Splitcoaststampers.com - the world's #1 papercrafting community
You're currently viewing Splitcoaststampers as a GUEST. We pride ourselves on being great hosts, but guests have limited access to some of our incredible artwork, our lively forums and other super cool features of the site! You can join our incredible papercrafting community at NO COST. So what are you waiting for?
The only thing I would add is black, but I'm like that. I'd also recommend that you get at least some of your powders in fine/detail grade; it does make a difference in the quality of the image. And have fun; you're going to love it!
__________________ Carol
*Olim velis me peraudire.*
Rock is dead. Long live paper and scissors!
And if you like sparkle at all, I would add the SU Holographic EP. It has an irridescent look as you move the image. I also add a dash of dazzling diamonds to my holographic. It is beautiful.
Stick with fine/detail powder where ever you can find it! It makes a HUGE difference. And make sure you're embossing over a surface that can handle it- cutting mats will warp and carpet will melt. Not that I did this or anything... :rolleyes:
Invest (and I use the term loosely... they're about $5) in a Tidy Tray to keep your area clean, and the Embossing Buddy from Stampin' Up is a nice addition to remove static and keep extra specs of powder off of your card.
I was glad to find this question as I have some issues with embossing. I am having problems with getting the powder to stick. When I am done with the heat tool and the paper has cooled, it will rub off. I thought I was not holding the tool close enough or not long enough, but then it just scorched. Is my powder to old. I did buy it from a person closing out her stamping hobby. The products are from The Artful Stamper, Personal Stamp Exchange and The Stamper's Edge. I am using an embossing pad from Rubber Stamper as well as one from Top Boss (Clear Snap) A friend suggest rubbing the surface of the paper with a dryer sheet, but that did not help. Has anyone any ideas as to what might be the problem. Josie H.
remember, before you heat emboss, rub a dryer sheet across your paper, then stamp and add the EP powder. The dryer sheet will keep stray flecks of powder off your project.
personally, i would start with black, clear, gold and silver....i tend to color in my images, so even though I like white embossing on colored paper, it would be in the second batch of EP i bought. Just my opinion. Black EP has allowed me to wtercolor images even though I don't have a waterproof ink pad, so it's made a huge difference to me
And yes, I love gold or silver EP, because my darn gold and silver inkpads never seem to dry, even if I heat set them (and I don't have clear EP to 'set' the metallic inkpads)
remember to have fun.... oh yeah, and don't sneeze untill all heat setting is done LOL
-laura s
Until I changed to detail embossing powder I couldn't believe the difference! "Ordinary" embossing powder is far too chuky and you lose so much detail in the stamp.
Once you have sorted out what colours you want also invest in an embossing buddy and swipe your cardstock before stamping and then embossing. It makes all the difference in preventing stray specks of EP.
Happy embossing!
I was glad to find this question as I have some issues with embossing. I am having problems with getting the powder to stick. When I am done with the heat tool and the paper has cooled, it will rub off. I thought I was not holding the tool close enough or not long enough, but then it just scorched. Is my powder to old. I did buy it from a person closing out her stamping hobby. The products are from The Artful Stamper, Personal Stamp Exchange and The Stamper's Edge. I am using an embossing pad from Rubber Stamper as well as one from Top Boss (Clear Snap) A friend suggest rubbing the surface of the paper with a dryer sheet, but that did not help. Has anyone any ideas as to what might be the problem. Josie H.
it COULD be old EP, I have some from (oh boy LOL here it comes) 1991 (Yipes!). it doesn't work anymore, the color has seperated and it never heats properly, it doesn't stick well, and is a bit lumpy.... of course, I never threw it away (might be good for some yet-to-be-determined project i guess)
I have heard that moisture can mess with EP also. Someone on SCS (I'm sorry I forget who) mentioned putting those little 'do not eat' silica packets you get in shoes and purses, and put those packets in the same drawer as your (closed) jars of EP. I don't know if that might work.
Another trick is to make sure your inkpad is super-juicy, so the powder can really cling to the inked images
-laura s
I would suggest purchasing the Ranger brand of embossing powders. Many of the colors you mentioned do come in the extra fine detail powder. Just look for it on the jar. I find the Ranger brand to be the best!
I use mostly, gold, silver, black, dark green, red and copper (in no particular order). I don't care for the clear, I just don't see anything to it. I also don't use the glitter variety of the Ranger powders.
