Letterpress with Embossing Folder Tutorial | The Flamingo Chronicals: Letterpress with Embossing Folder Tutorial

Letterpress with Embossing Folder Tutorial

Hi everyone,, hope you are having a fabulous weekend so far!
Today I have a quick and easy tutorial on how to use your 
embossing folders to letterpress. 
Letterpress refers to the art of embossing ink into paper. It has been used for
ever to make invitations and stationary. It gives a great look when you are cardmaking too.

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These photos are a little darker than normal, I wanted to really show the contrast
in the embossing, so I had one of the lights off!
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You can use any brand of embossing folders I am sure, but I have only
ever tried it with CuttleBug folders, because that is what I have.
The secret to letterpress is to use really heavy paper. I use watercolor paper. Plain old watercolor paper
than can be found in the arts department of any craft store. I use a coupon and buy the largest size 
I can get, and then cut that to fit my needs. You will also need ink and if you want you can use some embossing powder to up the shine factor. I like slow drying ink, so I use Tsukineko.
Open up your folder and ink the side where you can feel the raised design. I find the best way is to lightly run the ink pad across the raised parts. If you put too much pressure you will get ink between the design parts and it will create a messy emboss. If you get a little out of the lines like I did here, use a baby wipe to clean it up.
Run it through your CB machine using the same plates you normally would to emboss - A-B- the folder- B.
And there you go! See how mine has a little bit of color between the design? I put a little extra ink in there because it was a Christmas tree and I wanted to fill it in. If this kind of thing bugs you, be sure to use very light pressure when inking.  You can see the tiniest bit of sparkle here, After I ran it through the CB machine, I sprinkled it with gold embossing powder and heat embossed it. 
See how deep the ink is pushed into the paper? That is the beauty of watercolor paper! 
This is a piece of watercolor paper that I ran through the machine with no ink. This is the BACK side - the design here is raised instead of being pushed in. You can have lots of fun with this side too!
Here I rubbed the design with Inka-Gold and then fussy cut it. I will add this to a card. 

I hope you give this a try, it is lots of fun and you can do a lot with it.
Thanks for stopping by today!
Anita

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