How to Heat Emboss: Supplies and Techniques

Heat embossing is a craft technique that easily creates raised texture and shine. It’s a simple enough technique that creates dimension and more interest in your project. Below are the basics of heat embossing as well as techniques and tips.

What is heat embossing?
It’s a technique that allows you to give texture and a raised dimension to your project. This could be a sentiment, a drawing, or a stamped image.

What supplies do you need?

—Powder tool
Dust this powder tool over your project before heat embossing to remove any stickiness or residue on your project.
—Embossing Ink
Versamark Ink is my favorite. Whatever ink you use should be slow drying. You can also use pigment ink if that’s all you have. Embossing ink also comes in a marker so you can heat emboss your own handwriting.
—Small paintbrush
Keep this small paint brush nearby to brush away any excess powder where you don’t want it
—Heat tool or gun
This is my favorite heat tool. Make sure it gets good and hot before you bring it to your powdered image. If you don’t heat emboss that often, I recommend this heat gun as it’s more budget friendly.
—Embossing Powder
Some must have colors in embossing powder include clear, white, and any metallics that you like.
—Scrap paper or coffee filter
This helps to help catch the excess powder and funnel it back into the container
—Stamps
Stamps are optional but you can stamp almost any image in embossing ink and then heat emboss it.
—Craft tweezers
Use these tweezers to hold your paper or project so your fingers don’t get burned

How do you heat emboss?

Dust an absorbent powder tool over your project to remove any residue or static.

Write, draw, or stamp your element in heat-embossing-friendly ink.

Lay down your project over a scrap piece of paper or coffee filter.

Cover the inked area with special embossing powder. The scrap paper or coffee filter can catch the excess powder (which you can then funnel back into the container)

Use a small dry paintbrush to brush away loose powder where you don’t want it.

Then use a heat tool or heat gun to melt that powder. Make the the heal tool is good and hot before you bring it to the powder.

Hold the heat tool a few inches from the powder. Once it starts to melt move onto to another area so it all melts. Try not to hold the heat gun in one area for too long or it will bubble and it can destroy your paper. The powder then melts, becomes raised, and “embossed”.

Pour the excess embossing powder back into the container.

How long do you heat emboss powder for?
Make sure your heat tool is hot. Hold your heat tool a few inches away from the embossing powder on your project. As soon as the powder melts, sweep it over the rest of the area of your embossed image. Once the image is smooth and raised, and there’s no powder left on your image, you are finished. Be careful not to leave it too long in one area or your project can get too warm and it can burn or bubble.

How do you heat emboss paper?

Heat embossing works on most paper including cardstock, patterned paper, glossy paper or specialty paper like vellum. Heavier paper weights works better, as the paper will be less likely to warp or curl. If If your paper does curl, you can place some heavy over it like a book to help to flatten it out. In some cases, heating it from the other side may even it out as well.

Heat Embossing Techniques

Glitter Heat Embossing
For glitter embossing powders, heat the back of the paper first to help the powder melt so it holds the glitter in. Otherwise, if you heat the front of glitter embossing powder, the glitter might fly off.

Layered Heat Embossing
You can heat emboss paper more than once. This works especially well with die cuts. They turn into faux metallic embellishments.

Heat Embossed Backgrounds
You can heat emboss the entire background of paper to make custom backgrounds.

Shadow Heat Embossing
Heat emboss your image once. This will be your background color or “shadow”. Then shift your image a little to the right or left and heat emboss it in a different color. This will be your foreground color or “front” of the image.

Multicolor Heat Embossing
You can pour multiple colors of embossing powder onto your inked image to have multiple colors of heat embossing.

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