Stamping BG with Spellbinder edge: this should be easy but...
 

I would like to be able to have a Spellbinder Nestie shape that is stamped with a BG stamp, but the embossed edge is clean and unstamped. It seems like this should be possible, but the only way I can think to do it would be to put the CS in my BS, run it through, take the Nestie with the CS still in it, put my inked BG stamp face up on my table, lay the Nestie on top of it face down and then use my fingers to get the stamp onto the CS. Then bring the Nestie back to the BS, and run it through using my embossing sandwich.

The trouble is that I have tried this and the CS always seems to shift just a bit during the stamping, and no matter how carefully I try to get it back in there perfectly it ruins the embossed edge in one place or another. Maybe tape the CS to the Nestie somehow? I think part of the problem is that my BS always slightly embosses my Nesties during cutting, so there's already a line there when I do the embossing and any small shift shows. Maybe I need to fix that problem. But I get weird stuff at the edges as well.

This is something that seems totally do-able, yet I can't seem to do it! If you have been doing this, please tell me how.

I am trying to imagine it in my head but I am wondering if it would be possible to stamp it then do the cutting and embossing?

That's how I have been doing it when I wanted to cut a shape out of a BG I'd stamped, but then the design goes all the way to the edge. Instead of ending where the embossing line appears. Which is what I was fantasizing about.

There's a thread up here now that explains how to use an EF with a Nestie so that the embossed design does not extend over the embossed line - and it got me thinking.

Just seemed like something you ought to be able to do. I guess not.

Is it due to the size of the die? If you used the next size up, there shouldn't be that problem. Or are the dies you're using only 1 shape (one size)?

Another thought, are your plates bowed? I had the same problem with my printed text die cutting perfectly only to get "creatively" embossed: the left side no embossing, the right side triple embossed (where it not only moved on the first pass, but again on the second one... I wanted to make sure it got embossed). This was the first time this has happened. I noticed that it didn't shift if I popped the outer excess cardstock off while holding the cut portion in the die. If the cut portion fell out of the die, no matter how careful I was placing it back in, it would move.

Keeping the cut portion exactly in place in the die. Yes, that's where the problem is - when I take the die with the cut portion in it over to my work table to lay it on the BG stamp and then press on the back of the CS to transfer the ink from the stamp to the die, it always moves just a little, and no matter how carefully I try to realign it before putting it back on the BS to do the emboss pass, it's never exact. I get, as you so aptly put it, "creative embossing".

Oh, and I'm working with your basic Nestie shapes - squares, ovals, labels, none of them small or intricate. Big enough to want to stamp a BG stamp on.

I just think it's one of those thing that seem possible, but isn't. Or not consistently. I might try ten times and get one to work, but there's no way to get that piece of CS stuck to the die so that while you are trying to work with it on a BG stamp, it won't shift.

sigh. But thanks for giving it a think for me.

Robin - I haven't tried the stamping thing, but when I want my cardstock to stay in place in a Spellbinders, I use Scotch removable tape. (I'm sure there are other brands, but Scotch is the one I've actually tried.) Now, I'm usually trying to keep the die in place for cutting, but if you take your shape in your nestie after it's cut and put the removable tape across the backside, so that it crosses the cardstock and the die, and leave a little folded-over tail once it's past the edge of the die (to make it easy to remove), I would think that it would hold the cardstock in place so that it doesn't shift in the die.

Then, I would put my nestie/cardstock assembly face up on a stamping mat - like a mousepad, or a thicker piece of fun foam (something that will let the cutting edge of the die kind of sink down into it) and then stamp from the top. Most of the time, with background stamps, I prefer to lay the stamp ink-side up and put the cardstock down onto it (like you're doing), but I think that is giving your cardstock extra opportunity to move around. If you stamp from the top, you will be pressing the cardstock/nestie down into the stamping mat and kind of forcing it to stay together.

I'll try this later, when I have access to my crafting cave, but I think it might work.

Sounds like something worth trying, Cheryl, thank you. I have some low-tack painter's tape that would work to secure the CS. :-)!

Have you tried using your die as a template to hand cut and use the negative as a mask?

Trace around the inside and hand cut a sort of stencil.... hmmm, that's a very interesting idea, Nancy! That might just work. Lining it up would be the challenge.

Worth playing with. Never thought of that!

If you have a Silhouette or the Brother scan and cut machine, you could trace the inside of all if your dies and have the machine cut them out.

Yeah, I've been collecting excuses to get myself a Sillhouette! ;-)! Thanks for another one!

Could you cut a mask with a smaller die, stamp through it onto your card, remove the mask, place a larger die over the stamped image, tape it then run it through the cutter.

Haven't tried this but it might work depending on which set of dies you are using.

Lesley

You could do the embossing first, then stamp your BG while its still in the die (tape it in place before stamping so it does't shift). I've done this several times with success. I also put it one a piece of fun foam so that it gets supported from the back and pushes the cardstock back up through the die if you KWIM... I also do it this way when I want to sponge a light colour around the edge of the embossed area and not the border...

Both good ideas. Cutting a negative template would probably work with those sets that have small and large versions, since you get a 1/8 inch graduation between the two sets. With the sets that don't, the negative die would probably be too small to fill the next one up.

Yes, adhering the cut piece to the die and then placing it on the stamp seems like something to play with. As long as I can come up with a good way to get it not to shift AT ALL, it should work. :-)!