By Rosie Lu
No craft gets as professional-looking and eco-friendly as foil embossing. Both elegant and versatile, embossed aluminium pieces serve well as picture frames, ornaments, scrapbooking stickers, or even journal covers. To add that extra touch to a photobooth strip or polaroid before it goes on the walls of your room, look no further. Here are the instructions to transform common waste into splendid silver, a cherishable result of your own hard work.
- Source your material: Anything that’s foil with a bit of structure, like a Chipotle tin, soda can, or tomato paste tube, will work perfectly. Cut into a sheet and flatten out any creases or dents with a smooth object.
- Prepare your workspace: Prepare a tool to draw out your designs with—buy an embossing stylus, or use your nail tech friend’s dotting tool. Find a fabric with a slight thickness to put under, like felt or a fluffy towel. Place the fabric under your foil sheet as a mat.
- Pick a design: Either look for a design online and print it out, or sketch out your very own unique doodles. Tape the paper on top of your foil. For the adventurous, freehanding is A-ok too! Small lines that form ridges can form a cute border, and large spirals and small dots are great for filling empty space.
- Outline the edges: Use your stylus to outline the edges you will cut off.
- Emboss! Start from small details to prevent the foil from popping up. Take extra care not to stab through the material.