3D Printed Plate for Embossing in the Sizzix Big Shot

Hi everyone! Today’s post is possible because of a new friend I made this year! Tim and I have become email pen pals and it has been fun sharing our art and ideas and even collaborating on projects! One of them was a plate he printed for me with his 3D printer, from one of my new designs. I love this plate- it embosses so nice in the Sizzix Big Shot machine! So a very special thanks go out to my artful and talented (and generous!) buddy Tim and I hope you have someone like him in your life!!

I filmed a video to show you the set up so you know what plates to use etc.  The Big Shot Machine comes with a multi-purpose platform that has a series of tabs that give you guidance on how many to tabs to use based on what you are using them with. Since they do not have a setup for 3D printed plates, I had to figure out the best combination.

You will need a piece of embossing rubber like the one that Sizzix sells here. Spellbinders also sells one and I list one from Amazon down below.  The embossing platform I mentioned in a previous post will not work in this case since the 3D printed plate is too thick. I believe it was 3 mm.

In this project, I used cardstock painted with Micaceous Iron Oxide paint from Golden. I love this paint- it has texture and a tiny bit of shimmer!

The stack will look something like this (you may need to play around with it a bit):

• the Sizzix multi purpose platform that comes with the machine with all but one tab
• a cutting plate
• the rubber
• the cardstock (in this case I put it face down but you can play around with that)
• the 3D printed plate
• a cutting plate
• possibly some pieces of paper or thin plastic to use as shims

You can spray the cardstock with water if you like. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. It can help with the paper not tearing as much if the sandwich is a bit too tight or the embossing plate is too deep. Also, you may need to test which direction you want the cardstock to go depending on the design of the plate.

Run the whole stack through the BigShot machine. It should have a small amount of resistance as you roll, but not too much where it feels like your machine will break! It should feel about the same as when you follow the Sizzix guidelines with an embossing folder or one of their dies.

And Yay! you have the impression of your design from the 3D printed plate! I use Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks to bring out the impression and make it show up even more! The inks are much more vibrant used on top of paint than they typically are on plain cardstock.  I LOVE it!

Here is the process if you’d like to follow along….

Enjoy!