stamping with solid images

A big issue that a lot of stampers have with acrylic stamps is not having success with stamping with the solid image stamps. The ink coverage sometimes isn't good and so the image isn't solid when it's stamped on the cardstock. It's frustrating to stamp an image several times before you get the one that is just right. It wastes not only time, but cardstock as well! There are a few things that you can do to solve this problem and make your experiences stamping with solid images more successful. I pulled out a classic Papertrey Ink set, Butterfly Kisses, to share with you some solid image stamping tricks.

 

(click any of the pictures to see them larger.)

I stamped the solid image butterfly in Berry Sorbet on white cardstock. This is straight out of the case, I haven't done anything to the stamp before I stamped with it, besides use it on some previous projects.

 

When you first get your stamps, you need to remember that they are coming fresh from the manufacturer and that the surface has a finish on it. You need to break your stamp in or prime it. One easy way to do this is to rub an eraser over the surface area of the stamp. This primes your stamp surface to make it more accepting to ink. Instead of a slippery brand new acrylic surface, you have roughed it up a bit, giving it some tooth for the ink to cling to.

 

I stamped the solid butterfly after priming next to the first one. There is an improvement already! The butterfly is more crisp and there is much better ink coverage.

There are other methods of priming your stamps besides using an eraser. Some people suggest using a fine grit sandpaper or sanding block (use a very gentle touch!), scrub your stamps on a stamp scrubber cleaning pad, stamping your image several times on paper, or rubbing your stamp with textured cardstock or a paper bag. Depending on your preference, the image, and the stamp manufacturer you might want to experiment with a number of these methods.

Now, that second image is good, but there is another trick to make it even better...

 

Acrylic stamps don't have a cushion and so another thing to try is adding one underneath your project. I used a thick piece of fun foam, but you could also use a mouse pad or even a magazine for your cushion. Adding the cushion is going to help with solid image stamping, as well as help with achieving good results when stamping with larger images. It helps the cardstock have a little more give to press up to all of the areas on your image.

 

So take a look at my 3 samples. The top was stamping right out of the case, the second after I primed the stamp with an eraser, and the third was after priming and using a cushion under the cardstock. Click to see the picture larger and you can definitely see the improvement in quality with each image.

 

One more look at priming with one of the border images from my Beyond Basic Borders set with an eraser. This is a stick style eraser that I had. You can use an eraser on the top of a pencil or an art eraser.

 

Just one try stamping using a cushion under my project and I have a perfect, crisp image.

 

Successful stamping is going to lead to successful projects. Here, I am laying elements out to determine my layout.

 

And here is the finished card after adding a few more stamped elements, corner rounding, distressing, and tying on some True Black twill ribbon.

 

Give these few tricks a try the next time you pull your solid image stamps out for a project. They take just a extra minutes, but you will save time not having to restamp so many times and you will save on your supplies too. You will improve the quality of craftsmanship of your projects and be so much more successful with your solid image stamping!

I would love to see projects that you make using solid images using the tricks I shared on this post. Leave a link in the comment section below!

Thanks for stopping by today and happy solid image stamping!

 

Thank You Solid Butterfly Card

stamps: Butterfly Kisses, Little Lady, Beyond Basic Borders (Papertrey Ink)

ink: Berry Sorbet, True Black, Fresh Snow (Papertrey Ink)

cardstock: white, kraft (Papertrey Ink)

other: True Black twill (Papertrey Ink), corner rounder (EK Success), distresser (Stampin' Up!), dimensional