My little hint: Versafine Clair can be heat embossed up to about 7 minutes *after* stamping, though it feels completely dry. Magic! The exact time can depend on climate. At a Stamp & SB Expo I mentioned it to an owner of Rubbernecker Stamps who was demoing stamping while using Versafine Clair. He didn’t believe me, but was up for the challenge, took off his watch, stamped and waited 7 minutes. Bingo! BTW, Versafine Clair does second and some colors even third generation stamping, with interesting color shifts. Not my most used inks but wonderful for fine details and of course heat embossing.
Great tips! I love using embossing powder. My tip is actually from your friend Ardyth- putting foil in the bottom of a shoe box and heat it , it does warp and your fingers stay less burnt.
I have been embossing for YEARS. And yet, I learned a lot of wonderful techniques from your video. Thank you, also, for the free "guide to heat embossing." LOVE your videos because you are real and not afraid to show any mishaps or mistakes you may have made. THANK YOU!
Hi Laurel, thanks for the download, I now have it, and plan to play with new, to me anyway, ideas, once I've had my coffee. Not quite awake yet, after a busy few days. Thank you for your generosity to crafters keen to learn. X
Laurel, I downloaded your very helpful guide, and noticed it says in chapter 4 that you can't emboss with pigment ink, but in chapter 5 it says you can. Does it depend on which brand you use? You mentioned that Catherine Pooler inks are sufficiently slow-drying to use for embossing, and someone commented that Versafine Clair inks dry slowly enough to work for embossing. Are there other brands that can be substituted for embossing ink, or should I just try mine to see if any of them can be used for this purpose?
You should be able to heat emboss with any brand of pigment ink. Dye based inks generally dry too fast to emboss with, but try what you have. If you don't want to invest in a bunch of pigment inks and have a stamp positioner, you can stamp with dye ink, then stamp over it with embossing ink or Versamark and emboss
Laurel, thank you for the embossing refresher. I also wanted to tell you, I received the lovely calendar, that I ordered from you. You did a beautiful job and I will be framing some of the “months”, at the end of the year.
Thank you Laurel. I have the gun, the embossing powders etc and I’m sooooo afraid to use them. lol. No idea what I’m afraid of? Maybe because I’ll make a mess with the powder?? I dunno. Crazy right?!? Thank you for sharing❤ and thank you for the download 😊
You sound just like me -- I bought everything I needed, and watched any number of "how-to" videos, but it was months before I got up the nerve to give heat embossing a try. I made plenty of mistakes before I felt comfortable with it, but heat embossing has become my favorite cardmaking technique. Here are a few suggestions, based on my experience: 1) Create a checklist so you won't forget any steps. (I can't tell you how many times I forgot about covering cardstock with anti-static powder before I thought to make a checklist. Once I became more accustomed to heat embossing, I discarded the checklist, but I taped a reminder about using anti-static powder to the top of my Versamark pad.) 2) Practice going through the process, without using embossing ink, to become more familiar with the steps. 3) Make sure your checklist includes putting loose embossing powder back in the jar and replacing the lid. (I learned the hard way that those steps should be taken before using a heat gun on a stamped image, not after -- otherwise, you risk having the cord of the heat gun knock over an open container of embossing powder, or scatter loose powder from the coffee filter or piece of scrap paper you'd used to collect it.) 4) When you move beyond practicing, use stamps that don't have much detail, and that you know will stamp well. 5) Above all, keep in mind that everyone makes mistakes, practice makes perfect (or in my case, "good enough"), and if you waste some cardstock, a bit of embossing ink and a little embossing powder, it's not a big deal. Best of luck getting started - I'm sure once you get the hang of it, you'll love heat embossing.☺ t's a great technique, one that can really enhance your cards or scrapbook pages.
