My younger sister had asked me for help with her paper embossing home business. She has designed some patterns and wants me to make some dies for her.

I have milled designs in wood but never done any work on dies. I read all the threads, however most diemaking topics only deal with forming metals or plastics.

Since I will be making dies for paper with my desktop CNC (I cannot mill metals with it),
1. Do you think a softer material like acrylic could be used for the dies?
2. Would I need a male-female die pair for paper? In my view, I think you would only need the male half.
3. Can I emboss using a DIY manual lever press?

By the way, I already ordered the die makers handbook from Amazon.

Thanks for all the help.

Why not use wood for the die and coat in resin for waterproofing? Maybe make the male and female and set up like a tortilla press - manual.

Sounds like a neat niche market - good luck and,
:cheers: Jim