Hi Friends! I’m trying to sneak in a post before Christmas festivities start, and this one is more for the folks who do both paper crafting and jewelry. My first love was paper-crafting- at least before I soldered a ring which then started my jewelry obsession 😛 . Because of that, I tend to try jewelry things with paper or other items. Impression dies are cool because they give a 3D effect to metal. I have been collecting some from Potter USA. They rescue these designs from now-defunct jewelry houses and offer these beautiful impressions to the world.
In today’s video I talk about how I use a Hydraulic Press (hint: extremely low pressure! Basically when the manual handle starts to offer resistance, you are done!), a Polymer Clay softening too, and an Accucut die cutting machine all which I happened to have on hand. There may be other things that might work- you want something that applies downward pressure onto a piece of urethane which sits on top of the paper placed over the die. All 3 I showed worked, but the Press gave the best impression. In the second segment I wasn’t sure if the Polymer Clay too was still around, but I was happy to see that it still is! You can find it here at Neverknead.com .
You need a thicker, stiffer piece of rubber, not the flat rubber we generally use for impressing into paper. Urethane is my preference. Potter USA sells these, and if you own Impression dies, you probably already have this 😉
So if you own some of these dies and haven’t tried paper in them, give it a whirl! You can make a tag or card that features the same design or a similar one to go with your jewelry piece.
Enjoy!
