Stamp It Saturday: Heat Embossing Basics with Sandiebella!
This week Sandiebella has some basic tips and info for you on HEAT EMBOSSING! I love heat embossing – I don’t do it that often these days, but whenever I do it’s still a little bit like magic!
What is heat embossing?
Heat embossing is a technique that allows you to add raised elements to paper craft projects. Embossed elements are created by stamping images onto card or paper with heat embossing friendly ink, then covering the inked area with a powder that melts when heat is applied with a heat gun or heat tool.
Using embossing to stamp images.
Embossing powder is a great way to enhance and add dimension to a stamped image. It is easy to do and gives amazing results. There are many different types of embossing powders but today I am using fine detail powders.Products used Ellie loves Phant Stuffies Mason Jar of Hearts (coordinating die, or stamp and die bundle, available)
Water colour paper
WOW! Embossing Ebony & Gold Satin powders
VersaMark embossing ink
Ink the stamp (with embossing ink or other slow drying ink) and stamp image
Pour embossing powder onto image while it is still wet, ensuring you completely cover the image. Be very generous with the powder.
Using a sheet of printer paper, tap excess powder off the image and put back into jar, using the printer paper as a funnel.
Heat until powder melts and becomes shiny. I always heat from underneath to prevent blowing any powder away. If you hold the heat gun too close to the card it may scorch, so if you can hear a whistling sound, move the heat gun away a little.
The whole image will turn shiny once the powder is completely melted.
I used Gelatos & distress inks to colour the image.
You can also use the powders on character images, not only florals and backgrounds. On this image I used Ebony superfine powder, as the image is quite detailed.
A close up of the shiny embossing.
Whist the raised lines of heat embossed images are great for keeping watercolours from bleeding out into other areas of the image, any lines that aren’t complete can still allow the colour to bleed… as happened here..
Top Tips:
Embossing powder will stick to a freshly stamped image, but special slow-drying embossing ink, VersaMark, stays wet longer, giving plenty of time for brushing away excess powder before melting with the heat source.
If the powder sticks where you don’t want it to, use a soft brush to remove it. You can also purchase anti-static sponges or wipe with a used fabric softener sheet before stamping and this will help to prevent static cling.
Washing your hands before beginning the project will reduce the risk of natural oils transferring onto the surface card, thus causing the powders to cling to it.
Do not hold the heat source too close to the paper/card as it may scorch. The air from the heat gun tends to make a whistling sound if it’s too close to the paper/card.
Over To You!
If you try out the techniques shown in any of the posts with your Stamping Bella stamps, be sure to share! We would love to see the results and hear how you feel about them. Show off your creations in the comments below and even better, share your own favourite tips with us. Let’s talk stamping!
If you are posting your images online, we would love to see them on Instagram and all the platforms mentioned above. To make it easier for us to find you just use #markergeekmonday and/or #stampingbella as a hashtag. Even better tag me @markergeek and @stampingbella . We love it when you connect, so don’t be shy!
If you’re on Facebook join us in our private chat group Stamping Bella Sistahood to share your creations there and chat all things Stamping Bella related!
Until next time, HAPPY STAMPING!
MWAH
Elaineabella
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3 comments
Thanks for the tips as I am planning embossing projects this weekend ?, so perfect timing for me! LOVE your elephant image, now I have to emboss some images too, cuz it looks amazing.???
I just got a new heat gun. We had a freezer frost accident and I needed my old gun to defrost it. I blew out my gun. I haven’t used my new gun yet.
When my niece was little (she’s now 22 and I can’t believe it!) I showed her how to emboss. I didn’t let her do it because of the very hot gun but I let her stand close enough to see the embossing happen but not close enough so she could get burned with the gun. It was like magic to her and she just loved it! Actually, it seemed like magic to me too the first time I ever did it. I think that is when I got my first heat gun. I love how pretty and elegant embossing looks. I have to get back to doing this and thanks for all the tips. I’m saving this to my crafts folder.
Thanks for sharing! When I heat emboss, I heat for a few minutes on the back and then heat from the front. I repeat this a couple of times and find I don’t get as much paper “warping”. 🙂
May 27, 2017
3 Comments
Thanks for the tips as I am planning embossing projects this weekend ?, so perfect timing for me! LOVE your elephant image, now I have to emboss some images too, cuz it looks amazing.???
I just got a new heat gun. We had a freezer frost accident and I needed my old gun to defrost it. I blew out my gun. I haven’t used my new gun yet.
When my niece was little (she’s now 22 and I can’t believe it!) I showed her how to emboss. I didn’t let her do it because of the very hot gun but I let her stand close enough to see the embossing happen but not close enough so she could get burned with the gun. It was like magic to her and she just loved it! Actually, it seemed like magic to me too the first time I ever did it. I think that is when I got my first heat gun. I love how pretty and elegant embossing looks. I have to get back to doing this and thanks for all the tips. I’m saving this to my crafts folder.
Thanks for sharing! When I heat emboss, I heat for a few minutes on the back and then heat from the front. I repeat this a couple of times and find I don’t get as much paper “warping”. 🙂