Much of the time when I’m stamping I emboss my images.  Embossing makes the image stand out by raising it and making it shiny.  There are a few different approaches to embossing & some different products you can try (such as clear or colored powders and white or colored stamp pads, plus we’ll discuss whether to use pigment or dye based inks).  But the basic idea is you stamp your image on paper with ink, sprinkle embossing powder & remove the excess, then use a heat tool to melt the powder.  So here goes…

Supplies:

heat tool, embossing powder, pigment ink pad, paper for stamping, extra paper to collect spilled powder, stamp, and tiny paintbrush (optional).

Which Inks & Powders?

1.  First, there are two main approaches to stamped embossing:

For one, you’ll use white pigment ink with colored embossing powder.  The color of the embossing powder is what you’ll see after embossing.  The advantage is you only need one ink pad & you can buy as many embossing powders as you want.  You can even mix powders, such as pink & clear glitter together or red & green ones for the holidays.  The only difficulty with colored embossing powders is that you have to be extremely careful not to allow stray powder to remain on your paper, otherwise you’ll melt the powder & will have random spots on the paper.  For this reason, I recommend newbie’s to begin with the next method.

The other embossing method is to use colored pigment ink & clear embossing powder.  The color of the ink pad will show through the clear powder.  The advantage is, if you don’t get every little extra spot of powder off your page, you won’t really see it (it’ll be a tiny clear glossy spot).

2.  Second, how do you know what ink pads you can use?  I mentioned pigment ink as what’s recommended, but can you also use dye based ink?

Pigment ink is thicker & also takes longer to dry.  Therefore, it’s ideal for embossing because the thickness allows the embossing powder to stick to it, and because it takes longer to dry you don’t have to work quite as fast to get the embossing powder on.  You can use dye based inks for embossing, but it’s a little more hassle.  They aren’t thick & they dry very quickly, so if you really want to emboss with them be ready for more challenge.  You have to get the powder on the ink immediately after stamping…I mean super-fast!  But I know how it is when you find the perfect color in only a dye based ink and you’re determined to emboss with it.  You can make it work.

Instructions:

1.  Push your stamp on your ink pad to ink your stamp.  Since pigment inks are thick, don’t push down on the stamp too hard or you’ll get excess ink into the crevices of the stamp which may cause a little blurring on your stamped image.

2.  Push your stamp onto your paper & remove.  Make sure not to wiggle your stamp, as you might blurring or edges of your stamp on the paper.

3.  Sprinkle embossing powder onto your image.  Remove excess powder by curving your paper into a U-shape and funneling it back into your jar.  If you’re afraid you may spill some powder, keep an extra piece of paper under your project to collect it so it can also be funneled back to the jar.  Also, if you have excess powder that remains in unwanted areas, use your paintbrush to gently brush it away.  Be careful not to brush away anything you want to keep though.

4.  Use the heat tool to melt the powder.  To do this, hold the tool about 4 inches from your image.  When the powder begins to look shiny, it’s adequately melted.  Move the tool across your stamped image to melt all the powder.  Be careful not to over melt it; if this happens, your powder will become flat & seem to melt into the paper.  You want it to be just slightly melted & keep raised.

5.  That’s it!  Here’s a photo of three images I stamped, each using a different stamping method.  From left to right…

-dye based rainbow ink pad & clear powder

-blue pigment ink & clear powder

-clear pigment ink & pink powder