I was glad to find this question as I have some issues with embossing. I am having problems with getting the powder to stick. When I am done with the heat tool and the paper has cooled, it will rub off. I thought I was not holding the tool close enough or not long enough, but then it just scorched. Is my powder to old. I did buy it from a person closing out her stamping hobby. The products are from The Artful Stamper, Personal Stamp Exchange and The Stamper's Edge. I am using an embossing pad from Rubber Stamper as well as one from Top Boss (Clear Snap) A friend suggest rubbing the surface of the paper with a dryer sheet, but that did not help. Has anyone any ideas as to what might be the problem. Josie H.
It may be that your EP or your ink is old, or that you're not getting enough ink on your image to "hold" the EP. I would try a new batch of EP to see if it changes your outcome, although I have some that is about 5 years old and it is still fine. I almost always use VersaMark ink to emboss, and it works great with every type of EP I use. The dryer sheet will only help keep stray bits of EP off the rest of your image.
I was glad to find this question as I have some issues with embossing. I am having problems with getting the powder to stick. When I am done with the heat tool and the paper has cooled, it will rub off. I thought I was not holding the tool close enough or not long enough, but then it just scorched. Is my powder to old. I did buy it from a person closing out her stamping hobby. The products are from The Artful Stamper, Personal Stamp Exchange and The Stamper's Edge. I am using an embossing pad from Rubber Stamper as well as one from Top Boss (Clear Snap) A friend suggest rubbing the surface of the paper with a dryer sheet, but that did not help. Has anyone any ideas as to what might be the problem. Josie H.
If you are using an embossing pad/pigment ink then perhaps you using cardstock that is too absorbent or delaying getting your EP onto the ink. Could be that the cs is sucking the moisture out of the ink and the powder isn't adhering. If you suspect that the ink pad may be a little dry then invest in a new pigment ink or embossing ink pad. For clear embossing I have found VersaMark the best bu we all have our own preferences.
Thanks to those of you who responded to my question on Embossing problems. I will go and get a new pad and EP and let you know how I make out. Again thanks, I guess I was not doing anything wrong in my technique. Josie H.
I would suggest purchasing the Ranger brand of embossing powders. Many of the colors you mentioned do come in the extra fine detail powder. Just look for it on the jar. I find the Ranger brand to be the best!
I use mostly, gold, silver, black, dark green, red and copper (in no particular order). I don't care for the clear, I just don't see anything to it. I also don't use the glitter variety of the Ranger powders.
Patti
LOL loved the unintentional pun there
Some folks use clear ep over coloured ink so they have the effect of embossing without it changing the ink colour.
I personally love the gold and silver along with white. Never tried the black before. Does anyone know if you can emboss on the glossy white paper from SU? Saw a Silver Angel done here (ceedee here at SCS). Thanks!!
Splitcoast Dirty Dozen Alumni Creative Crew SU Design Team Alumni
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Chicagoland
Posts: 15,348
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I really like Versamark for embossing. I find it have the best results with it. It's clear so you can't use it with clear powder if you want a color (if you want your embossing to be clear then go for it) but it's very "sticky" and works well. Personally, I like SU!'s embossing powders (not being a cheerleader :-), I promise, just my honest opinion). They are fine detail and I get good results (and I don't think I'm that good at embossing). Just a note on the sparkly ones like II...I find them a bit harder to work with, it's harder to see for me when they are "done"..
I just tried my hand at embossing over the weekend and had a DISASTER! I warped the card table I was working on (duh--it gets hot!!!) and never could get a good result. It seemed like the image was very bumpy and pitted, rather than being smooth. I was using MS EP. I tried using the pad that came w/ the kit and then switched to pigment ink w/ very little improvement. Any suggestions?
Holy cow! I'm really stunned by all the problems ya'll are having. I guess I live too far under my rock. I like the regular grind EP for solid stamps. I even use UTEE clear for a 2nd coat, heating the 1st EP then sprinkling on UTEE and re-heat. I always got a messy coverage on my lined stamps (open images) and sentiments with the regular grind. After buying Ranger detail EP.. world of difference. Love it! I use VersaMark pad and Top Boss tinted pad. They're both great. I also have the VersaMarker Pen. I really like it now after a slight learning curve. ;) I don't use pigment inks much cause they just don't work as well for me. Love that little embossing pal too.. gets rid of static plus any oils transferred from your fingers that EP loves to cling to. I'm really partial to clear EP cause there's so much you can do with it. Good stand-by's are gold, silver and black.
