First, my basic supply list:
Whatever I'm going to stamp on - in these photos it's a piece of heavy, coarse canvas that already has some color on it
Paint - I used acrylics and latex house paint today
Stamps - today I used a vintage alphabet set
A flat surface to use as a palette
Sponge or brush
Gather your supplies. Today I combined acrylic paints and latex house paint. Mix colors until you have a good range to play with.
Get your stamps out - today I used an old alphabet set.
Note: if you don't have any stamps, no worries, use found objects to stamp!
Wedge shaped cosmetic sponges are great for getting the paint onto the stamps. Inexpensive foam brushes work fine, too.
I recycle styrofoam trays as my palette, or for a project with fewer colors I'll put my paints on clean lids from food containers. The ones from dairy products are usually white and work great!
Note 1: I'm working with heavy canvas which won't move around easily and there is no way the paint will migrate through the canvas, but if you are stamping onto a lighter weight fabric, it'd be prudent to put something underneath your fabric to protect your work surface.
Note 2: Some people find it helpful to lightly pad their stamping surface. A layer of felt, an old towel, a section of yesterday's newspaper, or even layered fabrics can provide a light cushion under your work. Avoid wrinkles in these under layers, or they might show up in your stamped image. Ask me how I discovered that one! My favorite messy work surface is a plain (no embossed pattern) flannel backed vinyl tablecloth from the dollar store.
Note 3: If your fabric decides to wiggle around, or gets 'stuck' to the painted stamp and pulls up when you lift your stamps, just tack it around the edges with small pieces of masking tape to hold it still. Pins work fine, too, they are just slower for me than masking tape. I'm all for quick and easy.
Gather together and/or mix a range of colors you like together. Here's what my tray looked like today as I got started. You can see some are more fluid than others. Who cares?
Use your sponge or brush to dab paint onto your stamp.
I love to mix the colors together on my stamps. Aren't these more fun than a solid color?
Yep, you're right - they're messy. Depending on your project, your stamps, and the look you're going for, you might have to be more careful, but with these deep stamps and my stiff canvas, it's not going to be a problem.
Oh, one of the coolest things about stamping on some fabrics is the weave pattern that you see on the stamp after you've stamped onto the cloth. Look, aren't these great? They show you how coarse my canvas is. They remind me of snake skin.
OK, so now a look at how this mixing of color and heavy canvas work together:
Depending on how much paint is on the stamp, how many colors of paint you put on the stamp, how much pressure you apply when stamping, and how coarse the weave of the fabric, you'll get a variety of results.
I love the slightly unpredictable nature of this process, and since the stamped text is just one part of the piece, I'm not interested in a perfect or even a predictable image. To me, there's not much fun in perfect images. I love surprises.
I think this variety of color and coverage makes this text much more interesting than a consistent color and layer, but, hey, if you prefer one color, go for it. There are no stamping or color police. Here's what my paint palette looked like near the end of my project:
One thing that almost always surprises me when I stamp text, is how often (or hardly ever) each letter is used. Sometimes, if I'm feeling lazy, I'll reword something so I use fewer letters. Sad isn't it? Anyway, time to clean up. Here's the tray of letters I used for this project:
I put a small amount of warm water in the tray. So little water that it's only touching the stamp image, not the wood handles. Jostle the tray around a bit and the paint softens and starts coming off.
While the rest of the stamps are still sitting in the water, start cleaning them one at a time.
After the first rinse, grab an old toothbrush, or fingernail brush, or something with bristles and give each stamp a quick cleaning. You'll have to pretend I have a hand free to brush the stamp. Although I've heard there is such a thing as a studio assistant, I've never had one, so I'm using my other hand to take this picture. Just work with me here, ok?
Cleanup is done and my little lovelies are left to thoroughly dry before I return them to the wooden tray where they live their happy and useful life.
Oh, wait, there's one other thing. I still had paint leftover on my palette. I was raised to never waste anything useful and I retained that lesson pretty well. Sometimes I decorate envelopes, sometimes I brush the leftover onto another fabric, sometimes I monoprint onto something. This time I put the leftover paints onto another piece of canvas that just happened to be within reach.
OK, that's it! Did I mention it's low tech? And totally fun? Let me know if you have any questions I didn't answer. Thanks!
