| Class Projects Beginning Class |
| Basic Stamping |
| Ink your stamp completely by tapping an ink pad, dye or pigment, gently on the rubber die. Make sure all of the die is covered in ink, and the ink is evenly spread over the die, before preceding. You want to stamp on an even surface. If your surface is bumpy, use a piece of matboard or a book underneath your paper. Turn over the stamp and press firmly on the paper. Make sure not to rock the stamp and apply even pressure over the block to be certain all of the design will be transfered to the paper. |
| Basic Embossing |
| Embossing needs to be done while your design is still wet. Depending on how absorbant the paper is, you can emboss using pigment ink, dye ink, and markers. Regular cardstock will produce the best results with pigment inks. Prepare your embossing area by placing a piece of scrap paper under your cardstock. Stamp as explained above, then quickly pour the powder onto the image. Pour out as much of the embossing powder as you need to cover the image completely. Wait a moment, then tap the excess powder off onto the scrap paper. Return this powder to the bottle. If there is excess powder on your paper, brush it away using a small paint brush or QTip. Turn on your embossing gun and hold it over your image (or hold your image, powder side up facing you, over a light bulb). Move the gun to prevent burning the paper. Rapid motion is not required. Make sure to heat the image evenly. You will be able to tell when the powder has melted. DO NOT continue to heat the embossed image once the powder has melted. You risk harming the paper or ruining the image by boiling the powder. |