Tutorial Tuesday - Faux Metal with Lori

Welcome to another installment of Tutorial Tuesday!  Today I have an awesome embossing folder technique for you - faux metal!  Do I sound excited?  I totally am; this is one of my all-time favorite techniques to use with embossing folders.  In fact, I got so carried away I made three cards!

First, let me say that, yes, I know there are metallic papers and such available to buy out there.  But I can guarantee that they look nothing like this!  This technique uses just a few supplies:

• metallic ink pad (my samples are shown in copper, gold, and silver)
• Glimmer Mist in complementary colors (more details below)
• heat gun
• embossing folder of your choice (Cuttlebug or Tim Holtz/Sizzix)
• cardstock (more details below)

OK, let's jump in!  First, choose your cardstock based on the type of metal you want.  For gold I use light brown; for silver, light gray; and for copper, dark orange.  Next, lightly spray the cardstock with one or two colors of glimmer mist:

Based on what I had on hand, I used Pearl for the gray CS, and Bronze for the gold.  (I used both Bronze and Patina for the copper, not shown.)  After the CS is damp, place it right-side-up on the embossing folder and emboss, then dry with the heat gun.

After drying the cardstock, I used my metallic ink pads and rubbed color over the cardstock directly from the ink pad.  You will want to cover the cardstock pretty well, but unevenly if possible, so some areas are more "inky" than others.  Finally, dry the ink with the heat gun.

At this point, it isn't going to look like anything very special, just some inky cardstock.  So we are going to spray on more layers of Glimmer Mist for depth and highlights.  You can also use a metallic white ink for some added highlights; just be sure to dry with the heat gun between Glimmer Mist and ink pad!

For the gold, I used both Bronze and Chocolate Glimmer Mist.  For the silver, I used Pearl and Denim Blue.  For copper, I used Bronze and Patina, not shown.

Gold

Silver

 OK, now for one of the finished products!

For this card, I made my copper sheet using the Tim Holtz/Sizzix Steampunk embossing folder.  I love how the Patina Glimmer Mist really makes it look aged!  And the different amounts of ink covering the cardstock really give this piece some depth.  I just loved this panel so much, that I had to use it on an entire card front!  My patterned papers are from the Graphic 45 Steampunk Debutante paper pad.  My main image uses a technique called "cracked glass", but that's a story for another post, lol.

Thanks for stopping by today - we look forward to seeing you again next time!  If you'd like to see the other two cards I made, they are on my blog here.