Heat Embossing

Well - if you've stumbled across this in the hope of innovation, you'll already be thinking 'what a mistake'!  For those who haven't heat embossed before, let me have the privilege to introduce you to the magic.  Heat embossing is used in this example to add another dimension - to try and give the impression that the birdcage is slightly raised from the page This is done by stamping your image in a clear or coloured ink and then covering with embossing powder - shake off the excess and use a heat tool to melt the powder onto the image.



Be the change

To start with I took some Clarity paper and with a piece of bubblewrap dipped into a clear Versamark inkpad, dabbed all over the paper.  Because Versamark acts as a resist, when I brayered pale blue ink(Adirondack Stonewashed), followed by dark blue ink (Adirondack Denim) up the edges, the spots put on in versamark didn't take the colour so much.
I then used a Sheena Douglass' swirl (from her 'little bit sketchy' range), top and bottom in denim blue ink.  Back to the versamark (clear) and did some more stamping with the same swirl, but this time I added clear embossing powder and heated it, I followed this with the birdcage in the same way. Before both of these had cooled down though, I took some frosted diamond mica powder and brushed that over the top to get the sheen. To finish off I used the heat embossing technique on another Clarity stamp from their design club range (be the change...) and as butterflies are so synonymous with change (and because I thought a splash of vibrant colour would help), I added a Papermania butterfly too.

In this example I didn't want colour coming through which is why I used a clear versamark, I would also use this if I was using a metallic finish embossing powder - although you could use any colour you wanted as metallic powder covers completely.  However, if I want something to tone in with the rest of my project, I would use either a dye based or pigment based coloured ink and stamp my image in that, following up with a clear embossing powder.

The magic? Well that is watching what really looks to be a quite dull powder turn into something quite special when you heat it up.  Black turns glossy; gold, silver and copper get an expensive shine and everything just looks somehow, more finished.

The other thing that heat embossing is very useful for is when you want to colour your image in, but don't want your colours to get muddy from the outline ink. Also because the colouring medium doesn't stick to the embossing, your lines remain crisp on the image.

Finally a tip for detailed images particularly, pre dust your paper with either talc or an anti static bag, that way you greatly reduce the number of stray particles being heated (you'll never get them off).

Hope you're not yawning too much - you'll certainly not be yawning if you try this!

Les X