Why It Works | Burning an Engraved Letterpress Effect

Discussion in 'Learning Pad' started by londoncuppa, Jul 15, 2017.

  1. londoncuppa

    londoncuppa I like rain, England ... and big words

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    [​IMG]

    Welcome to another edition of Why It Works, where we share and highlight a page from an awesome scrapper in our gallery that utilizes a really cool technique, a design trick, a photography tip, journaling ideas or any number of other things to get you scrapping outside your comfort zone. We hope to share and inspire you to try something new, revisit an old technique you may have forgotten about, or maybe just approach that blank canvas in a new way.

    So, here are some of the things you can do to be involved in this thread if you want to be:

    1. Ohhh and Ahhh over the awesome layout or project that has been highlighted, and head over to the gallery, and show the scrapper some love.
    2. Learn something new from the tip or tutorial. It's all about becoming better at our craft!
    3. Try the technique yourself, and post it in this thread for us to see.
    4. Show off other pages from the gallery that use the technique as well. Be sure to link them, so we can give them the love they deserve!
    5. Ask questions about the technique that you may have, or tell us how you may do it differently. There are many ways to do these things, and this thread is all about the learning!

    *NOTE: This is not to be a critique of the page/project in any way. It's all about learning to emulate the awesome technique highlighted. Any negative comments about the highlighted page will be deleted. *
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    I’ve been a die-hard scrapbooker since 1997 and after 20+ years in a hobby, things can sometimes get a bit stale. I’m always trying to expand my skills (yay, hybrid!) and incorporate techniques into my layouts that aren’t the norm. One of these is burning or engraving items into my page. This is usually either my journaling, word art, or a design element, such as stamps. So, I was super excited to see this recent Froggy Favorite get added to the gallery.

    Rojo Sing by @MrsGaramer is a perfect example of this technique. She’s burned the arrows of her paper into the background. Super cool, right? While this page is fantastic even without this technique, the burned arrows definitely give it that extra “something special” that takes the entire layout to another level. Love it!

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    When using this technique on text, a larger, well-spaced font seems to work best. You “can” use it on script fonts, but I find the font size has to be REALLY large, or it will affect its readability.

    This technique is also perfect for those dark elements we have hiding in our stashes. We’re scrappers (aka hoarders), so you’re probably like me and have a lot of plain black word art or stamps just begging to be used. Blow the dust of those things, and give it a try!

    I know I’ve convinced you to go for it, right? How can I achieve this look on my own pages, you ask? Well, the obvious answer is to use the amazing styles of our very own Style Maven, Leah Riordan (aka @mommyish). We are so lucky to have her catalog of fabulous styles here at The Pad! These are just a few that can help you achieve the burned/engraved looks effortlessly:

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    These burn styles from Paula (@paula kesselring) are also fantastic:
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    If you want to give it a go on your own, you can try these easy Photoshop steps (you may not have some of these options, depending upon which software & version you’re using). I use Photoshop CC, so I go with what I know (I apologize to my non-PS friends out there if this doesn’t help you).

    ENGRAVING TEXT
    1) Choose your text color (darker is better), create a text box and type your text. A larger, well-spaced font yields better results.

    2) Right-click the text layer and select “Blending Options;” then “Bevel & Emboss” layer style.
    • STYLE: Emboss
    • DIRECTION: Down
    • SIZE: 7 pixels
    I usually leave all other settings at their default, but you can adjust them to suit your tastes. The look will vary depending upon the font and its size.

    BURNING TEXT
    1) Create a text box and type your text. The color of your text doesn’t matter. A larger, well-spaced font yields better results.

    2) Right-click the text layer and select “Blending Options;” then add a “Bevel & Emboss” layer style with these settings:
    • STYLE: Outer Bevel
    • TECHNIQUE: Chisel Hard
    • DEPTH: 100%
    • DIRECTION: Up
    • SIZE: 5 pixels
    • SOFTEN: 1 pixel
    • SHADING ANGLE: 90 degrees/ALTITUDE: 30 degrees (use global light)
    • HIGHLIGHT MODE: Linear Burn / 77% opacity
    • SHADOW MODE: Overlay / 61% opacity
    3) Next, you want to add an “Inner Shadow” layer style to your text with these settings:
    • BLEND MODE: Linear Burn
    • OPACITY: 100%
    • ANGLE: 45 degrees (do NOT use global light)
    • DISTANCE: 5 pixels
    • CHOKE: Leave at zero percent
    • SIZE: 8 pixels
    4) Lastly, you want to add a “Color Overlay” layer style with these settings:
    • BLEND MODE: Linear Burn
    • COLOR: #664c3a
    • OPACITY: 87%
    ENGRAVING/BURNING OBJECTS
    Make a selection of your item and follow the steps above (skipping Step No.1).

    If you made it through all that work, congratulations! :goldstars Since I love these techniques so much, I thought I’d share a few of my own examples. On layouts “Sprung,” "1,2,3...Go," and “Up, Up & Away,” I burned the journaling into the backgrounds.

