Heat embossing
Heat embossing is creating an embossed effect by heating powder until it's melted after which it will cool down and harden as a slightly raised area. Embossing powders are available in a number of different colors, metallic effects, glitter, transparent …
Contents
What you need
To be able to heat emboss, you will need:
- a surface to heat emboss:
- embossing powder
- something for the powder to stick to
- double-sided adhesive
- stamping ink that stays wet for a long time:
- embossing ink (can also be applied with a pen)
- pigment ink
- hybrid ink
- water
- a heat tool or heat gun
- something to prepare your paper so the powder will stick only where you want it to:
- anti-static powder bag or tool
- baby powder
- kitchen flour
- …
How to heat emboss
Prepare your surface
Heat embossing can be applied to a lot of surfaces, as long as that surface can take the heat. In card making, paper is of course a popular material, but also acetate (if it's heat resistant), yupo and vellum can be carefully used with heat embossing. In any case, you'll have to make sure the embossing powder only sticks to the areas you want it to stick. To make sure of that, it's advised to add a layer of thin "anti-static" powder or flour/starch to your surface. You can do this with a pouch/bag, a special tool (that has a reservoir for the powder and bristles at the top), some kitchen flour/starch you can apply with a brush … There's no need to remove any excess powder at this point.
Creating an area for the embossing powder to stick to
Embossing powder is quite fine, so it will easily stick to any area that is wet or sticky:
- Wet/sticky ink: Any stamping ink that stays wet for long enough can be used to heat emboss with your stamps. Inks with a slow drying time are for example pigment inks, hybrid inks, or specialized embossing inks. This last type is transparent (or has a light tint to it) and stays wet quite long, giving you time to add your embossing powder. Embossing ink can also be found in special embossing pens. This allows for freehand designs, accents on an existing image or to make small and precise fixes.
- Double-sided adhesive: Check your own products to be sure, but a lot of double-sided tapes are heat resistant and thus can be used for heat embossing.
- Water: If you work fast enough and only heat from the back of the paper, you can even use water splatters or droplets to heat emboss.
Applying and melting the embossing powder
If you're using glitter embossing powder, shake the jar first.
- Take a sheet of (scrap) printer paper, and put your piece of paper (or other item that you're trying to heat emboss) on top of it.
- Pour the embossing powder over the piece of paper
- Lift the piece of paper and gently tap it (on the edge, for example) to remove any excess powder. Don't flick the paper, because this might remove too much powder and/or glitters that might be present in the powder
- Let your heat gun warm up for about 10 to 20 seconds (depending on the tool). Just make sure it's very hot.
- Carefully heat your paper, alternating between heating from the back of the paper and from the front. Make sure you don't blow away any embossing powder. Don't keep your heat gun in the same spot for too long, otherwise the powder (or the paper) may get burnt.
- Keep heating and melting the powder until all grains of the powder are melted into one smooth surface
Cleaning up
The scrap piece of printer paper that holds the excess of the powder can be used to put the powder back in the jar: carefully lift the piece of paper and fold/bend it in the middle, creating a funnel. If you're planning on using this piece of paper again for the same purpose but with a different kind or color of embossing powder, remove any leftovers of powder with a brush or (static) cleaning cloth.
Tips and other things to know about heat embossing
- You can always reheat and remelt the powder. If you missed a spot or you have an indentation of where you were holding on to your paper shape with tweezers, reheating will even out the final result.
- You can layer embossing powders. Try adding multiple layers of different colors, or adding a layer of clear glitter embossing powder over another color. The more layers you add, the thicker the result will be. Try adding multiple layers of metallic or colored embossing powders for the look of a bold embellishment.
If you're fast enough (but it's not a challenge) you can apply the next layer of powder while the previous layer is still warm and has not yet fully set.
