Dry embossing on vellum is one of those age-old cardmaking techniques that has been becoming popular again recently. It’s widely used in Pergamano where you would trace designs using brass templates and add white details to the designs by stretching out the vellum/parchment with ball tools. It also became popular again when embossing folders were first around too as you could get the same kind of effects as Pergamano but in a fraction of the time. And now it’s had another come back within the stamping word.
The basis of the technique is to stamp onto vellum, using a permanent ink, and then flipping the vellum over and gently stretching the vellum by using ball tools and a dense foam mat. You can also stamp in coloured inks, or add colour beforehand using Copic markers, or by swiping inkpads across the vellum and leaving them to dry. You can also combine working on the front and back of the vellum for different looks too.

For an even more advanced version, you can even go freehand too, doodles are the easiest to achieve, but words are possible too, just make sure to write the letters backwards so it appears the right way around on the front. And depending on the intricacy of the design that you want to add detail too, you can use different-sized ball tools too, but make sure to adjust the pressure you apply depending on the size of the tool. 1mm ball tools are almost like needles, so if you apply too much pressure you can accidently pierce all the way through the vellum.
Vellum can be tricky to attach onto your cards, but by using skinny die-cut frames, slivers of card or by strategically placing gems or sequins, you can easily disguise where you’ve added adhesive, but you do still want to use wet glue sparingly. And another great way of giving this technique a try without having to worry about where to add your adhesive would be to add your finished piece behind an aperture. If you want to give this technique a go, but don’t have the tools required, have a go working on stack of folded printer paper (to act as a dense foam mat) and use a nail (a DIY nail) to gently indent your design into the vellum, or you could even try an old ball point pen that’s run out of ink too.

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Choose a stamp with open spaces, a permanent inkpad, vellum and a selection of different diameter ball tools

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Stamp your chosen image onto a piece of vellum. You can use an acrylic block too, but using a stamping platform helps prevent the inked stamp sliding on the surface and giving a blurred image

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Flip your stamped vellum over, and add colour using Copic markers. If the ink bleeds outside of the lines, you can use the colourless blender to neaten up your colouring

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Keep flipping over the vellum to see how it looks from the front, sometimes you might have to use a darker marker to get the intensity you want

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Working on the back again, use light pressure and a small ball tool along with a dense foam mat to impress some extra details into the image

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Again, keep flipping it over to see how it’s looking from the front and add, going back over any sections you want to appear more detailed

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Add a stamped sentiment, and for an easy mess-free way to attach the vellum to your card blank, use nesting rectangle dies to cut a skinny frame, you can then hide your adhesive behind this