 |
 |
| This one is stamped on triple silk paper | this one is stamped on shiny photo glossy card |
Glossy paper/card
I recently managed to get hold of some great glossy paper, which is really good for making backgrounds with..... however, it isn't the best you can use for photo images, as the stamped images are NOT crystal clear, as with the bright glossy card I sell.
To illustrate that fact, I did a test, using a photo stamp (the hardest of all images to get a good impression of!) and Rangers Archival Sepia ink - my favourite for photo style stamps and the only one which really looks like authentic sepia.
Here are the results - I haven't reduced these images to thumbnails, as I wanted you to see the difference in the papers more clearly.
|
|
| This one is stamped on triple silk paper | this one is stamped on shiny photo glossy card |
As you can see - the first one (on Triple silk paper) would be acceptable, until you saw the second one, which is much clearer, crisper and more photo realistic. They're both scanned at the same resolution and are the same size.
Triple silk is, however, wonderful for making great backgrounds and for moving ink around on - the reason being that the ink doesn't dry immediately, so you have time to blend it. When you do stamp on it, please remember to heat set your ink or it WILL smudge!!
Here's a sample of a background created with Adirondack inks on Triple Silk, simply sponged on and blended.
This one is a similar technique, but is done with Vivid inks on photo glossy card and because of the fast drying properties of the card, I spritzed it with water before and after sponging on the inks.
HOW TO DO IT!
This is one of my favourite play time techniques - I love playing with inks!
Take some text stamps - for this we're more interested in the shape and texture of the words than what the stamps actually spell out, so look for nice designs - Calligraphy mats are nice, as are the Altered style text designs and words.
Ink up the stamps with Versamark ink (or Ranger Resist) and stamp carefully onto the glossy paper - be careful not to move, as stamps DO slip easily on glossy paper or acetate! Once you've stamped (you may have to remove the paper from the stamp, as it often sticks to it!) you will need to heat set the ink - use your heat tool and give it a quick blast.
Now comes the fun part. Get out a selection of colours of dye ink - it's best to use non permanent dye inks, as they don't dry quite as quickly. Just take an everyday common bath sponge (you can buy them cheaply at Wilkinson's or somewhere like that - or I use one of those foam balls that they sell for kids, though they are only available in spring and summer) and tear off a piece - as big or as small as you like. Then rub the sponge on your inkpad. Rub the ink over the paper - it's easier if you use a circular motion when you begin, then adapt it as you get more used to doing this. Add colour randomly, then change to another colour of ink. Using another piece of sponge (to avoid contamination) add more colour over the cardstock or paper. You can use as many colours as you like, but the samples above use only two colours.
If you're using the photo glossy card, then you'll need to spritz it with water (lightly) before you begin adding ink and you may need to spritz it again as the ink and water DO dry very quickly! With Triple silk, you don't need to do this.
Go back and add more of one of the colours you used earlier, if you like - the more ink you add and the greater the depth of colour, the more the Versamark 'resist' images will pop through. When finished, heat set or wait to dry naturally. You can also buff with kitchen towel, if you feel that the gloss has reduced by using water - it does work!
Now take the main images you want to stamp over your background and overstamp. If you're using one main image, then you can stamp in black or in one toning colour. If you're using several images (as in the first sample above) then use the same colours you sponged on to create the background, stamping once or twice in each colour. This adds texture to the overall effect and is very pleasing to the eye.
Any questions, please ask me!
More samples
