embossing powders

I have just bought 3 embossing powders from rangers (its the distressing powders).
I was really exited to start using them, but was really disappointed with the results!
Is there a 'special' way to use them?
Im not sure what i was expecting before using them, but to be honest, the end result wasn't much differant to the start!
Has anyone else tried these?
How did you find them?
I think ill stick to 'normal' embossing powders in future and just use the distress ink(which i think is fab!)
willow x:D

hi willow,hows it going? once you heated the powders did you rub the loose bits off? that will give you the distressed look :)

Hi there tracy s,
Yes i did try to rub the loose bits off, but there didn't seem to be much to rub off!(is it possible to 'over-heat'?!
And i take it that the end result is sposed to be rough like sand-paper?
willow x

Yes its very possible to over heat it then melt back and rubbing isnt very acheivable. i dont heat it for as long as the normal powders and I rub gently so I dont get any bold patches. im quite liberal with the powder too.

yes it's poss to over heat,it sort of melts back into the paper! and yes i think it should be rough!

I've used these powders over both versamark and distress inks, aparently you don't get quite so much of a 'rub off' with the versamark, they are designed to work with the Ranger embossing ink pads. They also look good if you use a differenet colour of distress ink.

I think i probaly over-heated them then as i heated for longer than normal powders.
Also i used them over an embossing pen...? Maybe the pen was the problem and not the powders, i need a certain shape so couldn't use a stamp and thought using a pen would be fine...will use them with the Ranger ink pads later....

The tip gleaned from my Tim Holz distressing workshop is that the distressing powder has to be shaken before you use it.

It apparently contains little ball bits in which have to be dispersed evenly before using. Then after you have set it with the heat gun, you rub your hands over it to 'rub' off the excess powder. What you rub off you discard and dont try to re-use it or put it back in the pot as it will eventually ruin the rest of your distressing power.

So give it a shake first :)