Sara Jane's Studio

A Year of Collage - March 2010

As part of my ongoing Year of Collage, I am happy to share the month of March.

This month is only a little bit collage, and relies on the technique called Faux Silk - which is  ridiculously simple, but gives a great textured effect.

On plain white tissue paper, I stamped the Medallion background stamp using Bermuda Bay ink.  After giving it a moment to dry, the image was crumpled up in my hand.  Then without smoothing out the wrinkles, the tissue paper is glued to a piece or cardstock.  If you use white glue, use it sparingly, because the ink will bleed a bit as you might be able to see on mine.  Trim the tissue paper slightly larger than the cardstock, fold the edges to the back and glue them down.  This gives the cleanest edge - but you can also simply trim the tissue to the edge of the cardstock.

I added a large clear rhinestone brad to the center of the medallion, and added some pearlized highlights to the medallion with Glass Effect Gel by Viva.  (But you could reproduce this look by mixing some Frost White Shimmer Paint mixed with Crystal Effects, and applying small drops with a paper piercer or end of a paintbrush.)

The saying was from Penny Black, stamped after the piece was thoroughly dry, wtih StazOn Jet Black ink.  After everything was complete, I mounted the whole on a piece of Bermuda Bay cardstock, trimmed 1/8" larger all around.

For all of the months, I created a table template in Word, and printed each month out on Whisper White cardstock.

March:  out like a lion, in like a lamb.  Let's hope so!!

Live and Learn

OK- this is another one of my posts where I confess my mistakes.  Hopefully, as I live and learn, you can too!

About one year ago, I was playing with Petal Pots from Create & Treasure.  I used crackle glaze over a dark green base, and put on a top coat of a Jacquard Lumiere paint in gold.  Then, I over stamped with StazOn solvent-based ink in Forest Green.  Finally, I added some highlights in the bight green Citrine color of Lumiere.

This is what it looked like last year:

The other day, I pulled it out of my inventory to take it to an event as an example of one of the many things you can do with rubber stamping. 

Much to my surprise, this is what it looks like now:

 

Close up of one side.

The dark green StazOn ink has faded to a golden brown color.  It's either because this color has no particular staying power, or it's due to some kind of interaction with the Jacquard paint.  I have never seen StazOn fade like this before, but I have mostly used black.

The good news is that it still looks okay in real-life.  Phew!  At the same time, I am glad this is not something I had given as a gift!!  Next time, I would stamp with a dark colored acrylic paint on top of the Lumiere if I want to be sure it holds its color over time.

But, now I know, and so do you!

Keep creating!

 
 
 

Stamping 101 - Stippling

Next in the Stamping 101 series is a lovely background technique:  stippling.

This is a simple but effective technique for filling in your backgrounds with any color of your choice.  Depending on which technique you choose, and how much color you apply, it can take on the look of a soft watercolor wash, or be more intense, like an impressionistic painting.

Stipple brushes are dense, round brushes with a lightly curved top and a long handle.  It is good to buy a set of them, because you can dedicate them to color families and not worry about washing them in-between uses.  You can see mine, below, are quite stained from previous use with inks.  I have one for yellows and oranges, one for reds and pinks, and one for greens and blues. 

   

The first step is to pick up fresh color from an dye ink pad by swirling the brush against the pad surface.  The dye ink will dry almost immediately which is what you want for this technique.

You then have two choices for how to apply the color:  you can swirl the color on, or you can pounce it.  Each results in a different look. n Swirling gives a very soft, blended appearance.  Pouncing results in more intense pinpoints of color.

For swirling, start off your surface, on some scrap paper.  This let's you avoid an overly intense application of color at the start.  Start swirling and moving your brush onto your surface.

Keep swirling until you have the intensity of color that you desire.

Here, I am using Pacific Point ink from Stampin' Up!, which is a saturated, medium blue shade.

