Using lamination allows you to provide all your favourite prints with a new polished, sleek appearance. It can be exciting to see the change. However, you need to ensure you do things properly. It may be a good idea to choose professional laminating services to give you the best results.
Before you begin laminating, there are several things you need to keep in mind. If you fail to do this, you may end up destroying one of your prized possessions. Continue reading if you wish to find out how to do things correctly.
Avoid laminating keepsakes with thermal laminators
To begin with, it is a good idea to avoid thermal lamination when you have heat sensitive items. You are better off with cold, pressure sensitive laminates.
Ultrasounds
The majority of ultrasound images get printed with a thermal printing procedure. This means that heat sensitive paper goes through a special printer. It applies the heat where the image is meant to be. Thus, if you run them through a hot laminator, chances are the print will smudge together. It is not unheard of to see an ultrasound image turn out entirely black after putting it through a hot laminator.
Instead you can use cold lamination. Or, you could scan such a special photo at high resolution. Then you can print out a copy and laminate it.
Laminating photos could damage them
With photo paper, it comes in both glossy and matte finishes. What this does is offer pictures a professional finish. Some believe laminating one of these images is an excellent way of preserving them. After all, they could be handled a lot and be exposed to harmful substances.
Lamination can involve using a multitude of adhesives. For the best results, the adhesive must get into the paper’s fibres. Glossy stocks come with a coating on the paper that provides the appearance. At times, these coatings stop the laminate’s adhesives from sticking to your photos or other colour prints. Sadly, it can ruin them.
If you intend to laminate a photo, ensure your heat setting isn’t too high. When the heat on a laminating machine is too great, it can produce waves or bubbling. Turn down to a lower setting or speed things up if your laminator has an adjustable speed feature.
You could also run something through your machine and it comes out cloudy. Here, you may have to slow the speed down or increase the temperature.
When using a pouch laminator, you are able to run it back through an extra time to get sufficient heat. This is to activate your adhesive and secure a clear finish.
Archiving
Lastly, we will discuss using laminating pouches for archival reasons. If you are planning to do this, you will want to reconsider. Lamination film isn’t free of acid, meaning it can harm your object over time.
We understand the entire process to offer expert laminating services
Laminating is a wonderful way of preserving significant keepsakes and offering them a great feel and finish. But, as we have shown you need to watch out for particular details. This includes thermally printed goods, paper stocks, and the type of adhesive.
At Foiling Services, we understand how easy it is to get the lamination process wrong. As such, we make sure that things go right every time. Using our knowledge and experience, we start off by understanding the qualities of the item we are laminating. We can then ensure we offer the right service or propose an alternative.
So, please let us know if you require the very best laminating services. We can add laminates to lots of different materials, including things like composite doors and window frames.