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Wow - you are all so clever! I just hold it with my fingers and have never had any issues. Maybe I'm lucky that I haven't burned myself. Thanks for all the great ideas you've all shared!
I use a Ranger Heat Tool, the white one that looks like a little portable hair dryer.
And my surface, most of the time, is in the air and under a very bright light so I can see the powder melting. I hold my paper with a tool I saw and bought at Lowes, looks like a very long needle nose pliers with padded handles.
When I need to lay my paper down to emboss, I have an old thick wooden cutting board on legs that we had for years. I bet you could use a regular board and just screw or glue 4 thread spools on as legs. I also use my cutting board to hammer eyelets.
I use my non stick heat resistant Ranger mat. It protects my surface, and nothing sticks to it no matter what. It was worth buying and I have a small one that I carry with me to classes etc.
I hold mine up in the air and hold the cardstock with a clip clothespin - cheap and can always find one if I misplace the one I keep at my embossing station.
Oh, and I have a Stampin' Up! heat gun, made by Milwaukee and I love the thing, way more than any others I've tried. Maybe I should keep it unplugged when not in use, though.
__________________ Claudia Splitcoast Fan Club Member
I have used my non-stick craft sheet- invaluable!! if any of the embossing powder lands on the sheet- it hardens, peel it off and stick it back in the jar, as you can still use it.
As for the heat tool- I actually have two. One is the Darice heat tool, and the other one is Ranger's Heat-It. The Darice gets quite hot and blows a lot and is noisy so I use it for drying things. I usually use my Heat-it, which is really quiet, and blows gently, so you are not having to sweep up the floor after use.
I also use the craft sheet (and by the way, get the large size- the small one is pretty useless) with my Melting Pot because you can use it to melt embossing powder and pour it into molds which sit on the mat.
The craft sheet is wonderful to use when you are working with alcohol inks, cleans up really easily. I have two of the craft sheets, as I often teach, so then the student has one to work on too.
When I heat emboss I use the back of a tablet with a clip clothes pin on it. I clip the cardstock to it at one end and still have plenty of safe space to hold onto without burning my fingers! Works great!
Wendy? Did you replace your monster yet? How are you doing?
I'm doing great! Wal-mart didn't have the guns anymore. I was planning on going to hobby lobby tomorrow, but just spent $130 on touch twin markers on ebay...:mrgreen: no new gun yet..... mine is just way too hot. Mabe a bad motor? Mabe just old. Letting finances cool down a bit.....then I'll get a new gun & more goodies!
Bet you have a Milwaukee Heat Gun...the original use for those guns was as a paint stripper. Stampers started using them way back in the late 80s and haven't stopped. That gun heats up to about 1700 degrees...embossing powder melts at 260 - 280 degrees. And Milwaukees are black. Using a Milwaukee is about the same as using a sledge hammer to kill an ant. When you use it, hold it a good distance from the paper (and your fingers). ALWAYS unplug the gun when it's not in use.
If you want another gun, check out JoAnns for a Darice gun...cheap and long lasting. They were on sale for about $12, but I don't know if that sale is still one.
:lol::lol::lol: Still laughing....that's what I have......a heat gun, not a craft tool. At least I have identified "it".
Thanks for the suggestion about J's.
I use the Ranger Inkssentials Craft Sheet too. I love it. It works really well for embossing with a heat gun but what I really, really love about it is that adhesive doesn't stick to it. If I run my tape gun over the edge of my card I can just remove the adhesive from the mat before something sticks to it that I don't want to have sticking to it like when I just used a paper mat.
Well, guess what I 'had' to hunt in the garage for today? Yup, a leftover floor tile from my DH's 'someday' supplies. Sweet idea - thanks! Can't wait to use it.
__________________ Stop in for a visit on my blog: http://clocards.blogspot.com
Find me on facebook: www.facebook.com/CLOcards May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in HIM. Romans 15:13
I haven't had tine to read to everything yet, so forgive me if ths has been mentioned, but I find the best thing to hold my paper with so that I don't get any marks is a clothes pin. I too use a floor tile, but mine is marble, I read somewhere that it is the best material for heat.
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Scrapiegirl
I'm not messy, I'm creative!!!!
Thanks fo the ideas ladies! I have my new gun, gentle breeze....sweet! And I'm using a tile, so no burning my table! I mailed out 3 thank you cards, & a sympathy card this week. I'm "stamp happy" LOL!
