to make miniature books, I can process the whole cover this way. For a larger book, you can buy a bigger laminator or master the iron-on method.
The letters are not firmly attached at this point. You have to be careful and use the 180 degree rollback method. Go slowly and you will get good results.
Here is the title on the cloth. Don't rough up the cloth or bend it at this point.
Now I run the cloth through the laminator again, covering the letters with parchment. I usually make two passes.
If you're using a clothes iron, you can go ahead and use more heat. My iron has a scorch guard light that comes on when the cloth is too hot. I use this to tell me when to stop ironing.
The letters are stuck on pretty well at this point. If you are using very smooth cloth, you might get away with nothing more. On coarse bookcloth, I found that the letters would brush off unless I used some kind of coating such as varnish or artists' fixative.
Using the blue 3M tape, I mask off the title for varnishing.
Rub the edges of the tape firmly to keep the varnish from getting away.
I use a water-based flexible polyurathane cut 50% with water.
Here is the wet varnish with the mask removed. When it dries, it is nearly invisible.
This varnish is actually good for the cover, it prevents stains and water damage. Here, I applied the varnish over the whole surface.
If you want to use a thicker varnish, framing the title as shown above makes the change in texture look natural. Some commercial books have what looks like paint behind the areas that are gold stamped.
Here is an up close view. The lighting isn't perfect, but the title is flawless. This one has two coats of the 50% varnish. It won't come off when scrubbed with a toothbrush.
Here's a sample done with a 14 point font. This is for a title on the edge of a miniature book. In this example, I used a variation of the technique described above: After varnishing and drying, I laid on another identical mylar decal and ran it though the laminator. This decal adhered strongly because it was attached to the smooth surface created by the first decal and the varnish. The lettering is especially bright and robust. You can speed this process by printing a duplicate title on the original graphic.
In this example, there is no varnish on the letters applied by the second decal. I've been using it as a bookmark for some time and it shows no sign of wear. I also tested it with the brush and nothing came off.
Hot stamping with real gold leaf and egg wash is a time honored technique. There is no question of using the methods I describe here on any sort of archival work or for the restoration of an antique book: that would be an infamous lapse of judgment. It remains to be seen how well these titles hold up to normal wear and the effects of time.
Because the cover title is exposed to constant wear when the book is shelved, you can indent the lettering so it doesn't rub: Cut a small rectangle of cardboard to cover the title area or, if it has a border, the whole area including the border. Put the cover (attached to the boards) in the nipping press between two hardwood blocks and press as tightly as possible. The rectangle of cardboard will be stamped down into the cover board, making an indentation in the cloth. The letters are now sunk below the surface and will not be scraped by adjacent books.
Back: Finishing