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I used to stamp with ink, cover with embossing powder, than shake it off and heat gun it.. But I have ink all over my warped arthritic fingers and some letters of the sentiment have too much ink and some too little, and my Misti doesn't seem to help as much as it used to. Bottomline, my cards look worse than when I was a brand new stamper. Some good soul here said she almost always stamps with VersaMark and then uses colored embossing powder, so I am going to try that and would love to know which brand of embossing powders you prefer, and why, PLEASE!
My favorite brand is still Stampendous. I've had some of those embossing powders for over 15 years (gotta do more embossing!), and they still work great.
You might want to consider that if you use colored pigment inks and a clear EP you dont necessarily need colored EPs. Just a thought. Not exactly the same though.
Am I understanding that even with the MISTI you are not able to do a second stamping/emboss to get even coating?
Just an fyi...I find the reverse craft tweezers to be so helpful with heat embossing...they naturally stay closed. You press them to open them which is much less squeezing time if you have hand issues. I have the Ek tool one-they have rubber on the handle-better for gripping.
I esp like ultra fines-they do excellent work with sentiments and fine detail images. They are not as raised as regular EP though you can double emboss as I described above. Hero arts is good.
I also like EPs that create a sense of texture in a way...Seth Aptner has a line that looks like various stones or oxidized metals. You could do half an A2 of paper and then die cut from it in basic shapes to add a nice feature etc. Back into it instead of trying to emboss the die cut.
You might want to consider that if you use colored pigment inks and a clear EP you dont necessarily need colored EPs. Just a thought. Not exactly the same though.
Am I understanding that even with the MISTI you are not able to do a second stamping/emboss to get even coating?
Just an fyi...I find the reverse craft tweezers to be so helpful with heat embossing...they naturally stay closed. You press them to open them which is much less squeezing time if you have hand issues. I have the Ek tool one-they have rubber on the handle-better for gripping.
I esp like ultra fines-they do excellent work with sentiments and fine detail images. They are not as raised as regular EP though you can double emboss as I described above. Hero arts is good.
I also like EPs that create a sense of texture in a way...Seth Aptner has a line that looks like various stones or oxidized metals. You could do half an A2 of paper and then die cut from it in basic shapes to add a nice feature etc. Back into it instead of trying to emboss the die cut.
Now I need to go poke around in Wow to look at new to me colors! lol
ETS: Not a big fan of glitter embossing powders.
Many thanks for the links and advice WaveJumper. I've been away from stamping for a few years and in the meantime my fingers got soo twisted and arthritic, and my brain seems to be on vacation because the cards I produce these days are so obviously home made! The first day back at stamping, I had ink so deep in my fingernails I'm embarrasded to go out. Baby wipes are my savior these days.! I never heard of reverse tweezers but am off to ordere them right now, and also to look at the WOW web site. So much has changed since I left! thanks again!
ooh try getting one of your bottles of hand sanitizer on your desk ( it will help remove the ink from your fingers too)
Yep, what she said. I do find that I stamp most often with versamark and colored powders. I do buy the fine ones and or super fine ones so, a lot of mine are from Ranger, WOW, and Hero Arts. I do have some stampendous ones that make enamel looks but, I don't use those for sentiments they are more for texture like UTTE type projects. I also have a few from Simon Says Stamp and Altenew. ( but, just a few colors that I bought to get rose gold I think I bought every companies rose gold when it started coming out ha ha)
oh well....the saying inky fingers has a reason. LOL. Just makes you one of the tribe. It gets in my cuticles.
I should mention the One Hundred and One is an extra thick. Wow and others have extra high or something that isn't for sentiments but would save you double embossing on objects or BGs.
Give yourself some time...you will be back in the saddle again riding hard before you know it
__________________ Margot
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One more suggestion. If you want to emboss a second time the powder is usually still hot enough that you don't need to stamp again. Just throw some more powder over it and it will cling. Then do another blast with the heat gun.
I know you were asking about embossing powders here, but I had some other thoughts as I was reading about your plight:
It could be your ink. If you've been a stamper for a longer time (like me - I have original stamps that Hero Arts recently re-released from their "vault"!), you may have some of the ColorBox pigment inks. They were very juicy and with words, might cause some of the "blotchiness" you're reporting. For embossing, I've switched to VersaMark Ink mentioned above, and if you still like colored inks, the VersaFine pads can work for fine-lined images such as words, but you have to be a little quick as they are fast-drying pigment inks. Jennifer McGuire LOVES the Altenew Obsidian Black ink. - https://altenew.com/products/obsidian-pigment-ink) so maybe that will help
The crafting industry (particularly one person) has come out with new "tools" to help make it easier to press down on the Misti cover more evenly. The "Debbie Tool" (google that exactly as spelled or you may get ... interesting... results) might be helpful. It's beautiful, but a little pricy. There are other similar tools, One is from LDRS (https://ldrscreative.com/collections...tamping-tool-1) and that one is priced much more reasonably, but is not as nice looking. It's also sold out everywhere for now. (I hear that an Air Hockey paddle might work too and those are SUPER cheap on Amazon - $10.99 for 4. Buy and share with friends?)
For powders, I have too many! My all-time FAVORITE is the Judikins Egyptian Gold - beautiful gold colors and holographic glitter mixed in. Powders last FOREVER (I'm on only my second bottle of Jusikins, and it's from the 90's!) so don't get too many too fast! I tend to stamp in color, then use Clear because it hides any "boo boos" better if I don't use a powder tool first.
With the exception of black (I *hate!!!* black embossing powder!!!) I stamp with VersaMark or something similar, and then use colored EP. One of my favorites is Ranger's Liquid Platinum. not quite shiny silver, not quite not silver - I just love it. IMO, Alabaster White Embossing Powder....by (oh shoot, Covid Brain, danged virus 14 months later...) by not Ink on 3...and I don't think it's Hero Arts either...carried by Simon Says Stamp anyway - probably the best fine white embossing powder out there. Lots of really good silvers and golds - who knew there were so many varieties of gold??? Again, I tend to stick with Ranger, but I also have Wow, a few Stampendous, some Simon Says Stamp...some old Judikins which occasionally fills just the right spot.
For black, my go-to ink for words especially, and outlines mostly, that will be embossed with clear embossing powder, is VersaMark Onyx Black. It is hands down the best, in my opinion, for fine script or fine lined images,whether you emboss them or not. And it is the most long-lasting ink I have. I had my first ink pad for 12 years without ever having to re-ink it, and it finally gave up the ghost only because my dog decided it was a toy when it fell *closed* off my work desk. A top with a tooth hole in it won't keep the ink fresh you know. Mom makes sure the ink pad can never be knocked off with an elbow now.
__________________ The future is uncertain, because love changes everything!
Bahb, thanks so much for asking this question. I have the same question for a different reason - I've had my basics (white, clear and black) so long that I need to throw away what I have and restock with fresh.
Best Embossing Powder?
