Trouble embossing
 

Hi, I'm having on and off trouble when using gold to heat emboss. I use the embossing buddy and double check to ensure I can see no bits of powder where it shouldn't be, only to find when I heat it, there are dots everywhere - and here we go again - more wasted paper. What am I doing wrong? Many thanks for any help - I need it! Valda

Hi Valda, I love to emboss and particulary in gold or silver. My advice is to use good quality powder, before stamping wipe card to remove oil form your skin and also to anti static. After tipping off the excess powder I give the back of the card a good flick to help remove excess. Then I use a soft size 4 paint brush to carefully remove any powder still around the image. This does seem like a lot of work but it is second nature now and it is worth a couple of extra minutes to ensure a beautifully embossed image.
Good luck and remember practice makes perfect.
Kathleen

Ditto what Kathleen says. I look at it painstakingly to make sure there aren't any specks left. I use ultrafine embossing powder. I don't know if that makes a difference with specks, but it is great for detail images.

Ditto what Debbie said, use detail/superfine powder when ever possible.

Are you using an embossing buddy or other kind of anti static powder? That would help for sure an dyou should be able to find one at your local craft store!

I also use a paintbrush before heating. I did this on 75 cards for a business last year (yes, with GOLD EP!). :-)

Busted! I typed before what you wrote registered in my brain! (Sometimes it takes a while to get there!) Now I am wondering if your embossing buddy is either old or if there are times when more of the anti-static powder comes out than other times. I normally kind of drop mine (embossing buddy) on the paper a couple of times until I see the anti static powder on my paper and then use it to spread the powder around, does that make sense?

Sometimes I heat it from the back.
Also, if you let your embossing gun heat up before you start to emboss, that helps too.

I could be completely way off, but maybe your versamark pad is gone a bit dry or it dried too much before you poured the ep and it's just not sticking to the image as well as it could. So when you heat it, some of it just flies right off?

That's an excellent suggestion!!!

Great thoughts, thanks. I use an embossing buddy (may be old, was 2nd hand);

I used SU powder (what brands/types do U use?) and used a soft brush but maybe didn't look carefully enough!

Many thanks, will give all these suggestions a try, because I love embossing. V

How about heating from underneath so that the embossing powder doesn't get blown around by the heat gun? I've never had to do that but I have seen it suggested by others.

Yeh, that was a good idea and will try that too - that could well have been the problem.

I use Judikins brand embossing powders now, but I do have quite a collection of other brands. For gold and silver I use detail grade only. I also always make sure I let my heat gun heat up first, so when I aim it at the powder it melts immediately. This helps especially on dark card so as not to change the colour of the card with over heating.
Kathleen

trouble embossing
 

Hi again - just wanted to thank everyone for their suggestions, all of which I put into practice like a good little pupil and my problem has evaporated - so again, many thanks for your assistance. Splitcoasters rock! V

Glad to hear that your problem has been solved! One other tip that I have found useful is to hold the heat tool a little ways away from the paper, especially when you first begin heating it. The blast of air sometimes can spread the powder flying! HTH.

Thanks for that tip - my paint stripper gun is the real problem but I don't as yet have the very many pennies required to buy a proper heat gun here! Valda

iane,

Next time you're embossing 75 cards, let your oven do the work! Works like a champ...heat the oven to 265 (EP melts between 260-280 degrees).

Stamp with a pigment ink, sprinkle the EP over the card and shake off the excess. Place the cards on a cookie sheet, put the sheet in the oven and wait a few minutes. Allow the cardsto cool before removing from them from the cookie sheet. Easy as can be.

I have an Oven Embossed card on my blog (it's listed in Labels) for you to look at. Also have some thermal embossing tips under Embossing Powder Candy Store in Labels; the Embossing Powder Candy Store listed in Commercial Sites is a link to that site.

love the oven tip, WOW, who knew

I have used many of the tips I read here and just the other day decided to try the embossing buddy. It's a good thing I tried it before the party because it left a white film on my Bravo Burgundy paper. What did I do wrong? It's a new one from SU. Help??

I use the embossing buddy first, then tap off as much as I can by tapping on the back after pouring the bulk back into the bottle. THEN, I use a small paint brush dipped in water and most of the water removed to pick up the specks. It works really great wet as sometimes the paint brush makes the specks move other places. I actually did this for 100 CHRISTmas cards and I do it when I want a card that looks like Hallmark made it! :) With the Santa Ana winds blowing here in S. California, it is REALLY dry which makes heat embossing more fun!

Does anyone know is embossing buddy is filled with pounce?

Just a little tip of my own for clearing extra ep... I love to give it a blast with some canned air (the kind for cleaning computers). This works for me, hope it helps

I found that the speckles showed up everytime I used my black or pink powder. Are you using the Powder Pals to catch the excess powder and and then pour it back into your jar? You may be getting some old EP from other colors that were left in the PP. When I realized that is what was happening with my black, I threw away all that was left and started with a new jar and now....NO SPECKLES. Now I use a "black ep only" piece of paper and then fold it a bit to pour it back in. I have a different piece of paper and seperate plastic container (instead of the PP) for each color. I put the container in the PP to catch any excess that escaped.

I am curious as to how one knows when their Embossing Buddy is too OLD? I have had mine for a long time. Thanks. :-) LM

Thanks, those tips on your blog are very good. I particularly needed to be reminded to keep my powder and especially my card dry. It has been very humid here recently and I was wondering why my embossing has been a bit hit & miss. I will go and dig out all those little sachets of silica I have hidden and make use of them.

I have a similar problem with copper embossing powder. Every time I use the copper EP it does ot melt all the way or whatever is is. It is really ruff when you go over it. No other EP does it that I have just the copper. I've tried heating from underneath you name it. Could it be that some EP melt better than others?

Thanks for any input.

Sabrina

I haven't bought an embossing buddy yet so I just use a used dryer sheet to remove static. It works great for me.
Barbdesigns

Embossing troubles
 

Keeping the suface clean helps, always as well as making sure your hands are 'clean'. I often choose to use color ink and 'fine' clear embossing powder for my projects.

Diane

Hi, I just learned that ink and clear embossing technique myself and it is great. It seems to deepen the colour, as well, once heated. Great idea - especially when you don't have all the coloured powders.