Embossing ink needed?

Hi everybody.... I'm sure this has been covered somewhere, but I can't find it anywhere. So I've seen some beautiful heat embossing techniques done hither and thither and while I know that if you stamp a design using a stamp you need embossing ink, but do you need ink for a rust effect, a distressed effect or a splatter effect? I'm supposing you need a bonding agent to keep the powder from blowing everywhere, am I correct in that? Also is there anything else you can use other than ink to bind your powder in place? Hope that all makes sense. Thanks a bunch in advance!

I'm not sure this answers your question, but I recently used distress paint with embossing powder. I had really old jar from the discount store - bought before I knew better. When I used it on chipboard it changed the color of the powder, so I tried using the white distress paint as both a barrier and to adhere the powder. The results were very good. I used it to covered entire pieces after I cut out the shapes I needed. Hope that helps.

Yes that helps. I really appreciate your response... thanks a bunch!

I use a lot of VersaMark to stamp with but slow drying inks also work. Add powder then apply heat with a heat tool. Its like a hair blow dryer but it gets much hotter. You have to watch close, youll see the powder change/melt. It only takes a couple seconds. As you see it change move along with the heat tool. I dab over the paper to be embossed with a tiny bag of powder called Embossing Magic, I havent found it on this site. You can see what I have in my gallery in my scraproom album. Ive heard of others using a dryer sheet but Ive never tried that. The idea is to keep the powder from sticking to unwanted areas of your paper. The more the paper is handled the more scattered powder youll have. Also get a nice little pointed paint brush for wiping off unwanted powder. It takes a bit of practice but powder embossing is much prettier than just stamping. Most people call is heat embossing but I learned about it as powder embossing. After all you have to have powder to get the effect, Right? Have fun!
Ro

You might try using different gels or modeling paste as a binder for your embossing powders. The molding/modeling paste will bubble up as you are heating which would give you a really cool rust effect.
If you are looking for a smoother flat finish then the distress paint might be a better option.

Oh, I wouldn't have thought of the paste! That sounds like something I'll have to try. Well, shoot! That would have been the gooey I needed on my pizza LO!

I did a tag using modeling paste with embossing powder and it turned out really pretty cool...

The heat from the gun kind of bubbled up the paste a bit and the powder settled into the bubbles and then it cooled and kind of caved in .... here, let me show you. It'll make more sense.

Platinum Tree By GentlewoodFarms

The other thing you can use is an adhesive sheet or just straight glue. Anything that is sticky enough to hold the powder long enough to melt it should work. I've experimented with watered down Elmer's glue on chipboard, and that worked pretty well. ...

You just have to be careful not to overheat the glue because it WILL bubble.

Thank you foolproof much every body!!!! Such awesome ideas... I will have to try them. Thanks again.