Thursday 7 August 2014

A faux Letterpress tutorial using Bigz dies and a Big Shot

Today I am sharing a DIY project inspired by the workshops I took on proper Letterpress. I wanted to create my own type so i experimented...


I used the lids of a take away food container to create the shape. I removed all the edges and calculated the thickness that would have to have to work, the thickness of a embossing folder closed. Make sure that if in doubt, you start with a thinner layer than too thick. You can always use thin acetate to create a bit of a shim underneath.


I die cut four ampersand using Tim Holtz WordPlay alphabet die Sizzix. I glue them all together with a strong adhesive. Then I sanded the top (with is the mirror side) to create a better printing surface than shiny plastic. To ink it up I used Brilliance pads which are beautiful pearlescent ink that dry quickly on paper but stay wet on plastic.


I secured the ampersand with low tack tape, and proceed to print it as if it were an embossing folder through the Big Shot. On the right you can see the effect. Lovely debossed effect.


On the back, its pretty flat but with some bruising which is normal for deep impressed Lettepress. 
To create a card I decided to stamp the message from my Large Family Birthday set.


This step I recommend do it before the letterpress one, but as I do things on the go without much planning, I did it after which meant that the letterpress impress effect was lost a but by die cutting the label.
Once I had it die cut I stamp the other two messages (Sister / Friend).


And here it is, finished! i hope you enjoyed it and give it a try. Remember, always try with thinner plastics, as you always add more but it is difficult to remove any layers!

2 comments:

Bente Fagerberg said...

Great effect! Very clever! :-)

cristina said...

Muy bien Paula!!original y bonito!! buena idea!!
un beso

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