À la Peanut Butter Ink-Resists!

So, how do you feel about

embossing techniques?

(Secretly, they make me feel like a magician!)

Pressure embossing does seem like some kind of magic, doesn't it?
That raised loveliness appearing out of nowhere, just from
rolling through a machine... Poof! ;o)

And heat embossing is too thrilling: melting that powder
to transform it into gorgeous glassiness instantly.

When you add ink-resist to the mix
doesn't it all feel some kind of crazy-fun alchemy?



"First, I wave my magic wand & say the magic words:
À la peanut butter ink-resists!"...

...and we turn this piece of

pressure embossed patterned paper...

...into this inky textured piece:

Here's

Pressure embossing resist
technique:

This technique combines:

1) pressure embossing (using a Cuttlebug, BigShot,
Vagabond, Wizard whatever machine you have, and embossing folders)
with
2) Heat embossing (and the resist technique).

• Embossing folder
  
• Pressure Embossing machine
  
• Cosmo Cricket Early Bird patterned paper
• Versamark ink or other clear embossing ink
• Clear embossing powder (fine/detail)
• A heat gun
  
• A brayer, if you have one
• Temporary adhesive or rolled pieces of scotch tape

Step 1) Pressure emboss a piece of patterned paper in an embossing folder. (The one shown here is a Stampin' Up folder Vintage Wallpaper. A gift from the world's best BFF).



Step 2) Apply clear embossing ink.

Some Tips: I like to temporarily affix the paper to keep it flat Temporary adhesive or rolled pieces of scotch tape. Then brayer Versamark clear embossing ink onto the raised areas (or carefully dab the Versamark pad directly onto the paper, if you don't have a brayer).



Step 3) Apply Clear embossing powder to the wet ink (I like fine or detail embossing powder best).



Step 4) Pour off the extra embossing powder.



Step 5) Brush away any spots of unwanted embossing powder, if there are any.



Step 6) Heat set the embossing powder with a heat gun.



Step 7) If you want high contrast to your resist (where the bright areas are nice and bright) then you might like to reapply more Versamark & embossing powder for even coverage. I find that 2 or 3 layers is good.



Step 8) Then just heat set those second or third layers of embossing powder.



Step 9) You could simply stop here & use the embossed piece as is for shiny pressure embossing or...

Add colour:



Step 10) Apply ink for a resist.

Some Tips: Be sure to let the heat embossing cool completely before inking for the best results (only takes a minute or so). I like to work with an ink dauber or sponge in circles to get in the little grooves. Dye-based ink works well but Pigment inks or Distress inks will work as well.



Step 11) Remove excess ink from the clear resist areas with a cloth.

and it should end up looking something like this:

If your resist areas look a little muddy or dark after you apply the ink...



there is a fun solution:



To get very high contrast, you can put the embossed piece
between paper towels and iron off some of the embossing powder
until it looks bright (This is a thrill!)



Any of the black ink that tinted the embossing powder
will transfer to the paper towel with ironing,

leaving you with lots of lovely contrast:



And pretty patterns revealed where you did the clear heat embossing:

A Tip: If you don't want to remove all of the embossing powder and you don't want the texture of the paper towel to imprint itself into the clear heat embossing, you can sandwich your piece in copy paper and then iron.

If you find that you've hit areas of your paper with
clear embossing powder & it resists leaving patches of pattern where
the black "should" be, like this one:

Don't sweat it. Enjoy the serendipity!
That natural messy artistic look is so hot right now.
(By the by, this folder is Provocraft's Birds & Swirls)

It's so fun to see which parts of patterned
paper show up on your raised image



And it's a stash-buster. You can breathe new life into old papers that
you might be bored with or not sure how to use.

The patterned paper above was
BasicGrey's Marrakech 6x6 Paper:

You can also stamp over it:



This one has a definition stamp stamped over it in white ink
& heat embossed in clear embossing powder.
(This is Provocraft's Skeleton Scroll folder).

And if you find that working the paper so much causes the pressure
embossing impression to disappear, you can put it back in the folder
line it up & re-emboss it:



Re-embossing like this works even after heat embossing.
(If your embossing folder is perfectly symmetrical you could even
re-pressure-emboss it to reverse the embossing
from concave to convex...)

Contrarily, if you want less of an impression
(more flatness) You can squish it!

Of course, it need not be limited to a dark look.

You can also use lighter inks or paint wash to get softer looks:

This was done on printed digi paper
(from Cosmo Cricket's Clementine digital paper pack)
& instead of black ink, I used a paint wash of white acrylic paint & water.

Surprisingly with paint, the heat-embossing retains a lovely shine
(if you wipe as you go with a damp cloth) and the pattern pops.

I thought the digi paper might bleed from using the paint wash,
but it didn't! (The snowflake folder is from
Provocraft's Cuttlebug Winter Wonderland Set).

This piece was clear embossed on white cardstock
then inked with Soft Sky ink:


(The folder is Small Alphabet from Crafts Too).
(I cut it up & punched out the letters 'h' & 'i' to spell "hi" on a card)

In place of patterned paper, you could also use:

• plain white or coloured cardstock;
• or stamped papers;
• watercolour painted paper;
• or shimmer sprayed paper;
• digital paper; book or magazine pages
  
• or whatever you like...!

A Tip: Some thin or fragile papers may work best if you glue them to cardstock first. My favourite adhesive for this is a layer of gel medium (or matte medium) not too thin, not too thick. If you get tearing in your paper, try embossing two pieces at one time as a fix.

If you don't have heat embossing supplies, you could experiment
with brayering on (or painting on) any of these instead:

• acrylic paints
  
• gesso
• gel medium/multi medium/glazes
• crayon/wax (you can iron it off later, if you like)
  
• But I don't recommend peanut butter! ;o)
  

Hope you found this as much fun as I did:

"One! One kind of embossing! Ah Ah Ah!
Two! Two kinds of embossing! Ah Ah Ah Ah Ah AH!
Oh, I love it! Ah Ah Ah AH!"
(Shhh... Don't tell, I'm the world's biggest craft-nerd.)

Thanks for putting up with my insanity! ;o)


P.S. Here is a one page reference sheet for
how to do this pressure embossing resist:


Downloads:

• Download reference page PDF here
• or Download it as a JPEG here
• or Download a PNG here
• (or on flickr)