Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Hi. Welcome to Stamping with Gail.
In this video I'm going to show you how to emboss.
This is the type of embossing where we use embossing powder and heat it up.
There's another type of embossing call dry embossing, but I'm going to save that
for another video.
So the first thing we need to do is to gather our supplies.
We will need a rubber stamp, of course.
It can be an outline image or a bold image. Almost any stamp will do.
We need a stamping ink
that stays wet enough
long enough for the embossing powder to stick;
It can be a clear ink
such as a VersaMark ink pad,
or it can be a colored ink
like the Stampin' Up! Craft pad.
We're going to use the VersaMark pad today.
We need some of embossing powder.
And I am using Early Espresso which is a dark brown.
I'm using a colored embossing powder because I'm using a clear ink.
If I were using a colored ink, then I could use a clear base powder,
one that has sparkles or just plain clear.
I also need an Embossing Buddy, and I'll show you what that's for
in a minute.
It's just a little bag like a little resin bag.
It will help us out.
A paintbrush
is optional,
but I'm going to show you why I like that.
And a heat gun.
This is going to
provide some heat
and melt the embossing powder.
And before you even ask, "no", you can't use a blow dryer; that won't work.
Let's get started
with a piece about cardstock.
I have a vanilla piece here and I'm taking my embossing buddy and I'm
going to just rub it over the surface of the card stock. This does a
couple of things.
It takes off any oils that might be card,
and it also takes
any static off.
The reason I do that is so that the embossing powder will only stick
where I want it to stick, hopefully.
So, I'll take the stamp and ink it up with the VersaMark Ink, the clear ink...
As you use a VersaMark pad, I will warn you that it doesn't always stay this pretty.
This is a new one that I
opened just for this video.
They do get kind of gray after a while, but that's okay.
So I'm just going to stamp my image.
You do want to make sure that your ink pad is wet enough.
So if it needs to be re-inked, this would be a good time to do that.
You can't see it because the ink is clear.
Next, let me get a piece of scratch paper,
and pour the embossing powder over it.
And you know you can pour the whole jar out if you want.
It's ok because we are going to pour it back in the jar when we are done.
and then tap off the excess.
Inspect it: look and see if there's any
flecks where you don't want them. If there are, that's a good time to just use
that brush
and get off any stray flecks that you might see.
When you're when with that, you do want to save
the embossing powder
and pour it back into the jar
for another time.
And now heat
with the heat gun.
You want to be careful with this. It is very hot; I joked about the
hairdryer but you don't want to use this to blow dry your hair.
It can be very dangerous. You want to keep it out of
the path of children and cats. Sometimes cats can
turn it on, depending on the kind of button it has, so when you're not using it,
leave it unplugged.
As the heat gun gets hot,
the embossing powder is going to melt,
and become raised and shiny.
I just hope that you can see that on the video.
If you're using a small piece of paper, you might want to hold on to it with a clothespin or
some kind of a clip, so long as it's not a metal clip.
Because that would get hot also.
We're just slowly going over the whole thing just to make sure that it's all melted.
And when it's all melted,
you want to stop.
If you over-melt, if you overheat,
a couple of things can happen.
The paper could catch on fire,
or it could scorch,
also as you overheat embossing powder, it soaks into the paper
and it's not raised and shiny anymore.
Then you just want to give it a look in the light to make sure that you got
the whole thing.
If you didn't, go back and reheat.
If your paper buckles up and is warped, and you want to fix that,
just turn it over and heat it a little from the back. That will usually flatten it out.
Again, you don't want to overheat it.
And that is how you heat emboss.
And you can make a pretty little Easter card
or Christmas card. I love to emboss as Christmas time.
But it's easy! People will be wowed and
amazed that you made something so
perfect.
Then you can just smile and know that it really was pretty easy.
So be sure
subscribe to my Stamping with Gail YouTube channel if you aren't a subscriber
already. And
be sure to check out my blog www.stampingwithgail.com.
Until next time, this is Gail.