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Faux Letterpress or is it the Real Thing?

The look of letterpress is so beautiful - clean, simple and sophisticated! With Valentine's Day right around the corner and SO many fabulous dies on the market I thought this was the perfect time to share my latest find.

A huge thanks to Julie for sharing the aha moment I had in this wonderful article and video back in October.  I am going to insert the video again here because it is definitely one that is worthy of repetition!

 

I wanted to once again bring this fabulous technique to your attention because after that "moment," I went in search of what I believe to be the best letterpress paper around. Combine that with the need to share more information regarding the Sizzix Letterpress Plates and I felt it was worthy of a newsletter article. I hope that you are as intrigued by this technique as I am and that you are ready to give it a try.

FAUX LETTERPRESS USING ART MAGNETIC MASKING MATERIAL

It is simple - you can use the wonderful dies you already own to create your own letterpress plates! All you will need is the addition of our fabulous letterpress paper and some art magnetic masking material!

Are you loving the Memory Box dies as much as I am? I think you must be, because we just can't seem to keep them in stock. We are trying, but it is so difficult to figure out inventory. PLEASE send us an email (customerservice@ellenhutson.com) if you are trying to purchase a specific die and we are out of stock - we do our very best to notify you as soon as that item comes in, so that you can make your purchase!

Some of the highly detailed dies may not work with this technique, but with persistence and patience you can see that even the ones that have incredible detail can work beautifully. I will try and share some of my "secrets" with you today in hopes that you will have top-notch results :-D

The LaRue Heart is gorgeous and oh, so delicate!

Big Shot and Vagaond Sandwich for cutting Art Magnetic Masking Material using low-profile die such as Memory Box or Lifestyle Crafts (Please note that this technique does not work on dies that have ejection foam in them):

• Solo Platform
• Solo Shim (this comes with the Platform, but because it can become damaged after loads of use it can be purchased separately)
• Solo Thin Die Adapter or otherwise known as Solo Adapter
• Acrylic Plate or Cutting Pad - (the Sizzix cutting pads are too wide to fit in the Cuttlebug)
• Art Magnetic Masking Material (AMMM)
• Memory Box Die - Position with "blade" side facing down towards the AMMM.
• Acrylic Plate of Cutting Pad

TIP: Run your plate back and forth through your die cut machine 3-4 times, being certain not to disengage plates and move it. I use the switch on my Vagabond to run it back and forth while the plates are still fully engaged. This keeps the material from shifting and getting a double cut that is off.

After cutting through the material you will more likely than not need to remove the pieces of magnet. I like to use my tweezers to push out the smallest pieces first and then work my way through the entire piece, carefully removing the excess pieces.

Ink your magnet cut-out using a pigment ink pad. I really love the Adriondack Pigment ink pads (we sell these individually as well, but this was an easier visual to link to.) They have a wonderful color selection and the coverage is excellent.

It is important to keep you ink pad well inked, so I always recommend getting a reinker shortly after you purchase your pads. Learning the correct coverage is something you will need to experiment with. I have shared the photo above to show too much ink. If you ink it to this level, the ink will squish out the sides and you will have a bit of a mess. Trial and error will help you learn the correct amount, but being a visual person I wanted to share this in hopes of helping you avoid too many experiments with how much ink is necessary.

Compare the amount of ink in this photo to the one above - this is the perfect amount of ink :-D

I created a template using a plain piece of copy paper (be certain to double-click on images for a larger view.) Simply draw a pencil outline that represents the size of project you are creating - in this case my rectangle is 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 - this was the size of letterpress cardstock I was planning on using.

Now you know where to position your letterpress cardstock - place your inked project atop this template!

Big Shot and Vagabond Sandwich for Faux Letterpress Technique:

• Solo Platform
• Solo Shim (this comes with the Platform, but because it can become damaged after loads of use it can be purchased separately)
• Solo Thin Die Adapter or otherwise known as Solo Adapter
• Acrylic Plate or Cutting Pad - (the Sizzix cutting pads are too wide to fit in the Cuttlebug)
• copy paper with outline of project size (see above)
• Art Magnetic Masking Material (AMMM)
• Letterpress Cardstock
• Acrylic Plate of Cutting Pad

Carefully place your letterpress cardstock atop the inked heart, being certain not to move it and smear the ink. Place the acrylic cutting plate over the top and send it through your machine.

It is almost like magic! Pick up your project and your magnetic cut-out will be embedded in the letterpress cardstock as shown above. Release the Art Magnetic Masking image from the letterpress paper by slightly bending the cardstock and remove.

Simply beautiful!

So this is where it gets super exciting in my opinion - LOL! You can use ANY die you have to create your own personalized Letterpress Plate - both low profile AND larger dies such as Sizzix!  AND you can use ANY electronic cutting machine to create your own personalized Letterpress Plate! I did not have time to cover that in today's tutorial, BUT I can tell you with complete conviction that our Art Magnetic Masking Material has worked fabulously in the Silhouette and the eClips - can you even begin to imagine the possibilities!!!

This next project was created with the latest Tim Holtz Love Struck release. I created this project completely in white and it was oh, so cute, BUT I just couldn't get a photograph. Resorting to some masking, and adding of pink, made it even more Valentiney and so it's all good in the long run :-D. 

