Faux metal technique

This embossing technique is a bit of fun but, again, you need the right kind of stamp – not every image will work. It’s the faux metal technique and this is what you do...

1. Take a small piece of cardstock just larger than your stamp or the punch you are going to use. It actually doesn’t matter what colour the cardstock is, so you could use something you’ve stamped on by mistake, anything.
2. Ink up your stamp with Versamark. This protects it from the melted embossing powder.
3. Press the cardstock into a Versamark pad so it is completely covered – you may wish to leave a corner unlinked.
4. Dip this into a pot of metallic embossing powder – I’ve used silver.
5. Heat to melt the powder and then quickly dip it in the powder again. If you’re not quick enough and the powder has set, you can either reheat it to melt it again or add more Versamark. But beware – if you’re going to add more Versamark, make sure the powder is fully set so that you don’t contaminate your pad.
6. Repeat step 4 – you need about three layers of embossing powder.
7. Next, stamp your image into the melted powder and remove immediately.
8. When the powder has set, punch out your image – a circle punch is ideal as you create a kind of medallion.

If you’re not happy with your stamped image, you can reheat and have another. I do find with silver that this can leave a darker shadow in the powder but you can always add another layer to cover this. But too many layers of powder I find give you too much depth. Just experiment until you’re happy with the results.

So, for this tag we created a faux metal medallion, which is mounted on a tag embossed using clear powder and the French Filigree background stamp. Sorry for the ropey picture, it was a tricky one to take.

Stamps: French Filigree, True Friend
Cardstock: Elegant Eggplant, Whisper White, Perfect Plum (textured), Lavender Lace (textured)
Ink: Versamark
Accessories: 1 ¼” circle punch, 1 3/8” circle punch, Scallop Circle Punch, silver cord, Crop-A-Dile™ , Silver eyelet, silver embossing powder, clear embossing powder

All products by Stampin’ Up!®