Letterpress

This is my new toy. A Letterpress plate from Sizzix.
I've only had chance for a quick play but I like it so far.

Quickutz brought out a Letterpress system a year or so back and I saw it demonstrated on QVC and was slightly tempted but held back. I liked the effect it made but did not like the idea of having to buy the kit (was about £60 I think) then tubes of what looked like very sticky ink/ paint, then the hassle of trying to get it all clean.
I'm glad I never bought it because having read reviews on blogs it sounded like a waste of money!

So now Sizzix have brought out a much, much cheaper version of Letterpressing.
I paid £3.75 for this plate and just used it with some inks I already have (Brilliance ink-pads).
Basically you run the ink-pad over the plate and then mangle it through the Cuttlebug/ Big Shot like you would  a normal embossing folder.
Very simple and no messiness, just wipe the plate down with a baby wipe afterwards.

You can use the plate without any ink, it will just give a de-bossed effect (ie like embossing but the pattern isn't raised it's sunk).
Used with ink the ink will sit inside the sunken area so it's like a cross between embossing and stamping.
The paper you use will determine how it looks and you can also use shims to get a deeper de-boss.

You can just about see on this photo that this attempt is not perfect, I moved the card when pushing it through my 'Bug.
There are a few tutorials on You Tube, some of them are using SU plates but they aren't available in the UK. I'm hoping Sizzix bring out some more styles because at the moment I like the effect but am not keen on most of the plates, I'd love a Christmassy one.