Embossing

As I had feared my multi-depth postcard idea was a tad ambitious. It could be done, but I would have had to stay there throughout the whole 6 hour acid bath and black out a frame every few hours so that it stopped eroding the copper. That was 6 hours I didn't have. So I settled for the single frame, which to be honest I now think was a better choice anyway - because the embossing is so subtle it would have just been crazy on the eyes if I had too much detail.

I did a test emboss on cartridge paper and it worked perfectly but it was generally a bit flimsy and crap for a postcard - I got on the good stuff: canaletto paper. Worked like a charm, sexiest piece of paper I have ever laid my eyes upon. I made 12 to start off with as the pneumatic press was rather laborious and time consuming - I just need to cut them down to size and they're good to go!

I also created the embossing plate for the cover of my book box. Yey I love spending nearly £15 on copper! Oh no wait, that's right I don't. I used the image with the black text to make the plate, then once the erosion was complete I trimmed the plate down to the black edges of the border to make it easier to align.

I whacked some of my faux leather fabric onto some grey board and did a test run - worked a treat so I stuck the plate on top of my bound cover and threw it in the press. While I was pumping the press up, I noticed that the previously sharp, crisp lines of the embossing on the test piece had relaxed an obscene amount due to the elasticity of the leather. DAMN YOU SPRINGY SURFACES. So I majorly increased the pressure of my cover press and prayed. It came out. All seemed fine. Lovely sharp edges. So I took it away and walked up to Blehiem - by the time I got the the same thing had happened. I spent so long trying to make this look perfect and professional and everything just keeps going down the shitter, fantastic.

It's a really good job I anticipated this and purposely chose not to bind the cover to the tray/lid of the box. This means I can retry next week. I think I need to take a much more aggressive approach to make it permanent - I've done a bit of research and I can't find definitive instructions for faux leather but for real leather to permanently emboss it you need to dampen it, heat it up and leave it in the press for at least 6 hours. So I think an overnight job is in order.