Is there a way to emboss ink from a printer? Printing my own Wedding Invites and want that raised look?

Question

DIY wedding invites, want to emboss the ink so it looks like a printer did it. any ideas??

Answer 1

I don't know that "ink" works, but there are at least a couple of ways to do that with a *photocopier* or laser printer both of which use "toner" instead of ink.

Toner is sticky for a short time, so you could apply embossing powder to a photocopy or laser print while it's right out of the machine... tap off the excess, then heat the embossing powder till it melts. This method is a little chancey though for several reasons.

What you probably want is the way it's usually done with a photocopier or laser printer though.
And that is to buy "transfer foil" and run a sheet of it through a copier with the paper or cardstock you want to emboss on. The colored foil will transfer onto the paper/carkdstock in any of the areas which were black in the original image you're copying, because of the heat created in the machine and the sticky toner.
When they come out, just let cool a bit then pull off the foil, and voila.
The foils come in metallics and non-metallics of all kinds... look at office supply stores or online.

You must use a new sheet of foil (or just a different section of the foil) each time you put a cardstock+foil sandwich through though because of course the area of the foil that transferred off before will now be empty (clear, actually, since the clear plastic backing of the foil will still be there).

You could also ask at Kinko's or a smaller copy outfit how much they'd charge to do the actual transferring for you... they may even have a selection of foils and cardstock there, so you'd need to be responsible only for the printed-out design-text you want to use.


Good luck,

Diane B.

Answer 2

It is fairly complicated. Most standard inkjet printers will produce a good quality result. You can to consider what happens when you print on different types of paper, and so on. The main problem is that if you are not a designer then no matter how good the paper and printer are your design could look terrible. Personally I would use the following general design idea. Get some nice quality card. Print the invitation on it, in a fairly simple design. Hand write the person's name. Print, you are invited to A and B's wedding etc on the front. Then make a hand folded paper heart (I am sure you can find out how to do this online) and glue it to the front. My hand made and painted christmas cards using Australian gum leaves and gum nuts are always my friend's favourites. Other technologies to try and embossing. But hand made makes most people feel special these days. If you put your love into that little piece of paper, people will always remember your wedding, and be inspired to find true love in their own lives.

Answer 3

Embossed Printer

Answer 4

If you are using black ink get a clear embossing powder(less mess if it's your first time using it) and shake it over the text right after it comes out of the printer. You don't need to heat it right away so you can do 12 or so at a time. Heat with a heat tool until the powder melts and turns shiny. Good luck.

Answer 5

how many invitations? I ask because there is a way, but it's manual. You need an embossing heat gun and the powder from a craft store. once you print the invites, sprinkle the powder over the letters turn on the gun and it will raise. Like i said, this is manual, everyone would have to be done individually.

Answer 6

You need a special kind of printer. Your typical laser printer won't be able to do it. Try going to a place like Kinkos or Village copier (if in NYC) - they usually have the equipment to do it, and it's still cheaper than sending it to professional wedding invite printers.

Answer 7

Before 10 years there was a Citizen thermal printer available for this task. I never saw the same technology back again.

Answer 8

Not that I am aware of, how about having rubber stamps made up so you can emboss easily. You can get rubber stamps made up for anything.