Why did my EP (embossing powder)

[luvs2stampnscrap]

HELP! Why did my EP (embossing powder) set into my paper and make it look greasy? Any one have this problem? Did I use too much heat?:confused:

[peebsmama]

Sounds like you may have overheated it. EP is just tiny crystals of plastic. Plastic is made of petroleum products (like oil) so that would leave it looking greasy. This happened to me once when I did a multilayer of ep project. By the time I was heating the 3rd layer, the first one had been heated so much that it melted too much and absorbed into the paper.

[MSBetsyZ]

It helps if you can hold your paper close to a good light source so you can see the "change" start. As it melts, the powder becomes very shiny and raised. If you keep heating after that, your raised effect will start to shrink, and then the plastic itself will melt into the paper. Oh, and you may notice your paper scorching, too, lol! It really does help though if you just heat under a light source so you can see the shiny effect start.

[Henste4]

I really wishI had known about SCS when I first started stamping 12 or so years ago... The powder does change beyond the pretty raised effect it was meant to achieve when it is heated too long. I used to hold my tool on it sooooooooo long, and my demo couldn't explain why my images seeped into the paper and looked greasy. With practice I learned to move the heat tool along just as soon as the image melted. As MSBetsyZ says, good light is the key...

[luvs2stampnscrap]

Just as I had suspected....thanks for your input ladies. I appreciate it and happy stamping! ;)