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    Using these styles can sometimes have unexpected but wonderful results. I used a burning style on word art from Sahlin Studio’s new Project Mouse Run Bundle. It “engraved” the design into the background papers and pulled parts of the paper up through the word art. Not what I expected, but it was a happy outcome. The shoe prints had the same style applied, but it reacted differently and burned the design into the background more subtly.
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    These two layouts have burned engravings on at least 3 items. Can you spot them?
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    Are your Eagle Eyes able to find any other layouts in the gallery using these techniques? Have you used them yourself? Do you have a better way of achieving these looks? A look through The Pad’s gallery on any given day proves we are the best community in Digiland, so I would love to see what you wonderful, creative peeps can do!
     
    Last edited: Jul 15, 2017
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  2. Dalis

    Dalis Jose Cuervo is NOT a good friend

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    Margaret, I love doing this technique so much. I will look for my pages, love yours and @MrsGaramer too!
     
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  3. Dalis

    Dalis Jose Cuervo is NOT a good friend

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    The top wood WA is an example of one I made w/ one of the WAs from the kit.

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  4. IntenseMagic

    IntenseMagic Some grannies cuss a lot. I'm some grannies.

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    So cool!! I can say that this is one thing I have never tired. I am going to have to give it a go!! Thanks, Margaret!
     
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  5. londoncuppa

    londoncuppa I like rain, England ... and big words

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    Fantastic!
     
  6. mcurtt

    mcurtt give me all the paleo brownies

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    Here is one I did in 2016 for an art journaling challenge. The wood-burning effect is at the bottom edge of the shadow box.

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    Last edited: Jul 16, 2017
  7. Dalis

    Dalis Jose Cuervo is NOT a good friend

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    Jan, this is such a fun technique! I seriously love Paula's style, but I haven't tried the other ones so far. I might w/ this challenge.
     
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  8. londoncuppa

    londoncuppa I like rain, England ... and big words

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    I LOVE it, Marilyn!!! That layout is fantastic! I have a thing for shadow box layouts of any kind, and you rocked this one! Burning your text into the wood was a perfect choice here and illustrates what a great touch it can add to a layout. Your journaling on this entire LO was a great read BTW. Thanks so much for sharing! :yourock
     
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  9. jenn mccabe

    jenn mccabe She's OUR sunshine!

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    fantastic Margaret! :beat I love that you hook us up with both the styles and the "do it on your own from scratch" options as well. I cannot wait to give this a go again ... I've done it on occasion but definitely not enough and it's been awhile. I'll try to dig later and see if I can find any pages. But let me say your pages are absolutely gorgeous. @Dalis don't think i've used them on premade word arts - very clever and looks amazing. @mcurtt love the look on the shadow box ~ very cool idea!
     
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  10. londoncuppa

    londoncuppa I like rain, England ... and big words

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    Oooo...I'd love to see what you've done, Jenn. I bet it was awesome! I'm a style addict; especially Leah's styles. I did it the "long way" twice and then decided life is too short for that...lol. My motto is: Save Sanity...Buy A Style! :D
     
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  11. jenn mccabe

    jenn mccabe She's OUR sunshine!

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    I think my page(s) were with Leah's styles as well. I'm not Photoshop cool enough to know how to tweak all those settings by myself without guidance!!! :giggle
     
  12. londoncuppa

    londoncuppa I like rain, England ... and big words

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    Me either! Let's just say I spend a fair amount of $$$ on books, classes and courses to try to teach myself this stuff. I'm completely type A. I drive myself nuts sometimes...well, a lot of times! Hahaha... :D
     
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  13. MrsGaramer

    MrsGaramer Using my imagination

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    Thank you for highlighting my page! I love Paula's burn styles and I use them a ton - especially on text! The page above is a blending of three different papers and then I got lucky on my blending and opacity haha!
     
  14. londoncuppa

    londoncuppa I like rain, England ... and big words

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    You did an OUTSTANDING job on your page, Kimberly! I know you received Froggy Favorite & Gallery Standout accolades for it. Both very well-deserved! Thanks for providing such an amazing example of what can be done with burn styles!
     
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  15. wvsandy

    wvsandy Grinning Granny

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    Here's one I did this month for the Random challenge this month. I burned in the word strip.
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  16. londoncuppa

    londoncuppa I like rain, England ... and big words

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    Excellent, Sandy! It looks fantastic on your layout. Way to go!
     
  17. jenn mccabe

    jenn mccabe She's OUR sunshine!

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    yay! i finally did one ... I used Mommyish's Wood Slices 1 for the engraving on the woodgrain (title and date) ... thanks for the nudge @londoncuppa

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  18. jaharvey

    jaharvey Well-Known Member

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    It's so much easier with styles. I used one from Stylin' #81 to create the effect for my compass star on my page below. Now I want to try out effects from Stylin' #148 and #234, so I guess I'm going to need to do some shopping!
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  19. londoncuppa

    londoncuppa I like rain, England ... and big words

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    I completely agree! Aren't styles the best? Love your page...great job, Janice!
     
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  20. londoncuppa

    londoncuppa I like rain, England ... and big words

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    I somehow missed this, Jenn. Sorry about that! Love the effect on the title. It works perfectly with your gorgeous design. Simply stunning!! Thanks so much for posting! Love it!
     
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