Stamping

This past weekend Estelle and I got togher for our monthly play date.  We picked stamping for this one. Anne couldn't join us but fortunately she left her collection of stamps so we could play! 

I had lots of new stamps that I wanted to play with. These are stamps that Anne and I bought in London from a vendor in Covent Garden. He said he collected hundreds of molds for stamps in the 80's and 90's when printing shops were going out of business. Anne has been buying a few each time she goes to London. Since it was my only trip I stocked up!

We also has these beautiful detailed stamps that Anne bought from Fred B. Mullett. You really need to check out his website. The stamps are beautiful.

I've done some stamping in the past but my results have always been a bit unreliable. So I started with a half hour or so of practice to determine the best surface, pressure and ink.

It's counterintuitive to me but I determined that the best surface for me is 2 layers of thin poly batting. I think this is Thermore. I expect that a single layer of cotton batting would work equally well. This explains some of my previous problems with stamping on a hard surface. 

I also created a cardboard jig that I could use to help me position stamps on note cards. The taped pieces create the holding area for the card. There's one on the bottom too. I use straight pins to position other pieces in the sides or bottom that helped me position the stamps.

Estelle stamped these pieces to use on some Pocketed Notebook Covers. I've never been able to get the really fine lined stamps to print on fabric but Estelle stuck at it and figured it out. She tried several paints and inks and discovered that screen printing ink works really well. She spread a thin layer of ink on a foam plate and stamped on the plat to pick up the ink. The trees at the bottom were done with the fine line tree stamp and the screen ink.

Then she tried the big fish and it worked great! She's going to have some very cool notebook covers.

I focused on note cards and I'll share those next week.

Comments

[Jeannie]

Beautiful stamps and results! I did some stamping on cloth this weekend, too. I used thickened dye and a foam roller. The trick really is getting just the right amount of dye on the stamp. I was telling the birds outside to hush so I could listen for that tacky sound. Your jig for the notecards was inspired!

[Cindy Is Crafty]

If you are doing something smaller a mouse pad is perfect. Or an open phone book. I love the tree stamp. So cool!

[Kit]

Cool!!!

(P.S. - there's an article in Quilting Arts this month about stamping, and it has some tips that may help further your goals. )

[Debra]

I love stamps and stamping but have not been patient enough to get a fine result with the smaller stamps. I can, however, stamp like a mad woman with the big chunky stamps.

[Marty Mason]

Wow....what a great array of stamps. Are you a stamp-aholic now?? I would be drunk with delight!

[elle]

Very helpful. Thanks, Vicki

[Ivory Spring]

Oh how neat. I hadn't known that one could stamp on fabrics!!! I learned something new today.

[Connie]

so nice, you've inspired me - I'm going to try the batting under the fabric