Dry embossing needs a two-component printing plate, unlike the hot foil stamping plate which is one-component. The printing plate for making the dry embossing is composed of two elements, called "male" and "female". These two elements must fit together perfectly.
The female is the component hollowed out in metal (magnesium or brass) while the male is a plastic element that forms the relief that must match the female. This last element is generally thermoformed directly on the female to ensure perfect adhesion.
Una volta impostati sulla macchina (sia essa a foglio o a bobina) il maschio e la femmina devono chiudere a sandwich la carta scelta, e la loro pressione andrà a formare un rilievo, deformando la carta con il soggetto inciso.
Once set on the machine (be it sheet or reel) the male and female must sandwich the chosen paper, and their pressure will form an embossing, deforming the paper with the engraved subject. Generally this process is done cold without heating the plates, sometimes the substrate is helped to become softer in the process by heating it to 30 ° C - 40 ° C. Dry embossing also requires a setting up time to create register with the other elements of the label or packaging, for this it requires additional costs and extra setting up meters / sheets.
Since plastic tends to be elastic, it is not recommended to do dry embossing on it, it is advisable to make thick serigraphy in this case.
For adhesive labels, the dry embossing on important areas of the label could create problems for those who will label the product; this is because embossing could not guarantee perfect adhesion of the label to the product. It is always advisable to do an initial chat with a printing professional to know is embossign is the right choice. Sometimes an opaque screen printing could be done.