Thursday, February 12, 2009

Rubber Stamping -- Making a Good Impression

While there are an infinite number of rubber stamp designs available, there are just a few simple tips and tricks to keep in mind when making a rubber stamped impression. This article should get you up to speed.
  • It is often easier, especially when working with larger stamps, to pick up the ink pad and apply it to the stamp, rather than pressing the stamp into the pad.
  • Small ink pads, such as the petals in the Color Box inks, can be used to color specific parts of your stamp in order to make a multicolored image (see photo of the chili pepper stamp and Color Box petal pad at right).
  • You can use felt tip brush markers to color directly on the stamp die image in one or more colors.
  • When blending more than one color on a stamp, always start with the lightest color ink first and progress to the darker colors.
  • Always stamp on a flat surface.
  • Always test your stamp on piece of scrap paper before attempting an image on your good paper.
  • Take care not to get ink on the areas of the stamp outside the design. Stamp corners often tend to want to pick up unwanted ink and these can cause unsightly blotches on your finished products.
  • Take care to press down with firm, even pressure when making a print. If your image comes out uneven or too light it probably means you didn't use even pressure, or your stamp wasn't evenly or sufficiently inked.
  • If your finished image is too thick or heavy you probably used too much pressure or too much in, or both.
  • If your stamp has large open areas, avoid getting ink in the large open area by using the edge of your stamp pad to tap ink onto the outside of the stamp outlines, rather than directly over the top.
  • Take care to lift the stamp directly up and off the page after making a print, any side to side movement can create a double or shadow image.
Rubber Stamping Projects
Click here for FabulousLiving.com's rubber stamping projects.

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