The Framers Forum

Hi All. I have been given a scratch map of the world from Luckies of london, to stick to a board and frame, no glazing.
Has anyone any experience of working with one of these maps. the countries are covered in a foil (like a scratch and lose lottery ticket) so you can scratch off each country when visited, and the paper below is a glossy laminate-type.
My question specifically is will a hotpress damage the foil substance? I dont think placing the map face down on my workbench is a good idea, nor is rolling it flat with glue on one side and me rubbing the other. Tapestry tape perhaps?
Looking forward to someone giving me a simple solution I havn't seen, or perhaps reassurance is all I need.
Yours, stuck in Northern Ireland, Nigel McFadzean

Hi Nigel,

The scratch panels on scratch cards are often applied as a hot blocking foil. I know this because I have bought hot blocking foils for handfinishing projects and the company that I use sends me the promotional info, which says that they make scratch card foils.

Therefore, assuming that the map is made by the same method, then in principle dry mounting might be an appropiate proceedure. It would be helpful to be able to talk to the company which produces the map and find out where they get the foil from. This is in order to discover the manufacturers temperature ratings for the foil materials and to see if the temperature ratings are compatible with dry mounting press temperatures.

If you are going to dry mount the map, I suggest that you need to discuss this with your customer and get them to sign something so that they accept the risks.

Hi there,

Tested a piece that was with the information pack that came with a large map couple month ago.
Dry mounted 3 in past month. All fine.

All i would say is better to use a fresh piece of silicone sheet in the dry mounter. Any marks/lines/creases in the silicone show up in the foil.

Thanks for your replies. I did contact the phone number given on the tube the map came in. They were quick to reply saying :

Thanks for your email. We do not recommend using any form of heat on the map as it will destroy it.

Heat and rollers would damage the foil so the only way, apart from a standard frame, would be double sided adhesive sheet.

Thank you,


Tess Bickers | Head of Sales

I think the signing of a waiver is a good idea. It makes me think though that the wording of such would need to be legally watertight. Is that a whole new forum thread?
Could still check if customer would consider glazing after all the exposed map will always be in danger from passing children, brooms, flying objects and eager cleaners. NIgel

I wouldn't worry too much about the disclaimer, the one I framed was quite large and only cost £24, so I knew if I ruined it I didn't have a big exposure.

Have rolled several onto sticky foam board through rollers, no issues at all.

You don't need heat to stick down - a cold roller and PVA would work fine.

we stuck one down to self adhesive foam board so they ccould stick pins in as well

(the one we did was £12.99 so I wasn't too worried about ruining it)