You can use the same powder that works with rubber stamps and pens to produce lovely raised elements on your inkjet printouts. Just think: if you can print it, you can emboss it! Discover the many ways you can use your inkjet to emboss, then take a look at the simple steps for doing it yourself.
Inspirational ideas
Scrapbooks are a natural place to explore the creative potential of embossing. You can make embossed artwork, borders, and stickers out of your own designs. Raised lettering can add a touch of elegance to your pages, and embossing powder with a metallic finish really makes your ideas sparkle. Go beyond your rubber stamp collection: when you use your HP inkjet printer, there’s no end to the possibilities.
- Make greeting cards with embossed elements, or add embossed vellum overlays on top of photo cards. Put an embossed halo on a photo of the "angel" in your life!
- Create stickers to seal envelopes with, displaying your embossed initials in a decorative font.
- Create backgrounds: Print background colors on the reverse of the page if you are using vellum.
- Craft a special gift tag with embossed vellum: Print a snowflake, emboss with silver powder, and write a personal note.
It's easy to print and emboss all kinds of lettering and artwork. You can get creative with clip art from programs like PowerPoint, or scan and print your own drawings. Read on to learn the supplies you'll need and the steps you’ll use to take your scrapbooks and other crafts to the next level.
Embossing supplies
To get started, you’ll need an inkjet printer, because unlike most other kinds of printers, inkjets use ink that takes a moment to dry after printing. Printers with inkjet technology include the HP Deskjet and HP Photosmart, and all-in-ones include the HP PSC and HP Officejet.
You’ll also need the following supplies:
- Embossing powder: This is used to give color, texture, and dimension to designs and text. After sprinkling the powder on wet ink, use a craft heating tool to melt the powder and create a raised surface. For best results, use fine or very fine grain powder.
- Heating tool: It’s best to use a heating tool that is made for fusing embossing powders (a hairdryer won’t work as well). Follow the instructions on the heating tool.
- Dry paintbrush: You can blow away excess powder from around your artwork, but using a fine paintbrush will give you more control. Remove as much excess powder as possible in order to get a clean, well-defined design.
- Paper: You can use many different kinds of paper with this technique, but certain types will yield the best results. Vellum, for example, takes longer to dry than regular paper, so it’s perfect for embossing. HP Photo Greeting Card Paper or HP Premium Photo Paper also work well.
How it works
Here are the basic steps for creating embossing effects using an inkjet printer. Your steps and results may vary depending on the printer and supplies you use, so it helps to experiment with different paper types and embossing powders to find out which works best. The most important variables are:
- Printer and ink. Drying times can vary considerably between different printers and printer settings. (You can change the settings in the Print menu. Click on Properties, and choose the print quality from the setup tab and ink amount in the advanced tab.)
- Paper type. Different paper types (even different types of photo paper) will have different drying times and reactions to heat.
- Embossing powder. Various brands and colors of embossing powders have different melting points and produce a variety of effects.
- Heating tool. The settings on the heating tool and the distance you hold it from the paper can have a big impact on how the embossing powder melts. Be careful not to scorch or burn the paper!
Step 1:
Choose a text or graphic file to emboss. Begin with something simple, like "Happy Birthday" printed in a fancy font.
Step 2:
Open the container of embossing powder and place it in your workstation. You'll want it close at hand so you can sprinkle it on the printout as soon as possible. But don't keep it too close! You don't want to get the powder in or on your printer.
Step 3:
Print the artwork on your HP inkjet printer and remove it right away.
Step 4:
Sprinkle the embossing powder liberally on the artwork and shake it around.
Step 5:
Shake the extra powder off the paper and save it to use again. If the powder sticks to areas other than the artwork, blow the area lightly to loosen the excess powder, or use the dry paintbrush to carefully brush it away.
Step 6:
Use an embossing heating tool to melt the powder on the artwork. (Follow the instructions on the heating tool for settings, distances, and timing.)
That's it! Your embossed artwork is ready to use in a scrapbook or other craft project.
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