I know some people avoid solid stamps as they have issues getting a good impression from them when using dye based inks so I thought in my post today I'd share a couple of hints and tips to ensure you can get a quality image when using them.
Pigment inks will generally give a great impression every time with solid stamps as pigment ink doesn't "pool" even on the largest of solid areas. However, there are a couple of tricks you can do to get dye inks not to pool either. My favourite method is to use versamark (embossing) ink underneath the dye ink. Here's a couple of examples - the top is fresh out of the pack and you can see some areas are less inked than others - on the bottom one where I applied versamark before the yellow you can see its a much more solid image.
The one thing I want to point out is how important the "DIRTY" label on my versamark pad is. I have mistakenly grabbed my "clean" pad sooo many times when doing this technique and if I'm multi-stamping an image I don't bother cleaning it between stamping
which will ruin your versamark pad for clear embossing techniques (just ask me and Jill how many dirty versamark pads we own lol!) So my advice is to have one pad for clean techniques and one for this one where it doesn't matter if the pad gets dirty but label them so you don't mix them up!
Here's another example using a slightly darker ink which perhaps shows the difference a little better - I've also shown the difference of how the ink does and doesn't pool on the stamp.
It's my go-to technique for this kind of image and works for me every time. As I'd got the amazing new
Hello Dino set from Lil' Inker Designs out on my desk I thought it would be rude to not make a card....
I stamped all the dinosaurs in a random pattern on the base card using a variety of AlteNew ink cubes. I die cut a circle frame using the
Lawn Fawn Stitched Circle Frames die which was coloured with a yellow ink from the new AlteNew
Pocketful of Sunshine set. I stamped one more dino in the middle and finished with a sentiment - love all the puns in that set.
If you don't have versamark then there is another trick you try. All polymer stamps have a "coating" that is left behind during the manufacturing process, so if you remove that you find the ink pools far less. You can VERY GENTLY sand it away with a FINE emery board (or if that is too scary, a real rubber eraser does the trick too but takes a little longer) The trick is to only use one finger and keep the board really flat and gently rub it over the surface of the stamp. Wipe with a baby wipe or stamp shammy before stamping.
Here you can see the large solid image from the new floral fantasy set from AlteNew stamped in pale pink ink both fresh from the stamp set and below after sanding.
Again, I continued with the technique and made a card using the
Floral Fantasy set which I have to say is possibly my favourite so far of all the AlteNew layering florals - its very forgiving and the results are gorgeous!
I teamed it with the new die cut
"ever" word die from Lil' Inker Designs cut from gold mirri card - it is such a beautiful font and you can pair it with the
co-ordinating stamp set which gives you 10 different sentiment options for both before and after ever.
I hope you find a technique in there that works for you and you won't be put off by solid stamp designs in the future.
NEWS FROM THE STORE
- MFT are a little behind on shipping orders due to their retirement sale (they have retired around 380 products and we are working on adding them to our retirement section too - once they are gone they are gone so if you have older MFT products on your wishlist, grab them now or forever regret it) This means our order for the new release has not yet shipped (it normally ships the Friday before release day) As a result it is VERY unlikely we will have it in time to release on Wednesday morning. Watch our Facebook page for details of its arrival - we will get it online as quickly as we can once it arrives.
- Avery Elle's fabby Autumn/Winter release is coming up on the 10th August. They will start to show peeks of what is coming from tomorrow on their blog. Our order should be here in time for release day.
- The new release from Neat and Tangled is in transit.
- The latest release and some restocks from Winnie and Walter is also in transit. We still can't buy their dies or stencils so it's just stamps I'm afraid.
- Concord and 9th have a new release on the 9th (they release that date every month) but they don't ship to retailers until a couple of days after release date so we are always around a week or so behind them, but it will be coming!
- Mama Elephant who normally release on the 15th of every month, don't have a release in August as they always have a bigger release in September which is their birthday month. I've already ordered that and can't really say much other than you are going to LOVE it!
Right time for breakfast....
Catch you next week
Tara
