About Us

Based in Northamptonshire, UK we are a friendly family-run business which is dedicated to providing you with quality bespoke ribbons for any occasion. Orlando Ribbons was born out of a dream - as a means to realise our own vision of a perfect wedding.

Whilst trying to arrange our own small but memorable wedding, we developed the idea of complementing our dresses and service with the use of colour co-ordinated decorative printed ribbons, creating a harmonious theme throughout. Since we had many years of experience of printing labels, it seemed a natural step to produce our own ribbons for the occasion.

Such was the success and interest shown in our wedding ribbons that we decided to specialise in this area and our Orlando Ribbons company was formed.

Printing Process

Hot Foil Blocking
We print our ribbons using the traditional method of Hot foil blocking. This is a relatively old printing process, using a combination of heat and pressure and a die to transfer the required foil colour (or print) onto the ribbon. Temperatures up to 150 C together with pressures of up to 4 tons may be necessary to transfer the print onto the ribbon

The Die
Once a final design has been approved it is then etched, in reverse, out of a thin metal sheet using acid. This is then used similarly to a rubber stamp to make the image on the ribbon.

Printing Foil
This is the material used for carrying the required colour for the print / design. In a similar way to carbon paper it requires pressure but also heat, to release the colour off the backing material.

The finished appearance of the print varies from a dull non reflective matt, to a shiny gloss finish. Most impressive of all is the reflective Metallic foil. This is a bright shiny eye-catching finish conveying quality and expense but without the cost!
Special effect holographic foils area also available!

Ribbon Types
Many types of ribbon are available. Most commonly used is the versatile "double sided woven edged polyester satin".

• Polyester Satin = smooth, quality, ideal for bows etc.
• Acetate satin = slightly less polished finish than the polyester.
• Grossgrain = rough and textured finish.
• Woven edge = tidy boarded edges.
• Picot edge = Individual small loops of cotton along both edges.