STAMPING WITHOUT INK...AT LEAST ON SOMETHING!

It's another Monday and time for a new challenge at Simon Says Stamp and Show.  This week's theme is Stamping Without Ink.  Stop by the blog and check out the really impressive pieces of art that my Design Team buddies have created for you this week!  

Hmmm...stamping with out ink.  Well, at least SOMETHING has to be stamped without ink.  My first thought was "paint".  So, I did do a little bit of paint stamping on my project but I also tried something I've never done before ... stamping with bleach.  I loved it!

Here is my finished project.  It is a Pocket Tag; suitable for an ATC or whatever small item you might want to stick in the pocket.

I recently purchased Artistic Outposts' Whimsical Melange stamp set and wanted to use it so badly.  I also had a very cute vintage winged girl stamp so I decided to combine the two and give this pocket tag a sort of butterfly or winged theme.. 

I began with a #8 manila tag and I inked the entire tag using Evergreen Bough, Squeezed Lemonade and Wild Honey Distress Stains.  Since I was going for a butterfly theme, I decided to use two of Kaisercraft's butterflies from their Tigerlilly Clear Stamp set.  But I didn't stamp them with ink!  I stamped them with bleach.

As I said, I've never done this before so I practiced a few times before stamping on my inked tag.  First, I got some paper towels and created about 4 layers of them.  Then I put them on a non porous plate and slowly poured straight bleach onto the paper towels.  When they were soaked enough that a little bleach was sitting on the plate, I knew I had enough.  I drained off the excess bleach because I didn't want the paper towels to be sopping wet.  Then I had a blot towel handy; incase I needed it to blot the bleached stamp before stamping on paper.  

I inked up two or three tags, making fairly dark backgrounds so that the bleached image would show better.  Then I attached a butterfly to an acrylic block and used the wet bleach paper towels like you would use an ink pad.  I found that, at least for me, I did better if I blotted the butterflies on the bleached paper towels and then gave the stamp a slight dab on a dry towel before stamping (to get rid of excess bleach).  Then I heat set the bleach so that it would not wick too much into the tag.  

  

Here is the background for my finished project.  I really like the stamping with bleach technique.  Once I sort of got the hang of it, it was easy and I really like the contrast and almost watercolor effect that the bleach does when it interacts with the water reactive Distress Inks.

Now it was time to finish my pocket tag! 

I stamped the vintage little winged girl stamp with a Pitch Paint Dabber.  
** Be sure to immediately clean your stamp afterwards when stamping with paint!

Then I created some luminous wings for my little girl using the technique I did to make the dragonfly wings on my Tape It Up box in September.  It's done with at least three layers of Fantasy Film, stamping with Permanent Ink on the top layer and then applying heat via an iron for at least 3 or 4 seconds.  Be sure to use parchment paper between the Fantasy Film and the iron or you will have a mess!

I colorized the little girl with watercolor pencils and then blended them using a Small Sakura Water Brush.  I cut her out and added the luminous wings rather than the paint stamped ones.  She is pop dotted onto the pocket for more dimension.

Next I used Coffee Archival Ink to stamp the rest of the images from Artistic Outpost's Melange for the tag.  

The piece on the bottom of my tag actually looks like a house on the Artistic Outpost Melange stamp.  I cut off the top and made it look more like an envelope flap.  

 

Then I colorized the pennants, the ruler and the little butterfly at the top of the tag with Broken China and Wild Honey Distress Inks and the Sakura Water Brush.  The pocket is attached to the tag using 1/8" Scor Tape on the sides and bottom.  

The "FLY" bunting at the top of the tag is stamped onto manila cardstock using Coffee Archival Ink.  I added a string of twine and pop dotted the pennants on top of it.

Finally, I added a touch of Perfect Gold Perfect Pearls Powder to the background, the butterfly, the bunting and the little girl's dress.  The little extra shimmer adds so much!

Now it's YOUR turn to create something that at least has one thing that is stamped with something besides ink.  Then enter it into our challenge.  You could be the lucky random winner of Simon Says Stamp's

Yes....$50.00 credit voucher.  You could also be honored by being selected as one of our TOP THREE entries for the week!  So, get those creative thinking caps on and get busy!

Here are the products available at Simon Says Stamp that were used in the creation of this project:

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