It doesn't matter which way you face the material when using it to create your letterpressed surface. I realized after cutting out my images that, shoot, I had cut out cupid facing the wrong direction! I decided to just go with it in hopes that you will learn from my mistake :-D SO this is your reminder - remember that whatever you place on your die cut machine needs to be reversed when doing letterpress! If you use letters or words, you need to cut them out in a mirror position.

Due to using the opposite side of my masking material I decided to see what it would look like without any ink. You could probably ink the dark side of the masking material, but not being able to see how much ink was applied, deterred me from doing so.

Once again I used the 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 pencil outline as my guide for positioning. In hindsight I should have left more room around the edges as I cut down the finished project to fit a cardfront - but live and learn they say!

Once again top the AMMM with letterpress cardstock and your acrylic cutting pad and send through your die cut machine.

Adding words to the Heart "balloon" using the 3.0mm metal letters made it appear like Valentine candy hearts. Lightly press the tip of the metal piece to the ink pad and then simply press into the letterpress cardstock. I LOVE this effect, but it is so hard to capture in a photo.

Create a mask for both the heart and cupid out of Eclipse Tape. The eclipse tape image will press down into the indentation on the paper and allow you to easily sponge on the soft bubblegum ink.

Doodlebug Valentine twine made the perfect string for this adorable balloon! This side shot shows the depth of the impression made into the letterpress cardstock.

FAUX LETTERPRESS USING SIZZIX INKABLE LETTERPRESS PLATES

Have you seen the "put a bird on it" video? It is hysterical!!! You must google it and watch if you haven't!

The moment I saw this adorable Poppystamps Nestled Bird die ideas have been slamming through my head. Here is the first of many. My youngest DD pointed out to me that these little birds almost looked like a broken heart - good thing I put a real heart between to make them into love birds - LOL!

Begin by inking the Ink-its Letterpress Plates using pigment ink. I used my ink pad directly on the letterpress plate, but I think that a brayer would probably give a more even coverage. Something to definitely test in the future!  

Once again I highly recommend the Adirondack Pigment inks for wonderful coverage. I also know that Brilliance and Delicata would be fabulous! Oh goodness, but that Delicata would make fabulous wedding invitations for which Letterpress is oft-times used!

Big Shot and Vagabond Ink-its Letterpress Plates sandwich:

• Solo Platform
• Solo Shim (this comes with the Platform, but because it can become damaged after loads of use it can be purchased separately)
• Sizzix Ink-its Letterpress Plates
• Letterpress cardstock
• Copy or scratch paper if using ink (to keep your acrylic plate clean - see the red ink exposed above - be certain to cover this entire area with scratch paper if you want to avoid clean-up)
• Acrylic Plate of Cutting Pad

Gorgeous I tell you!

You can also run the Ink-its Letterpress Plates through your machine uninked with stunning results!

I cut a heart from the uninked damask letterpress, positioned my lovely birds together with a Hero Arts pearl heart and placed it atop the inked damask letterpress for my completed card.

I LOVE LETTERPRESS - OK, there I shouted it - LOL! We will have more tutorials coming using embossing folders, cut-outs from electronic cutters, etc. so I hope you are excited to plunge on in with us!

stamps: 3.0mm Letters and Numbers Punch Set

ink: Adirondack Watermelon Pigment Ink, Hero Arts Mid-tone Bubble Gum Dye Ink

paper: Essentials by Ellen White Letterpress 110 lb. Cardstock, Hero Arts Punch Notecards, Memory Box Currant Notecard

accessories: Essentials by Ellen Art Magnetic Masking Material, Memory Box La Rue Heart die and Cupid Heart die, Poppystamps Nestled Bird die, Sizzix Damask Ink-its Letterpress Plate, Doodlebug Valentine Twine Collection, Ink Blending Tool

Valentine Alcohol Ink Agates

Alcohol ink --- what can you do with it? It was so much fun to once again experiment and do some "research" for today's project.

Copic and Ranger both have awesome alcohol inks! Many of you have asked why it is that I do not carry the Ranger Alcohol inks - my answer is quite simple - space and dollars. Oh to have a larger warehouse and more money - then I wouldn't have to make hard choices - LOL! 

Being a huge fan of the Copic markers it made the most sense to me that we carry the Various Ink refills for the markers. This allows you to get the best value for your dollar. You can use the refills for your markers, BUT also for numerous techniques! Please do not hesitate to use these same techniques with either ink. You can also read a comparison study that I did a few years back here. 

 

The technique that I am going to share with you today is one that resembles agates. Once again I must give Tim credit for teaching me to get inky and experiment. We did a technique at Ranger U that got me going with this experiment, but for some reason my sample looked nothing like this. So "cheers" to continued learning and experimentation!

 

Agate photo and information

I googled to find some pictures of agates to share with you. I was wowed by the beautiful colors I discovered with this search and I hope that they inspire you.

 

To begin I decided to create a monochromatic agate.

