Art Journal Every Day: Guest Post: Stress Free Stamping with Melita Bloomer
October 21, 2016
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Hello! My name is Melita, and I’m super excited to be here today, sharing my top tips on stress free stamping. Have you ever created an art journal page that you love, but then slipped when trying to add some stamping? Or maybe you’ve been too scared to try to stamp on it, you know, just in case? I’ve got two little tricks to help you use stamps in your journal, without actually stamping in your journal. Let’s get started!
Supplies:
*Your favourite stamps
*Permanent ink such as Stazon or Archival
*White tissue paper – inexpensive, non-glossy tissue (NOT crepe)
*Book text – dictionary pages, sheet music etc.
*Scissors
*Waterbrush or paint brush
*Palette knife
*Gel medium
*Acrylic paints
Start by stamping your favourite images onto both the book text and tissue paper, making sure to leave room between each image. You’ll see that I cut it a bit fine with some of mine, but ideally an inch or so between is best. I like to do a bunch at a time to give me plenty to choose from, and a stash to pull from for further projects. Give your papers time to dry before moving on.
Use your scissors to separate the images on your book text. These can now be added to any project, creating a great focal point, without the risk of a smudged image from traditional stamping.
When it comes to the tissue paper, put your scissors aside and grab a clean paintbrush and water. I’m using my Sakura water brush, purely because it was close at hand. Using your wet brush, loosely trace around your image, being careful to leave a little room so as not to touch the edges. You want enough water to darken the tissue, so repeat your outline if needed. While still wet, gently tear along the water line to separate your stamped image from the sheet. Don’t worry if the edges appear jagged – this is what we want! Straight edges are our enemy here.
Prep your page with whatever colour, collage, mediums etc. you prefer. I’ve gone with acrylic paints, applied with a paintbrush and palette knife. Allow it to dry before our next step.
Using a palette knife, apply a thin layer of gel medium to your page. Add your tissue paper image, topping it with another thin layer of gel medium. Try not to overwork the area as you spread the gel. The tissue is quite delicate at this stage, so just be a bit gentle. During this step, you’ll see that the tissue becomes transparent, seeming to melt into the background, while your stamped image shows clearly. That’s why I love this technique – it looks just like you stamped directly onto your page! Again, allow to dry before continuing. I’m impatient, so I hit it with a blast from my heat tool.
Add more tissue images and paint to your page until you are happy with the background. Top it off with a focal image from your book text stash, add some journaling, and you are done!
I hope you’ve enjoyed my tips for stress free stamping. Tag me @melitabloomer on social media to share your creations – I would love to see what you make!
Happy arting!
Melita Bloomer is a mixed media artist from Melbourne, Australia. As an avid art journaler, Melita's work has been published in Somerset’s Art Journaling Magazine, as well as Somerset digital and also featured in A World of Artist Journal Pages by Dawn DeVries Sokol. Sharing her love of art, Melita teaches stamp carving, mixed media, and art journaling.
Site: http://melitabloomer.com
Instagram: http://instagram.com/melitabloomer
Twitter: http://twitter.com/melitabloomer
Facebook: http://facebook.com/melitabloomer
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/litabells