For pouncing, load up your brush with ink, and then start bouncing it up and down on your cardstock surface.  Move it around as you pounce to help control how much color you are applying.  You can always go over a previous application to make it darker.  But, like adding salt to food, you can't remove it once it's there!

In this photo, the pounced application is in the center, and the swirled application is on the upper right.

This photo shows the same two techniques using a paler shade of blue, Baja Breeze.

And finally, you can mix colors.  This photo shows Pacific Point with the addition of Regal Rose (on the left).  You can see how the two colors blend softly.

And that's it!  A simple but beautiful technique to fill in with color.  Play around with it so you can get a feeling for how much pressure you want to apply with the two techniques, and for the various effects you get with different colors.

Below is a finished project in which I used Sage Shadow, Bashful Blue, and Almost Amethyst to fill in the background.  You can see the whole project by clicking here.

Have fun with this technique, and let me know how it goes for you!

Comparing Die Cut Machines

If you are considering purchasing a die cut machine, check out a comparison of four machines that I wrote for Craft Critique.  You can read the whole article here.

In the article, I compared my personal experience with the Spellbinders Wizard, the Cuttelbug from ProvoCraft, the BigShot by Sizzix, and the Cricut Expression (a digital cutter) by ProvoCraft.

My overall recommendation?  The BigShot. 

• It works easily and well
• it is sturdy and stable during use
• it has a Multi-Purpose Platform which makes it easy to figure out which mats to use with which dies
• it cuts all manner of materials, AND
• it embosses. 

But read the whole article to see if you agree!

Stamping 101 - The Polished Stone Technique

This is a great technique for backgrounds.  The name "Polished Stone" comes from the final appearance:  it can look like a piece of polished granite or marble or turquoise or malachite (you get the idea!), depending on the colors you choose.  And it is done on glossy surfaces, so it has a shiny, "hard" sort of look to it.  You can use alcohol inks in re-inker bottles, or you can use dye ink refill bottles together with rubbing alcohol.   On the card above, a resist technique was used in addition to the Polished Stone background.  First, I stamped my image in Versamark ink on glossy white cardstock, and then I embossed with clear powder.  The Polished Stone technique was one on top of this.  The embossed image resists the inks, and you get a beautiful white image popping out.

To create the look, choose two or three colors of ink (alcohol or dye ink) in reinker bottles.

Choose compatible ink colors- colors close to each other on the color wheel work best. because they blend with each other.  (If you use colors opposite each other on the color wheel, you will get muddy, unattractive color.) 

 

The instructions here are for dye inks plus rubbing alcohol.  (If you use alcohol inks, you don't need the additional rubbing alcohol, but you might want to use a blender fluid of the same brand as your inks.)  You will need to purchase Rubbing Alcohol and cotton balls from your local pharmacy. 

 

The technique only works on glossy cardstock, or on non-porous surfaces, such as dominoes.  Glossy cardstock has a finish to it which prevents the ink from penetrating the surface, and thus allows the ink to flow and mix before drying. 

 

Take a cotton ball, and saturate it with rubbing alcohol.  (You might want to put on a latex glove for this part, too!)  Take your two or three dye Ink refills (here, I used Tempting Turquoise and Brilliant Blue) and generously dot the surface of the cotton ball with each color.  The colors should be right next to each other on the cotton ball. 

Now, pounce the cotton ball on the glossy cardstock, turning it slightly with each pounce to vary the position of each color.  Poune, pounce, pounce, all over until you are happy with how it looks.  You can refill the cotton ball with alcohol and ink if you need to. You can pounce over previously colored area as well with fresh ink and alcohol to reactivate it and make it move.

 

 

   

If you use the resist technique, you can give your embossed image a little blast with your heat gun when you are done pounging on your color.  This will evaporate any remaining ink over the embossing, and will make the image pop even more.

