Embossing is a method of elevating either images or letters from the face of a surface using pressure and heat. There are many methods of embossing, I'm going to use the heat method in this blog which results in a raised letter or symbol with a smooth hard finish. This is still a work in progress because I'm thinking about more ways to use embossing in my wedding (because it's so fun!). So far, I've decided I can emboss the backs of my wedding invitations with an "S" or another symbol to function as an envelope seal in place of expensive and messy wax seals. Here's how I did it:
First, embossing requires a few specialized, but inexpensive tools. Here's what I bought to get started:
1.) An Embossing Gun: This is a heat gun which I found at Michael's for $9.00. You can use a toaster or a stove if you are careful. Here's the label:
2.) Embossing Powder: There's many different kinds of powders. You want to buypowders you can use for heat embossing (not dry embossing or other types). At Michael's you can find both sparkly and matte powders. Here's an example of one of the powders I bought:
3.) Embossing Stamp Pad: I learned that embossing ink is NOT like regular ink because it's a little stickier and dries much slower. Here's the ink pad I bought at Michael's:
4.) A stamp! You don't need specialized embossing stamps, any stamp will do. I purchased a set of alphabet stamps because I'm hoping to incorporate these stamps in other ways in my wedding:
To get started, you need to lay down whatever paper you plan to emboss. In this tutorial you'll see some of my practice embossing on cardstock and my final plan to emboss the envelopes.
I had some trouble lining up my stamps so they would be in a straight line. I think there's a product you can buy to help you do this called Stampmajik, but I used an envelope top. Once you've got the design, carefully ink your stamp and put it on paper.
Once you've stamped, the most important part is getting that still wet ink covered in embossing powder. If it dries, the powder won't stick and won't emboss.
Once it's covered in powder, tilt the paper back so the excess powder falls into your embossing jar or into a plate, and wipe any stubborn powder away with a brush (I also heard a dryer sheet works too). What remains is whatever you stamped outlined in colored powder. But it's very delicate so be careful when brushing around it. Then, use your new embossing gun to heat the powder (hold it about 2 inches away). You can actually see the powder change color and set, that's when you know it's ready. Although I haven't done it yet, be careful not to burn your paper. Here's the word "Groom" ready to be embossed with my embossing gun.
Once you've embossed the letters, you're done! It will form a smooth hard raised design. I've also tried embossing a design a few times, meaning I did all of the steps above, and then did them all again to make the words/design darker. It seemed to work, so don't be afraid to try.
Although I'm still working on how to incorporate more embossing into my wedding, here's the first DIY craft: the back of an envelope with the embossed "S" on it for my last name. I let the corners of the stamp get ink on them and powder, because I like the sort of "stamped" look for envelopes. You can choose not to do that depending on how much pressure you use on the stamp pad. Like I said, I'll do this for each wedding invitation envelope in place of a seal. It's really easy and less expensive, plus I can use the embossing tools for other projects!
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