Color for dry embossing???

[jpardoe]

I have a technique question that's been bugging me for awhile...

I dry emboss a lot of backgrounds. I see people on this site who color them or "wipe the ink pad across" to make the dry embossed images pop. How do you do this and what do you use?

Wiping the ink pad across sounded easy but was a disaster! Help! :confused:

Thank you! :-D

[Tah Dah!]

I do use this technique occasionally with paper that I've embossed with a CB emb folder, and then lightly swipe a dye ink pad over the surface. I have found it's easiest to do with a pad that roughly fits in my hand (I go up and down too much with the spots/dew drops/palette cubes) and has a raised, non-foam surface. I've also found that the SU standard pads don't work all that well as the pad itself isn't necessarily flat (but my OLD style SU ink pads work fine). So having said all that, distress pads seem like they work the best for me. Just lightly cup it in my palm and pass it across the paper. It's one of those things that you just have to play with, I think. A light touch is definitely needed. HTH!

[dustypoodle]

There's a thread here on SCS called Inking the Negative:

Forums at Splitcoaststampers

Is this what you're looking for?

Here's a video that shows you how to ink your cuttlebug embossing by Julie Buhler:
http://paperpleasing.typepad.com/my_...bug-ink-e

[Angelnorth]

I do the same as Trish but one extra thing I found is that it works better with a pad that's not too 'juicy' so don't use a brand new colour you just opened. The light touch thing is really important too, you want the pad barely touching the card stock surface.

Dustypoodle's linked technique will get you colour on the low bits of the image rather than the high bits, IYSWIM (and only works if you're using a folder to emboss).

[INGonzalez]

I have also seen where some have colored them with chalk. A little more labor intensive but very pretty.