Guides for buyers and press crews who want fewer surprises.
Start here when the brief only says 'make it premium'.
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Paper, board, plastics, leather and textiles at a glance.
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Temperature, dwell and pressure starting points.
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How our swatch books are organised for trade counters.
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Release, dwell, make-ready and other shop terms.
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Keep rolls usable through a Jo'burg summer.
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Packaging notes for courier and pallet despatch.
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What we inspect before a trade delivery leaves Jet Park.
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How Inkline Process jobs are proofed.
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Holo, microtext and controlled supply.
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Relief and brass vs magnesium guidance.
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Adhesion, dulling, picking and ghosting.
Open →Most foil failures we see are not mysterious. Wrong release on soft-touch, heat ten degrees off, dies that were never cleaned, rolls that spent a week in a hot bakkie. These guides compress what the Jet Park desk repeats on the phone every week.
Start with the foil selection guide when the brief only says make it premium. Use the substrate chart before you assume a leather grade will love PET. Keep the press settings sheet near the platen so the night shift has a starting window, not a rumour.
Sample books at Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Pretoria follow the same index so a swatch code means the same thing in Ndabeni as in Jet Park. Care and storage notes matter in a Jo'burg summer when humidity swings and foil sits upright or it remembers the warp.
QA and shipping pages explain what we check before a courier leaves and how to pack returns when a roll truly failed. Troubleshooting covers adhesion, dulling, picking and ghosting with the boring causes first. Link out to journal essays when you want the longer story, and to support when you need a human on the account.
None of these PDFs replace a trial on your stock. Mail foil@stampingfoil.co.za for drawdowns or a small trial roll before you commit a long carton run. For brand-critical pigment, read colour matching first.
Die making notes sit next to troubleshooting on purpose. A beautiful grade on a dirty or under-relieved die still looks tired. Glossary terms (release, dwell, make-ready) match how the Jet Park desk talks on the phone so your crew and ours share vocabulary.
Print the sheets you need and tape them near the press. Digital folders get lost mid-shift. If a guide disagrees with what you see on your stock, trust the drawdown and tell us; the chart is a starting map, not a law.
Shipping rolls badly is an expensive way to learn about core crush. Use the shipping note even for small courier packs. A bent roll wastes more than the courier fee you saved by squeezing the box.
The glossary is short on purpose. If a term is missing, mail us and we will add it. Shared language between agency, converter and foil desk prevents half the emails we would rather not write.