 

Begin  by placing dots of alcohol ink, together with one drop of metallic mixatif (in this case I used Pearl), on to a felt applicator tool pad as shown above. As you can see I utilized more of the lighter tone, with just a couple of drops of the darker version of the color.

Then blot the applicator, using a twisting motion, on glossy white paper. It is important that you use glossy cardstock for this technique. The coated surface of the glossy cardstock allows the alcohol to "move" before drying. Regular cardstock will absorb the alcohol in a completely different manner.

Next add more various ink blending solution to the felt pad and repeat, adding color to the glossy paper surface with a twisting motion.

 

Your surface can look so many different ways, but I wanted it to be fairly uniform for this project.
 

Next I placed some various ink blending solution into a refill container. The large bottles have a large opening and you can destroy your project if not careful. These empty refill bottles have an opening that allows you to disperse one drop at a time.

Drip the various ink blending fluid on to your prepared surface and allow it to dry.

As you can see the blending fluid pushes the colors of the inks you have used in an outwards motion. As it does so it forms the look of an agate.

 

I also wanted to shared a multi-colored version to give you the courage to experiment. Using Basic Grey's Hopscotch line as my inspiration I selected colors that coordinated with the paper. As you can see I placed more drops of the red because I wanted this to be my dominant color, then a few drops of the accent color - in this case yellow, and only one drop of the strongest ocean color.

Mixing colors can be tricky. If you end up selecting complimentary colors (colors on the opposite sides of the color wheel) you can end up with a nice "brown" project, but if you do not overwork the colors on your glossy cardstock you can end up with a beautiful result. I recommend that when you first begin that you select colors that are next to one another on the color wheel (analogous colors) for best results, but do not be afraid to use complimentary colors as you experiment and learn.

 

As you can see the colors ended up to be very intriguing. The look above was achieved with a slight "twisting" motion as I created the base color.

 

Once the color is mixed on the alcohol filled felt pad you can create unusual effects by simply stamping in a straight down motion. Once again experimentation is the key to having fun and to learning!!! By simply adding various ink blending solution to the felt pad you can rejuvenate the colors, push the colors towards the edge of the felt pad and so much more.

 

Not only can you drip various ink blending solution on to your surface, but you can also drip other alcohol ink colors as shown above. The first, light circles are created using BG11. Allow the ink to spread and dry. As you can see these complimentary colors begin to neutralize or dull the saturation of the other color. Then add the next darker color, BG13.

If you use your Heat It tool to dry the liquid more quickly you can control how far it spreads. I would love for you to just play and try different combinations as you experiment with these alcohol ink agates.

 

So now what? You have a pile of backgrounds. Well... try using a Hero Arts background as Tami Hartley did in this post she shared in the CLASSroom - Scrap Drawer Rescue OR give the following a try.

Make certain that the ink is dry. Next use an anti-static puff on the surface of the paper to eliminate the problem of embossing powder sticking to the project in spots you don't want it to.

Then stamp your image using Distress Embossing ink and applied embossing powder. 

 

In this instance I used Opaque White to create a lacey look. As you can see this Ribbon Heart is beautiful.
 

When I added it to my project I felt it needed just a little more color. It was easy to come back in with my coordinating Copic marker and add just a hint of color to the ribbon heart. I followed the natural pattern that was left when creating my background and then just amped up the ocean and yellow colors in a couple of areas, especially around the edges to make the white embossing pop. 

 

Next I used my first agate sample with the new Lockhart Lace Heart. LOVE the delicacy of this vintage lacey image!
 

The final sample was created using a small corner of the first agate sample and Espresso embossing powder. Little white flowers were added with the white Opaque pen.
 

To finish off this scrumptious Valentine ensemble I used the new Sizzix Cupcake Holders, my favorite rosette die, a few more punched out Alcohol Ink Agate Hearts and the oh so fun Hopscotch patterned papers.

Simply adhere your favorite decorative paper to Craft-a-Board using Be Creative tape sheets or the 4 1/2" width before cutting and you will have the sturdiest, cleanest looking finished project!

TIP: To vary the size of your rosettes, simply cut the finished rosette length shorter in both length and width. Make certain to cut the base between the dotted lines on solid paper so that your rosette stays together. :-D

It was so much fun creating this delicious Valentine treat using these agate backgrounds! As always my message once again is enjoy the creative process and don't be afraid to experiment :-D 
 
stamps: Lockhart Stamps: Lace Heart, Ribbon Heart, IB Chintz Heart, IB Candy Heart

ink: Distress Embossing Ink, Copic Various Ink Refills - R22, R24, Y11, BG13, Copic Various Ink Blending Solution, Pearl Metallic Mixative

paper: Glossy Cardstock, Craft-a-Board, Basic Grey Hopscotch 6x6, Hopscotch Paper Pack, Memory Box cardstock - Begonia, Peony and Bayou

accessories: Sizzix Cupcake Holder, Be Creative (Sookwang) 4 1/2" Tape, Rosette Die, Basic Grey Glazed Hopscotch Brads, Adirondack Espresso Embossing Powder, Judikins White Opaque Embossing Powder, Ranger White Opaque Pen, White Inchie+ Squares, Basic Grey Buttons, Alcohol Ink Felt Applicator