Don't Throw Away Those Old Tools... Make AMAZING Customized Embossing Plates! Tutorial by Marilyn Weyman Kegg

Have you ever wished that your favorite rubber stamp was also an embossing plate?

Now it can be with the help of AMAZING Crafting Products! Here's how.

What you need:

• Any embossing or cutting machine that uses pressure to work 
• Two replacement plates for an embossing machine that will fit into your machine or extention plates for your machine (these are sold wherever the machines are sold) 
• Cushioning such as is sold for embossing machines or use Fun Foam from the kids section of the craft supply store 
• Amazing Mold Putty
• Amazing Casting Resin
• Any rubber stamp - clear, red, grey, mounted or unmounted 
• A substrate - a smooth, flat base such as a piece of lucite, thick glass, or a clear mounting block for stamps or you can use a transparency or another piece of thick film to support the mold you are forming 
• A piece of PVC pipe to use as a rolling pin 
• Petroleum jelly 
• Solvent based stamp cleaning solution 
• Tissues and/or baby wipes 
• Measuring and mixing cups for resin 
• Popsicle sticks or wooden coffee stirrers 

Process:

Note about stamps: Choose a stamp that has good definition, where the images stand out clearly from the background in a deep cut as with the stamp I've chosen below, a text stamp.

1. With your finger, put a thin coating of petroleum jelly all over the working part of the stamp, including the edges. Work it down into the stamp's grooves and cut outs so that the mold material will not stick to it. Put the stamp off to the side. Don't skip this step or you could ruin your stamp (ask me how I know this!). Clean your hands well so the petroleum jelly will not affect the next step.

2.  Measure out enough of one part of Amazing Mold Putty to just cover the surface of the stamp with a small border. It doesn't have to be very thick, just about 1/16th of an inch or a little more. Roll it into a ball and make a ball of the other part to match. Together, they make twice as much as the one you measured or tried out with the stamp, so you will have enough depth. You don't want this to be any thicker than the depth of the cuts in the stamp plus about an eighth of an inch.

3.  Mix the two parts of the Amazing Mold Putty as usual. I like to flatten both balls out and put the white part on the bottom, then fold the top and bottom in to the center, squish it down, flatten it out, and then fold the two sides in. I keep doing this, alternating the top/bottom with the sides until the two parts are completely mixed with no swirls showing. It will be a light yellow color. It should not take more than two or three times for top/bottom/left/right folds to mix it thoroughly, about 1 minute.

4.  Quickly flatten the putty out onto the substrate, using the PVC pipe to roll it out smoothly into a flat surface. Immediately press the stamp into the Amazing Mold Putty and hold it there. You have about 30 seconds to 1 minute to do this. You might want to weight the stamp with something while you wait for the Amazing Mold Putty to set up because wiggling the stamp will make the mold less distinct. You can touch the edge of the mold with a fingernail lightly to see if it indents. Once a fingernail no longer leaves an impression, it is set. This takes about 15 minutes. Thicker and larger flat surfaces take a little longer so allow it plenty of time to set properly.

5.  Once it is set, remove the weight if you used one and pull the stamp away. It is a good idea to clean it off with a tissue and a solvent stamp cleaning solution right away before you forget. I use a brush-like scrubber to clean mine after each use. The black, sponge-like stamp scrubbers are excellent too but I like the brush ones to really get into the grooves and remove all of the petroleum jelly.

6.  Try embossing something with just the mold. If that is too soft of a look, you can mix and pour some Amazing Casting Resin into the mold and allow it time to cure, then use the harder resin piece as your embossing plate. Remember that you want the total depth of the plate to be about one eighth of an inch. (Look at a ruler to see how thick that is.)

An idea to try: Make an embossing plate with textures from more than one stamp. Because Amazing Mold Putty sticks to itself, you can easily add a section. So make one texture then after it is molded, add more Amazing Mold Putty and use another stamp. This is a great way to use one or several small stamps multiple times to make a large custom embossing plate!

Embossing with just the mold worked for me on a really soft text paper that came out of an old thrift store encyclopedia I had altered. (I save the paper I take out of these for later projects like this one.) This would have looked nice dry-brushed with some acrylic paint. But the embossing shows up really well on a plain, dark colored paper like the red paper shown. It could be highlighted even more with a dusting of some chalk or Gilder's Paste.

This was just an idea and an experiment to prove that it would work. I was really happy to have found a new use for my old Sissix cutting machine. Now I need to come up with a project to use it!

What AMAZING arts and crafts will you create

with Amazing Crafting Products???

Please share them on the NEW user GALLERY on the Amazing Mold Putty Website!

Think of all the new ways you can combine embossing with your collection of rubber stamps!

Happy Crafting!

~ Marilyn Weyman Kegg for Amazing Crafting Products

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