Hi all! Firstly an apology to everyone who tuned in to watch Suzan is Craft yesterday and did not see me making cards. We are still not sure what happened, Suzanne is chasing it up for me. I’ll let you all know when it will air as soon as I find out!
Now, as I mentioned in my last post I will explain how to emboss your brads. I had a friend ask me recently how to do this, so I will try and explain in as much detail as I can here. I have included quite a few photos to help out as well.
A heat gun and a pair of pliers or tweezers are the only tools you will need. The pliers or tweezers are for holding the brad as it is quite small and will save you burning your fingers
There are also only a few materials you will need. I have included two photos to show a range of colours and products that can be used as well. In the first photo is some VersaMark ink, some
coloured inks, some brads and some Hot Set Powder. The Hot Set Powder is used to apply glitter. The second photo contains a selection of embossing powders and glitters.
Now that we know what tools and products will be needed, I’ll get started on the process. The first thing you need to do is to pick up the brad using the pliers and to add VersaMark ink all over the top. See photo on the right.
The next step is to add embossing powder to the inked brad. Still holding the brad with the pliers dip the brad into your embossing powder until it is well coated. Tap off any excess. I have included a photo of a brad that has been dipped in embossing powder, but hasn’t yet been heated. The photo is on the left.
The next step is to heat the embossing powder using your heat gun. Don’t heat for too long as you can burn the powder – but just until it becomes glossy and smooth. It is important to use your pliers for this step so you don’t burn your fingers. Now you will have an embossed brad to use.
Another way to colour your brads is to glitter them. I find the easiest way to do this is to use a Hot Set Powder. For this process you don’t need an ink, you just use your heat gun and heat the brad. Once heated dip it straight into the Hot Set powder. You then need to melt the Hot Set powder with your heat gun. It doesn’t need long, just a couple of seconds. The powder melts and becomes glue like.
You then dip the brad into the glitter. The final step is to set the glitter into the glue. To do this you need to heat the brad again with the heat gun. The result is a lovely glittered brad to coordinate with the project you are working on.
So, I can hear you asking……..what do these brads look like now? I have included a photo to the left of several brads which I will now give you colour details on. Going from left to right we have:
– brad embossed using VersaMark ink and Zing Wave embossing powder.
- brad embossed using VersaMark ink and Alison Ellis Japanese Lacquer embossing powder.
- brad embossed using VersaColor Turquoise ink and Stamp World Hologram Sparkle embossing powder.
- brad embossed using VersaColor Peony ink and Meltz Clear embossing powder.
- brad glittered using Alison Ellis Hot Set Powder and Alison Ellis Sunny Daze glitter.
- brad glittered using Alison Ellis Hot Set Powder and Alison Ellis Blue Ice glitter.
I hope this has been helpful for anyone wanting to know how to colour their brads to match their project. If there are any other techniques or products you want to know about, just leave me a comment and I will see what I can do.
July 27th, 2011 at 9:05 PM
Thanks for an excellent tutorial Jackie. Great step-by-steps.I’ll be sharing this with my readers on Scraps of Mind. I particularly love the glitterd brad technique. You just can’t get enough bling in your life.
July 27th, 2011 at 11:41 PM
[...] all that remains is for me to give you the link to her tutorial and you can see for yourself how easy it is to change the color of your brads and make them match [...]
August 22nd, 2011 at 3:51 AM
I cannot believe how easy it is and all the times I’ve never had the right coloured brad and I could have changed it!Thank you for opening my eyes to all the possibilites
August 23rd, 2011 at 6:40 PM
Not a problem! There will be no stopping you now. No need to rush out to the shops to buy more brads, or to search endlessly to find the right shade. You will be able to do them all yourself.
March 5th, 2012 at 11:11 PM
I really like the direction you’ve decided to take this blog….