The above examples were made using two colors of dye ink, plus rubbing alcohol.  More examples are shown below, using alcohol ink (either Adirondack or the Pinata brand).  You can also add a dot of metallic color with a Krylon leaving pen.  To do this, place the pen tip directly on the card stock, and press down until you leave a little puddle.  Then start pouncing to move the metallic ink around with your colors.  I find this technique works best with alcohol inks.

 Above: WIld Plum, Denim and Eggplant inks with Gold Krylon

 

  Above:  Denim, Lettuce, and Stream inks with Silver Krylon

 

  Above:  Denim, Lettuce and Stream (with less Lettuce) inks and Gold Krlyon

 

Above: Butterscoth, Terra Cotta and Espresso inks with Gold Krylon

Aren't they beautiful?!?  As with many techniques, once you get started, you dont' want to stop.  Some afternoon, sit down at your crafting table, and just play with different combinations of colors on glossy cardstock.  When you find ones you like, cover an entire sheet of cardstock.  Keep it on hand for when you need just the right background for your next project.

And, keep creating!

Quick Tips

• Want to have a rubber stamp made?  Check this out.
  
• Acrylic versus rubber stamps - Which one should you buy?  Learn more here.
  
• What's my favorite tool for embellishing? 
  
• Trouble threading fibers or ribbons through beads?  Here is a cool trick!
  
• Don't use baby wipes to clean your stamps.  Why?  Find out here.
  
• Read "All About Ink" here - tips on the best ink to use for each surface.
  
• Read "All About Paper and Cardstock" here-
  
• And if you want to locate a local stamp or scrap store in New England, check out this listing!

Stamping 101 - Make Your Own Marker

This is a simple trick, but really handy if you want a marker in a particular color.  I have used it to make a set of markers from Stampin' Up!'s new batch of InColors that come out every year. 

First, start with a plain, unused blender pen and a bottle if ink refill in the color of your choice.

The blender pens from Stampin' Up! come three to a package, with a tip on both ends.  So one package will allow you to make a set of InColor markers.







Uncap the refill bottle, and invert it, with the tip of the pen snugged into the opening of the bottle.  GENTLY squeeze the refill.  You will see the ink starting to flow into the tip.

Keep gently squeezing to push more ink into the pen.  When you see a bead of ink build up on the pen tip, stop and wait.  Once that bead is absorbed, you can start again.

You can keep gently applying more ink until it does not appear to be taking any more - it takes a long time for new bead of ink to be absorbed. 

And that's it!!  Really!!  Oh- don't forget to put a label on your marker, because the tip color generally does not look like the final ink color. 

You can use your new marker like you would any other.  But you may find that you have to reapply ink fairly frequently.  At least that's been my experience.

I've only ever tried this with dye ink- not yet with a permanent ink refill.  If you've tried permanent ink in this way to make your own marker, I'd love to hear it! 

Stamping 101: Direct to Rubber

Here's another quick technique for you to add to your repertoir. It's great to use when you want different parts of your stamp image to be different colors.  For example, the image is a flower, and you want the petals of the flower to be red, and the stem and leaves to be green.

You can also use diffent media for your source of color.  Here, I will show you two: markers (such as the Stampin' Write Marker from Stampin' Up!), and the beautiful Twinkling H2O watercolors.  You can also color directly on the rubber with watercolor crayons.

As always, you can double-click on any of the pictures to see and enlarged version in a new window.

This technique is easy, easy, easy!!  Just color with your marker, directly on the rubber of the stamp.  Apply your chosen color to the area of the image where you want it.  Then use another marker to apply your second color to another area. 

Before you stamp your image, hold the inked stamp close to your mouth, and "huff", as if you were blowing out a candle.  The moisture from your breath helps to "re-activate" the inks, even the one that you applied first.

 

This particular leaf stamp is from the "With Gratitude" set by Stampin' Up!.  The leaf on the left was colored only with Always Artichoke.  The leaf on the right was colored with Always Artichoke, Really Rust, and More Mustard.

