I was so excited to open up the Hot Boss today. A bit nervous too. I’m a klutz. Getting hurt was definitely an option. Did you know scrapbooking is a dangerous activity? It is, trust me!

Before plugging in the Hot Boss, I did some prep work and taped off an area of a test paper to work on, and covered the desk with the ranger craft mat to protect it from escaping embossing powder and piping hot tools.

The plan was to doodle a border around the outside of the page. First I spread a layer of embossing powder around the edge of one side of the paper, and then started drawing in the powder with the Hot Boss.

Not much of a fan so far. The tool didn’t melt the embossing powder very fast, so drawing each shape took forever. Additionally, the embossing powder kept sticking to the end of the tool, making it difficult to see what was actually melting on the page.

Be careful around this thing, it’s HOT!
After shaking the excess embossing powder back into the jar, I used a heat gun to smooth out the lumps and bumps.

So far, so meh.

Next I tried the rake tool. That had looked like fun in the videos. Yeah.

You know what I ended up with? A rake tool covered in embossing powder. Maybe I didn’t let the tool heat up enough. Maybe I used too thick of a layer of embossing powder. Maybe I just need lots of patience and practice.

The last thing I tried was using the long knife attachment to create dots and lines. That one actually became fun. Because you dip the tip of the attachment into the embossing powder pot, when you pull it out, you can watch the embossing powder melt and start to move. That made it easier to control and work with. The shooting stars are what I created with the knife tip.

Here are all three tips together. I definitely preferred using the knife tip. But, there’s one more thing!

This!

What’s that you say? Why that is a bead of embossing powder that dripped off the end of the tool. Just imagine doing that on purpose, on a sheet of parchment paper. Homemade enamel dots! This just put the Hot Boss back in the keep pile.

So what do you think? The Hot Boss seems to have a steep learning curve, but some serious potential. Plus I could always just start learning wood burning, right?

What do think? Do you want to try out this tool, and see what kind of results you get? Do you have this already and love it? Inquiring minds want to know!