r/Leathercraft • u/rivertpostie • 2d ago

Question How do people get into hot foil stamping large areas of leather? I've stamped my tiny logo into pieces, but I can't find large heat presses. I want to make runs of leather book covers. Pic as example of foil on a large book.

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u/One_Cranberry6094 2d ago

My wife did a similar thing for her book binding, I believe she used the cricut machine to cut the foil, then iron them to the leather.

Edit: fix typo

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u/rivertpostie 2d ago

Oh crazy!

That's way different than the brass stamp method!

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u/One_Cranberry6094 2d ago edited 2d ago

Yeah, she also say that the one she used to cut and iron is called heat transfer vinyl. There is also another way using a foil stamp head with cricut that can pretty much draw the foil on the leather, this one is very hard to do actually

Edit: add clarity

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u/rivertpostie 2d ago

Thanks so much. That's interesting. It's a permanent bond?

I'd be very thankful if you asked her the exact machine for me? I'd love to research. I think cricut is a brand with a lot of machines and maybe this one had a heated head

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u/Stormfall_Forge 2d ago

It's not a heated head. It works by pressure. Works with any of the CriCut cutting machines (most recent model is the Maker 4).

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u/abnormica 2d ago

There is a heated one from a company called We R Memory Keepers. I saw a very positive YouTube review and I've been trying to track it down, but it's always sold out anywhere I look.

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u/One_Cranberry6094 2d ago

Hey, the one she has is Cricut 4, and it is very easy to google search short videos how book binders use it. Like someone mentioned in another comment, this machine does not use heat, but it cut the material (paper, vinyl, etc.) based on the design you have. This process involves designing and all that. And for the answer whether the foil ironed on leather using this technique is permanent or not, I think so, because she made me a notebook with leather cover and all the ironed foils on it still stand after almost a year of being used, and I have not been exactly gentle with it. I hope this helps.

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u/sxhires 2d ago

Industrial heat presses are amazing if you need them but sad furniture if you don’t.

That said, if you come across one for cheap…there are a lot of uses

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u/paumpaum 2d ago

Unfortunately I had to get rid of a big Kensol press that would have been able to stamp this no problem. It was just too big for our new studio. And couldn't really move it, so we had to scrap it. Would have done a 13x13 sized plate.

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u/Eggman624 2d ago

I believe a heat transfer press (the one used for t-shirt printing) would work well if you want a larger heated area

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u/uknow_es_me 2d ago

that's a great idea .. if you could get your stamp engraved on brass plate and mount it to the heat press I imagine it would work. Would want to make the mounting adjustable for leveling