Craft Works : Metal Embossing

Hi Vidya,

Thanx for your comments.

1. Firstly the colour used in the background is bitumen tar (for more information on bitumen tar type 'Bitumen' in Google. Wikipedia will give you all the information you nee to know)
However, its use is messy, hazardous and requires careful handling. Something which I would not advise, unless you are well equipped to handle by way of experience and equipment. It is better to concentrate at this time on the embossing process which itself takes dedication and time.

2. The material can be kept on a table top with old newspapers underneath. The thickness of the sheet that you are going to use does not need the use of pitch or lac. Pith is used as a base for working only when working with very thick sheets such as copper or brass sheets greater than 0.5 mm

3. Alunimium sheet of 0.3 - 0.35 mm which is normally used for embossing does not require heating. Heating aif done has to be with great caution or u may end up actually hardening the material. I will touch upon heating and annealing for metals later in a later post .

4. The bookmarks are made of aluminium. The are not copper sheets. But copper sheets can be used as well. Copper and other non-ferrous metals can also be coloured with various inks and chemical traements to create 'Patination' (see Google).

Cheers

Umesh

 

Hi Vidya,

Nice to see you have made a good attempt at doing some work on metal embossing. Its good for a start. However, I would like to point out a few things:

Firstly, always start only with good quality line drawings. The quality of your initials ( preliminary input) has to be very good and neat. The output cannot be greater than the input unless you improvise on the way. This is true for any craft.

It looks to me that you were in a hurry to finish the piece. You need to have patience.
The embossing needs to be deeper and more defined. The edges need to be sharper. The paint has ‘bled’ because the edges were not properly defined. Detail is very important, other the image will look quite ‘bland’.

If you want to improve on this art, don’t bother about colouring the piece immediately. Just work on improving the quality of embossing. It takes a while but it will be worth it. You will discover a lot of your own techniques only if you actually exercise your patience in this regard.

Lastly, avoid trying subjects such human faces or animals such as horses till such time that you have gained sufficient expertise in embossing. This is because if the piece is not embossing properly the subject can look pretty distorted. Many embossing enthusiasts do this major mistake.

Try other subjects such as fishes, flowers, geometric shapes or abstracts which can look very interesting when coloured. I will try to prepare and post some designs which those who are interested can try. I will also give some colour options.

Till then enjoy embossing.

Cheers

Umesh

 

Hi Vidya,

i am so thankful for your comments. But at any time I tend to make critical comments please do not think otherwise. I tend to express myself openly and may it times be cut and dry. It is with an intention to convey something. For the benefit of those who wish to learn.

 

Hi artisticone,

thanq very much for your observation. To answer your question, this (repousse or metal embossing) art is self- taught. Though I have been indulging in 'Art and Craft' from childhood. I have never formally studied art (does it matter, I wonder?).