To provide the adaptability for production of various kinds of articles on a small scale by a method wherein a coating film of thermoplastic resin containing metal soap is employed as an adhesive layer to rapidly separate a base material after transfer, whereby working properties can be improved so that a transfer operation can be performed in a good work environment.

In the heat transfer foil 10 prepared by successively stacking a protection layer 3, metal deposit layer 4, and adhesive layer 5 on a base material 1, through a separation layer 2, the layer 5 is comprised of a 4 μm thick or less coating film of thermoplastic resin containing metal soap. The metal soap of the layer 5 is composed of an aluminum stearate. The material 1 is preferably made of a polyester resin and the layers 2, 3 can be made of resins for general purpose. And for forming the layer 4, a metal, which can be deposited under vacuum, such as aluminum(AL), tin (Sn), chromium(Cr), nickel(Ni), etc., can be used. In order to cover various indications applied to a transfer object, the thickness of the layer 4 is preferably at least 300 .