Jaxona, I've never used MS EP. Is it detail? Your results sounds a lot like my results before I found detail EP.
Oh, one last suggestion. Try embossing in a box that you've cut the sides down. I usually throw in a scrap piece of copy paper. It really saves your regular work surface from melted stray EP. I work on my kitchen table -formica and it was so hard to get it cleaned afterward. The cooled EP is worse to get off than any of my dried on glues.
I do not use my Tidy tray. Its so much quicker and easier to use a folded/opened piece of copy paper (which I place in my box) to sprinkle on the EP. I have my clear and UTEE in a Glad bowl, just scoop, dump and you're through. Happy stampin' and may God bless, Sandi
__________________ StormyElf'd '07Humble Ink Smears If at first you don't succeed, talk to God! Then, go put on your big girl panties!
Last edited by SouthernStorm; 12-29-2009 at 08:47 PM..
Reason: addin' stuff
I'll add my 2 cents. My husband is an embossing wiz. He loves the challenge, the patience, and getting to use a power tool of sort.
We do own one of those anti-static pads (not SU) but only use it for really large and complicated images like a backgrounder. Otherwise, this is our method. Use smooth CS (Mike's Reflection paper seems to work quite well), detail or fine EP, tap the back side of the image to help remove excess, and finally invest in some good artist brushes to sweep away unwanted powder. We have some very fine point brushes to do this. I have even seen my husband use a craft knife to pluck away single beads of powder. You can gently blow on your image once you have loosened the unwanted powder.
I emboss in mid-air. I hold one corner and start embossing. Now, I have asbestos fingers from cooking so this might not work for you. You do NOT want to over-emboss the metallics. They will go dull as the EP begins to absorb into the paper from overheating.
Brands that we like include: JudiKins, Stampendous, Zing.
It seems that the metallics and pearlustures work very well. I also love to clear emboss on dark paper. Gives a normal watermark technique a little more pop. I have not used clear yet for resist stamping techniques. I also don't think I have embossed colored inks much. I did the opposite. Bought colored EP's and just had Versamark. Later, I started buying colored inks.
One final note, a VM pen can help fill in any gaps that you had from stamping before applying the powder. You need good light to see the image if using VM.
Well, I am overwhelmed by the response to my question regarding embossing. A lot of brands, powder, pads and cardstock have been thrown out there for me to ponder on. I would like a source for these items as, I live in an area where getting anything more then the basics is a problem. If anyone has any online sources, please let me know. Thanks, Josie H.
Clear EP can be used with Versamark and any dye ink to get the result of the color of the ink. After swiping your cardstock with the embossing buddy, used dryer sheet, or cornstarch in a sock, just tap your stamp on the versamark first, then on the dye ink, then stamp onto cardstock, then cover with clear embossing powder, shake off, and emboss as usual. For those who have a lot of dye ink pads, this is a great way to get the look of a lot of colors of embossing powder without actually buying a lot of colors. I agree with using the detailed powder for most applications.
Location: not too far from the big mountain in n.h.
Posts: 3,487
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Here is a trick I learned a few years ago at a stamp show, I use a small wooden clipboard covered with aluminum foil to hold my stamped image while embossing. You just use the clip to hold the paper and no more burnt fingers or flying paper.
This may be quite new to some of you. I do a lot of embossing for mass productions of my cards from time to time as I make cards for my students. I bought an ironing glove that is meant to be used for vertical ironing of suits etc. It has a silvery surface that reflects heat so I usually place my paper on the silver surface and heat from the top. My embossing goes really fast this way and I leave my heat gun on for shorter durations. I am thinking this saves energy by having the heat reflected back onto the paper from underneath.
Would just like to say have fun creating and enjoy your embossing experience, like most have said previous always try to keep the staple basic colours clear, gold and silver. in my opinion dont waste money on glitter type embossing powders , some dont work very well, better to choose say black and also fine detail pwders for very fine etched stamps.
Good luck and enjoy.
Clear EP can be used with Versamark and any dye ink to get the result of the color of the ink. After swiping your cardstock with the embossing buddy, used dryer sheet, or cornstarch in a sock, just tap your stamp on the versamark first, then on the dye ink, then stamp onto cardstock, then cover with clear embossing powder, shake off, and emboss as usual. For those who have a lot of dye ink pads, this is a great way to get the look of a lot of colors of embossing powder without actually buying a lot of colors. I agree with using the detailed powder for most applications.
what a great tip. I'm new to embossing and only have 3 powders, holographic, clear and black. I'm trying to decide between getting different colored powders or the ink pads. So glad this thread was started.
