Embossing Metal at Shake Rag Alley
It was so nice to teach a few small classes for a change, don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the energy and excitement of large classes (25 students) at festival, but day after day on your feet circling the room on those carpet covered concrete convention floors can get tiring. 
At Shake Rag things were very relaxed by comparison, with eight students in the metal class and one of them was a 12 year old boy who stepped in to fill the spot of his grandmothers friend who was unable to make it. This is his work below, he did a lot more work than this, cutting up and manipulating the metal and experimenting with what it could do, but these were the pieces he wanted to show.
I enjoy having young students in class, as long as they have the attention span for a 6 hour class, because they are often more courageous with their art making and this in turn can be inspiring to the adult students.We use two different methods for coloring the metal; alcohol inks and art markers.
When embossed designs have a lot of dimension, it’s a good idea to use a filling paste on the back to give more structural integrity to the big spaces so they don’t get crushed.
I was thrilled to see so many lilacs in Wisconsin, I love them. I know they are in Chicago, but there aren’t that many in my neighborhood and I will miss them when I move back to California.2 Responses to “Embossing Metal at Shake Rag Alley”
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What do you use to embose the foil so perfectly? I love the design but never have seen any of these items. Also can you create an online tutorial in foil embosing?
Hi Suki,
the products I use in this class are from Walnut Hollow, they have a wonderful tool kit and a line of different metals to use for embossing, that you can find at many craft stores or buy online. Most Joannes stores carry this line of metal products.
These are not foils really but thin sheet metal. The aluminum is very lightweight and the copper is thicker and stronger allowing it to have a lot greater detail and depth to the embossing. I provide images for students to use in class or they can draw their own imagery or do a combination of the two.