Sculptured Embossing


Engraving in brass gives you the ability to create multilevel or sculptured realistic images limited only by the scope of your imagination.

Thanks to the technology of the 20th century, the elaborate designs that were once only affordable to a few are now a mainstay of every full service printing and finishing company. It was only a short time ago that engravers were using a hammer and chisel to carve out intricate images for embossing, making it a very labor intensive, time consuming process.

Today with advances in fields such as robotics and the internet, the time and cost for a sculptured embossing or combination die is a fraction of what it once was. Machining away, or relieving the background allows you to lay foil and emboss in one pass on the press. This is a great choice for very long runs or jobs with tight register.

Where can you see examples of printed products using brass sculptured dies in the marketplace? Book covers, business cards, stationery, greeting cards, cereal boxes, perfume packaging and presentation folder all use sculptured embossing and combination dies. Just about everything in today’s print media market is open to sculptured embossing and foil stamping.

The process of making a sculptured embossing/combination die begins with the customer and engraver in the design stage. Deciding what type of image they would like to create is part of the design stage. Terms like raised round, raised roof, deboss flat and many more are discussed before the die is started. These terms are used to describe the desired look the customer wants to achieve. The type of stock is a very important decision that is made in the design stage. Your choice of stock will have a great impact on how the foil, embossing or combination foil/embossing will look. Paper weight, thickness, color and finish all affect how the finished product will look.