Emossing help for a complete beginner

Welcome
Yes, you have come to the right place for answers and education.
First lesson. We must refine your terminology and vocabulary. To emboss is to raise the letter or symbol above the surface of the paper.
I think you are seeking to punch into the paper. A newish term has been created for this. It may not be a term you find in the dictionary, but it works. It is deboss. Meant to be the opposite of emboss.
You need a press and the letters. We speak of the individual letters as type. The normal metal type is a lead alloy. Repeated use to punch into paper will wear it out. You may like the result, but understand the consequences.
Many of the new printers like to make a deep impression into the paper with inked type.
Search terms deboss and deep impression.

hi inky

thanks for clearing a few things up

would it be possible to put the type in reverse and stamp the back of the paper so when you turn it over you have something that looks like this?

http://dolcepress.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/img_3242-450x337.j...

sorry if this is a dumb question

The image you posted is embossing, you would need both a male and female die to get the raised letters. Not type.
The paper is pressed between both dies and that’s what gives you the raised effect.
I haven’t done any embossing so I can’t help beyond that!

Please do not apologize and fear that you may be asking a dumb question. You have said that you are new to this craft. The only dumb question is the one you do not ask.
Think through your proposal to punch from the back to raise the front. The symetrical letters like TIM could be set in reverse and made to read correctly. Think about the non symetrical letters.
I am a teacher and don’t just give you the answers.

The answer to your question is yes. But it needs to be done with dies (male and female as mentioned). The female die is registered to the male die during makeready. Male die in the chase and bed of press and female onto the impression plate or tympan. Paper will be placed inbetween. Dies will cost around $180 depending on the size to emboss. This is also called blind embossing because no ink is used.
I would not do this on any press smaller than 8x12 but some people may have had success with a smaller tabletop.

Some people use heat to emboss, i do some with heat andsome without, the male die is usually fiberglas and is mounted on the platen, the female die is locked in the chase. Owosso Graphics makes dies and i’ve used them for a while without ever having a problem, they do a great job.

You can use type to prioduce an embossed effect if you bring thermography into the process , print in the normal fashion and then dip into the plastic granules/ powder and expose to heat this will produce a raised effect similar to embossing at 1/4 of the price ! and probably one third of the speed !
If you want blind you print with clear ink like mixing white which basically is ink with no pigment .

hi all

thanks very much for the replies. it’s cleared a lot of things up. and apologies for not getting in touch sooner, i’ve only just got my internet back

ideally i just wanted to own something like the the-adana-8-x-5 where i could buy sets of type from ebay then just press notes to friends and family on random bits of paper without the hassle of ink.

i guess i best be prepared to get my hands dirty and go down the ink road…

Printing press ……. No ink ………… Clean hands ?????

Please visit our website at www.owossographic.com — we have a Tech Tips section on embossing. If you have questions after reading it just give us a call at 800-444-5552 and ask for Joe or Craig…we’d be happy to help you out.