This is a variation on the same theme.  If you ink your stamp, and then get it more wet than simply with your breath, you can create an image that resembles watercolor painting.

Start by applying your inks directly to the stamp, as described above.  This particular stamp is perfect for this technique, as it is a blocky image with lots of rubber to ink.  It is from the now retired "Autumn Fest" stamp set from Stampin' Up!

 

When you have finished inking, take a small spray bottle that yields a fine mist, and mist the surface of your inked stamp.  You want to hold the spray about 12 inches from your stamp.  Play around with how many sprays you apply.  The more wet, the more the inks will run and blend.

This image was made by inking the stamp with Old Olive, Really Rust, and Chocolate Chip, and spraying twice with water prior to stamping on Old Olive cardstock.

You can get a similar effect using Watercolor Crayons directly on the rubber, instead of markers.  Color, spray, and stamp, just as described above.

 

This is a second stamp from "Autumn Fest" on which I painted Twinkling H2O watercolors.  I used three different colors, a green, a gold and a rust.  As you can see, the paint should not be too runny.

And you don't need an additional spray before stamping.  Just paint, and stamp.

 

The leaf on the left is the one that I painted, above, with the three colors.  The one on the right was painted with only the green.

And there you have it, another technique, with lots of variations, to add to your bag of tricks and enjoy!

Keep creating!

 

Stamping 101 - Using a stamp positioner

I'm launching a new educational series called Stamping 101.  OKay, I know, it's not very original.  But it is descriptive:  Periodically I will write short articles about the basics of rubber stamping and how to use the tools that are available to us.  The first one was the use of Stamping Wheels, which you can see by clicking here.  I'll keep 'em coming, and you'll be able to find them all by selecting the "Stamping 101" category.

So, what's today's lesson?  The use of a stamp positioner, which Stampin' Up! calls the Stamp-a-ma-jig.  It's a simple and indispensable tool for placing images exactly where you want them to be.  WIth traditional rubber stamps, both the rubber and the wood mount get in the way of seeing exactly where the image will land on your artwork.  And if you mount your own stamps, as with Stampin' Up!, no matter how hard you try, it is really difficult to assure that the rubber is perfectly aligned with the index (the picture) on the other side of the wood mount.  The Stamp-a-ma-jig gets around these issues and allows you to place your images exactly where you want them.

The Stamp-a-ma-jig a simple two piece tool:  a plastic handle positioner, and an "image sheet" of translucent plastic.  See the picture below.  (I put a black cutting mat behind the tools to try to get them to photograph a little better.)

The first step is to place the image sheet in the corner of the black postioner.

Ink up your stamp and place it in the same corner of the black positioner, stamping the image on the plastic sheet.

                               

Now, take the plastic sheet and place it over the artwork.  Since you can see through the plastic, you can see exactly where the new stamped image is going to land.  Play with it until the image is exactly where you want it.

Holding the sheet and your artwork steady, place the black positioner handle on the same corner of the image sheet that you originally used to stamp the image.

Hold the black handle in place, and remove the image sheet.  Be careful that you don't move the artwork underneath!  If you do, then take a few seconds to repeat the last two steps.  Re-ink your stamp, place it in the corner of the black positioner, and stamp your image with confidence!

Voila!  A perfectly placed image! 

You can repeat with the steps with the same image on the image sheet (if, for example, you are making lots of holiday cards).  Or you can easily wipe the image off the image sheet, and be ready for the next placement.

Once you've used the Stamp-a-ma-jig a couple of times, you'll find it quick and easy.  I've come to rely on mine in all kinds of situations.  Two-step stamping is an obvious one, where you want to precisely line up the two images for the best results.  But I also find it helpful to stamp words and sentiments, assuring that the straight lines of the words are parallel with the edges of your card or other pieces in the artwork.  And it's really helpful when you are using masking, and want to carefully place each subsequent image.

