Scrapbooking Baby Technique Number 1 – Dry Embossing
Hi everyone, and welcome back fellow scrappers, this is Tash again and this is the first scrapbooking baby Technique I am going to explain, but with many more to come over the coming weeks and months. So our first technique is going to be dry embossing, this is one that you need very little equipment for and everyone can do it. Now first of all there are quite a few kits available that you can buy that make things very easy and simple, but you do not have to buy one of these kits to get started. I love scrapbooking, and I love a lot of the kits and machines they bring out to help make things easier for us scrappers, but I am a huge fan of doing things on the cheap. I don’t mean cheap and nasty quality, but if I can do the same thing for half the price, then I’m there.
So for my kind of dry embossing, I am not going to be using any of the commercially available dry embossing kits, instead I am going to be using a stylus, a template, a piece of cardstock and a light source. Sounds simple doesn’t it? That’s because it is. A stylus is used to rub around the edges of the template to leave the impression of the template on the cardstock, which creates a raised image. The template can be almost anything you like, but remember you have to be able to rub the stylus around the edge of the design, so it’s probably not to choose one the has too much fine detail. Perhaps try starting with a simple lettering template. Oh and make sure the template you are using is just one of the standard templates that are about 1-2mm thick, not one of the ones that are about 5mm thick and design for one of the cutting systems. If you use a template that is too thick, when you use your stylus to rub around the edge of the template, it will end up tearing through the cardstock.
Now the way that I do my embossing, is to place your cardstock on the table in front of you, make sure you have the presentation side of the cardstock facing upwards. Next place the template you have decided to use on top of the cardstock and position it to where you would like it to be. Now carefully use some little pieces of tape to secure the template to the card stock, in a couple of places. Quite often I use a piece of masking tape for this as it always seems to peel back off easily without damaging my cardstock. Once it is secure, turn the whole thing over. This is the side you are going to rub or ‘draw’ the stylus on to create the dry embossed impression on the front of your cardstock.
Now once you turned the cardstock and template over, do you notice that you can’t see anything now? You can’t see the template anymore, all you should be able to see is the back side of the cardstock. This is where the light source comes in. I use a window for this, as once you place the cardstock and template up to a window, you will notice that you can see right through the cardstock. Now it is just a simple task of gently and carefully following the inner edge of the template with your stylus, be careful not to push too hard or be too rough with it, or you may tear through the paper, with a little bit of practice you will be able to create the perfect embossed image. Once you have finished drawing around the template with your stylus gently remove the tape holding the template and turn your paper over to reveal your beautiful dry embossed image.
Well I hope that this was simple enough for you all to follow, if not, just leave me a message and I will clarify anything else you need to know. Also please leave your comments about this technique, whether it was helpful to you or not, and even share some of your own tips and tricks if you’d like, I’d love to hear them.
Tags: dry embossing, embossing, scrapbooking, scrapbooking techniques