If you use the color pigment ink with the same color (or very close) embossing powder, you will get a much more intense color outcome than using clear powder over color ink.
Location: The Volunteer state....beautiful Tennessee!
Posts: 12,927
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I use an old wooden cutting board for embossing....it can take the heat without warping. I keep it and my heat gun right on my craft table.
Another very useful tip I learned, from my SCS friends, of course, is to keep the embossing powder in a larger container. I use the disposable, Ziplock, snap-lid container that is about 6 1/2 x 6 1/2 inches. You can use a plastic spoon for pouring. It makes it so easy to just sprinkle on powder right over the box and then pour the excess right back in your container.
Be careful using the Powder Pals trays. No matter how well I cleaned them after each use, I still had specks of black EP in my white or clear EP. I just use the Ziplock containers now, so that there's no mixing of colors.
When my EP wouldn't stick, I found it was because my ink wasn't juicy enough. The pads do get old after a VERY long time...I think my old one was 7 or 8 years old. A new VersaMark pad made all the difference.
Heat embossing is what drew me to card making in the first place many years ago. I still am fascinated by it....it's like magic!
You can buy a Tsukineko VersaMark refill for your pad or VersaMarker. The bottle is 0.5 fl. oz. It is clear liquid. I paid $4.99 for mine at Your Scrapbook Superstore in Gatlinburg. You can find it online and maybe at your LSS. HTH.
May God bless, Sandi
__________________ StormyElf'd '07Humble Ink Smears If at first you don't succeed, talk to God! Then, go put on your big girl panties!
You can buy a Tsukineko VersaMark refill for your pad or VersaMarker. The bottle is 0.5 fl. oz. It is clear liquid. I paid $4.99 for mine at Your Scrapbook Superstore in Gatlinburg. You can find it online and maybe at your LSS. HTH.
May God bless, Sandi
I agree, get a bottle of re-inker for whatever watermark ink you use for embossing. I refresh my Versamark pad several times a year, as I love the look and do a lot of heat embossing!
Embossing buddy or dryer sheet before stamping, yes! Fine paintbrush for removing specs that don't tap off, yes! Powder Pal, well, I have one, but find a piece of scrap paper with a fold returns the excess powder to the jar nicely too.
As for colors, I have used more Clear than any other color because I love to use the emboss-resist technique on glossy paper. I have a detail black, which is great for text and line stamps, but got a glossy black for solid stamps and love the results. Silver and gold are holiday staples. White for snow! But I have lots of other textures, colors, and finishes, I just like to experiment when I have a few bucks to spend.
Another hint. Sometimes I use a color ink with clear embossing but the color can dry awfully fast. So someone told me to use the heat on the BACK side of the paper so you don't blow the powder off. Once it starts to set you can switch to blowing on the front.
Another one. Use a pair of forceps to hold your paper while you heat set the powder.
Ladies....to avoid excess powder on your project, be careful when sprinkling on the powder. Sprinkle it on with a small spoon rather than dumping from the jar. Only put it on the area you are embossing, not all over the paper.
I use a small baby spoon to apply the powder. I like the idea of the larger container, but I would need several of them since I do use different colors, not just clear.
Hi Jennifer, yes you've already gotten the good feedback. Starting off with the basic colours is definately the way to go. Once you get the feel and love for embossing you can consider adding to them. My article on heat-embossing is an outline for beginners; we all started there with some trepidation but it's really all lots of fun and fascinating at the same time. Enjoy the process.
You will save yourself quite a bit of money by investing in a good embossing ink and a good quality fine detail clear embossing powder. Don't buy the bulk stuff from Joann's or some of the other big box stores. First stamp your image in the embossing ink (like Versamark) then stamp in your desired dye ink and voil� you have the shade that matches your project (assuming you buy from a company like SU or CTMH that has coordinating products) without spending a lot of extra $$. Be sure to use a static pad. It'll save you lots of aggravation and messy artwork
Ditto the fine/ultra fine ep. Works best no matter what you're doing. The colors you list are fine to start and I would definitely add black. I use it prob more that any other.
One of the DT's I'm on sells a HUGE line of eps and glitters. Custom colors as well as the std and very reasonably priced.
Heat embossing