Things to remember:

• Make sure the image sheet is tucked squarely into the corner of the black positioner.  Otherwise, you are losing the advantage of the rigid corner, which is what lines everything up.

• Similarly, make sure your stamp is tucked into the corner of the black positioner, when stamping on both the image sheet and on your artwork.

• If you are adding 3-D embellishments to your art, you want to think about the order of application.  Some embellishments can get in the way of the black positioner, and you lose your advantage.  Use the positioner before applying embellishements whenever possible.

• The ink will not dry quickly on the image sheet.  So be careful when handling it so you don't smudge your image and get ink on your fingers that can ruin your artwork.

The Stamp-a-ma-jig retails for $11.95 with Stampin' Up!.  It's a great investment.  Keep it handy at your stamping' station, and you'll find yourself reaching for it over and over and over and over again!!

More Masking Techniques

Back in June I attended the Heirloom Productions Rubber Stamp Festival in Springfield, MA, and took part in the Master Classes that were offered on Friday evening.  I highlighted one of the classes here previously:  Darlene Domel of Stampland taught us techniques for using Eclipse Strips in a masking technique.

So recently, I decided to do a product review for Craft Critique on the Eclipse Strips, using what I learned from Darlene.  You can check out the product review, and a short tutorial on how to use Eclipse Strips by clicking here.  (BTW- I really like the product!)

These are two cards that resulted from my experimentation.  They are variation on a theme, using detailed leaf stamps from Stampland, an image of a woman's face (don't remember where this is from!), stippling, rainbow ink pads, and Eclipse Strips.

This first card is the one that I detailed over on Craft Critique; this is the finished image of the card.  I used Stampin' Up! dye ink pads in Really Rust, Kiwi Kiss, Old Olive, and Ruby Red.  All of the images were stamped in Basic Black.  The images were stamped on glossy cardstock.  Then I trimmed it down, and edged it with a Basic Black marker.  I mounted this on More Mustard cardstock, which I then edged with my favorite tool, the Krylon Gold Leafing Pen.  Finally, the image was mounted on an Old Olive card.

I added an oak leaf punched out of Old Olive, to which I added some veins (carefully!) by hand with my Old Olive marker.This little embellishement was attached using Stampin' Dimensionals. 

This second card used a slightly different technique, which, honestly, I need to perfect a little more.  But I still like it!

For this card, the large oak leaf stamp was inked up with a Kaleidacolor rainbow inkpad from Tsukineko, "Autumn Leaves" (what else!).   I stamped the woman's face, using Basic Black for her eyes and nose, and a Real Red marker (direct to rubber) for her lips, on top of the leaf image. 

Then I made a mask by stamping the leaf onto the 6" wide Eclipse Strip.  I cut out the leaf- and placed it over the center image.  

And I proceeded to re-ink the leaf, and stamp it around the center image. 

Now, what I would do differently if I did it again, would be to overlap all of the leaf images.  But I didn't... And I did not like all of the white space.  SO, I took my stipple brush, and More Mustard ink, and dusted color over the entire card.  I still did not quite like it, so I masked EVERY leaf, and stippled Not Quite Navy into the emply space.

So, this was okay for a rescue job.  I added the words at the bottom left with Basic Black ink.  Then I trimmed the image and mounted it on Not Quite Navy.  I edged the dark blue cardstock with (what else?!?) my Krylon Gold Leaf Pen, the then mounted the whole image on a Really Rust card.

The final touch was a small glass leaf charm from my stash of embellishments.  (Artchix Studio?  SkyBluePink?) I attached it by gently poking two holes with a paper piercer, and tying it on with gold embroidery floss.  I dabbed a bit of white glue onto the knot of the floss to keep it from untying, and I attached the glass charm itself with some MIni-Glue Dots, since it was a little heavy.

It is so much fun to play with these techniques!  Have you done any masking or stippling lately?  Let me know what you think!

Keep creating!