Two-ply paper products with either nested or foot-to-foot embossments and method of making

In a method of producing a paper product formed from a pair of embossed webs in which the embossments of the webs can be arranged in either a nested or a foot-to-foot configuration, the steps of:

• forming first and second embossing rolls with the same embossing pattern, each of said rolls having a rotational axis, the embossing pattern being formed by a plurality of embossments and non-embossed areas which surround the embossments, the embossing pattern having a machine direction and a cross-machine direction, the embossments forming a decorative design and each embossment having a dimension in the machine direction and a dimension in the cross-machine direction, adjacent embossments being spaced from each other in either or both of the machine direction and the cross-machine direction by an amount which exceeds the dimensions of the embossments in that direction,
• rotatably mounting the first and second embossing rolls so that the axes of the rolls are parallel and the embossments of each roll are aligned whereby the rolls produce foot-to-foot embossments in said paper product, and
• rotatably mounting the first and second embossing rolls so that the axes of the rolls are parallel and the embossments of one roll are positioned between embossments of the other roll whereby the rolls produce nested embossments in said paper product.