Debossing / Blind Embossing
We work with early twentieth century manual presses and individually hand deboss every product, ensuring outstanding quality and a superb finish on every item.
Debossing (also known as blind embossing) is our most popular form of branding. It’s a process of using a metal stamp (known as a ‘die’) to form an impression onto the surface of a product. As no colour is applied to the product in the process the finished effect is often subtler than other forms of customisation, however, the depth created on the product adds a beautifully tactile element to the branding.
Your artwork (whether that be text, an image or both) will be machined out of a brass block to create the die. Once the die is attached to the press a combination of pressure and heat is applied (at varying speeds) to allow your artwork to be imprinted into your chosen product. We have a selection of early twentieth-century presses allowing us to select the machine best suited to your project, ensuring the best results time after time.
Materials, colour change & depth
The appearance of a deboss will vary from product to product, dependent on its construction. On the highly sought after Classic Vivella Diary or the increasingly popular hardbacks, the heated die has the effect of compressing the material, creating a smooth finish with a sharp outline. Due to the nature of the cover material on products such as these, the colour inside the debossed area remains largely the same as the book cover itself.
However, with other products made from heat reactive materials, such as the Vivella, there will be a colour change within the debossed area (usually a darkening), making the deboss more distinct.
The material also has an impact on depth of the deboss; the thinner the covering material and backing material the shallower the deboss will be. For example, the Moleskine notebook has a thin card cover meaning that the imprint is much shallower than with other items, bringing a very subtle finish – perfect for those projects when you when need a minimal look.