Tutorial of the Week: Dry Embossing with Metal Filigrees

Happy Thursday, everyone!  I’ve been feeling a little under the weather this week (well, actually…alot under the weather), so I have a very quick tutorial for you today.  I thought we would do something a little different and use our metal filigrees as a tool instead of an embellishment by dry embossing with them 🙂

Materials

• metal filigrees
• embossing machine with cutting plates
• Spellbinders rubber embossing mats
• paper
• ink pads

Method #1 – Dry Emboss

You’ve probably already used embossing folders for adding texture to a background for your cards or layouts, but have you ever thought of using your ButterBeeScraps filigrees?  This is a great way to achieve a different look, or if you’re in a pinch to create a card and are running low on metal bits.

Unfortunately, I’m not sure of the sandwich you need to use for the different embossing machines on the market, but for my Big Shot I stacked:

1. the cutting platform (with tabs 1 and 2 flipped out of the way),
2. one cutting plate,
3. two Spellbinders rubber embossing mats,
4. paper to be embossed,
5. metal filigree (faced down…I used #808-B), and
6. second cutting plate.

After running the paper through your die cutting machine, you can leave the raised embossed image as is, or opt to bring out the design by adding ink over the raised embossing.  This is the effect that’s achieved by using a blending tool with distress ink:

If you’d like a bit more definition, you can add the ink direct from the ink pad like I did here:

Method #2 – Letterpress

Another option would be to highlight the debossed design, and use your metal filigree as a letterpress plate.  The first thing you need to do is add ink to your filigree (I used #941-B):

I used archival Ink because I wanted something more permanent and I found that I get a richer color than with the distress ink.

Now, create the same sandwich as in Method #1 above with the inked side of your filigree facing down onto the paper.  You do have to be careful not to move the filigree around on your paper, or you may end up with ink in places you don’t want.  Here’s a look at my letterpress image:

Well, that’s it for this week’s tutorial.  I hope you found some inspiration to create and try something new.  Cheers and I hope you have a great weekend!