There's a moment in making every BeGolden book where a name, a date, or a house you love gets pressed into linen, cloth or leather - not printed, not sprayed, but stamped, by hand, using real metal foil and real heat. It's slower and more expensive to do this way, but it's a part of the process that we'll never shortcut. Here's why...
Written by Bobby & the BeGolden team
What does 'hot foil' printing actually mean?
Hot foil printing uses a heated brass or metal plate - engraved with your exact wording or design - which is pressed firmly onto the book cover through a thin sheet of pigmented foil. The heat and pressure bond the foil to the cover, leaving a crisp, recessed impression that catches the light and can be felt with the fingertips.
It's the same technique that's been used for generations on leather-bound books, wedding stationery and fine bindings long before digital printing existed, and hasn't changed much since (at least for anyone still doing it properly).
Why is hot foil better than digital printing?
Digital foil (sometimes called foil-effect printing) uses toner and a laminate film to simulate the look of foil. It's faster, cheaper, and (in our opinion) it shows. The finish tends to sit flat on top of the surface, rather than actually being pressed into it, and over time it can lift, scuff or dull in a way genuine hot foil doesn't.
Our albums are all printed using traditional hot foil techniques and are never digitally reproduced. And while that's a decision that costs us time on every single order, for us it's totally worth it. It means each book is set up and pressed individually rather than run through a printer in a batch, ending in a handcrafted book that's made with care and unique to you.
What does your book making process look like?
Every BeGolden book is handbound at our bookbindery, meaning the linen, leather or cloth is stretched, folded and bound around the pages. The result is books and albums that are built to hold your memories safely and to last.
Next, your personalisation is hand-set in our Oxfordshire workshop and hot-foil pressed onto the finished cover, in your choice of metallic gold, silver, rose gold or copper.
What's so good about all this?
Practically speaking, no two printings are ever identical, because none of this is happening on a screen. Your foiling is set up, aligned and pressed by our team who've done this thousands of times, using their experienced eye to check everything looks right before committing to the press.
It also means the finish lasts. Foil that's been properly heat-bonded into linen, cloth or leather doesn't flake, peel or fade the way a printed or laminated finish can. And we believe that really matters when the thing you're personalising is meant to be opened for the next fifty years, not the next five!
Customers who've had albums made by us have described our craftsmanship as "impeccable" and called their book "a genuine heirloom from the day it arrived". This is exactly how we want our customers to feel and it's precisely why we've never been tempted to change our process to something digital.
Is there a downside to hot foil printing?
Hand-foiling isn't totally free of downsides; for example, it takes longer to do than digital printing so our making time can be up to 4–5 working days, rather than same-day (although there are some designs we can turn round this quickly for you).
Hot foil printed books also cost more to produce so we'll never be the cheapest option out there. And because our printing is done by hand, there's a very small amount of natural variation between books, rather than the dead-flat uniformity of a machine run.
But for us, that's the beauty of what we do. At the end of the day, a hand-pressed, BeGolden book looks and feels like something a person made for you - because it is.
Every BeGolden album and guest book is handbound in our Wiltshire bindery and hand-foiled in our Oxfordshire workshop. Browse the full collection or read more about us.