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You are welcome to copy any of my designs, as long as you do not take credit for them yourself. I am very happy for you to sell them. If I have used anyone else's design, I always try to give credit where it is due. If I have missed anything, please let me know and I will put things right.


This is intended to be mainly about my crafting stories, as a personal record of what I do. However, I interpret crafting quite widely, not just paper crafting but other things too. I have a butterfly mind and like to change from one thing to another depending on what I feel like on a given day - knitting, crochet, cross-stitch, cards, baking and several others, including my favourite right now, parchment, both traditional skills and Groovi, very relaxing and calming to do.

I have decided to put some structure into my blog so that each day will have something of a theme.
Monday- for Mindfulness; Tuesday - Tidy Up Day; Wednesday - What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday; Thursday - Technique and Tips; Friday - Finish Off Day; Saturday - Start Something New; Sunday - Anything Goes
These themes are not hard and fast and will be changed if I feel the need.

Thursday, 20 November 2014

Bespoke ink pads

Several people have asked for details of how to make the bespoke ink pads.  I could have done a few still shots but I could not do better than point you in the direction of the lady who taught me - Barbara Gray.  She just happens to have done a YouTube video on the technique from start to finish.  You can find this video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HQIiRCLY8I&list=PLmytW2NIfA_ZD8Cjcgb8NDyHTPKh-yn-y

When you have made your ink pad and finished your stamping, keep the pad in the zip lock bag for future use.  If it has dried out when you want to use it again, just spritz it with water a few times, and if it has gone too far, just re-ink it.  Over a period of time, the ink migrates across the whole pad.  This is perfectly normal and just softens the blends in your stamping.  

These little cards were stamped with another Clarity stamp, one of the clever corners, using the same ink pad.  As you can see, each one is slightly different, depending on where you place the stamp on the card.


Once you have made your ink pad, you can just keep stamping and produce several similar cards in a very short space of time, always a useful trick if you are short of time.

Just one thing, I think it is a technique for using with see through stamps.  I am not sure that rubber stamps would give such a good effect, although there may be ways round it.  Let me know.

2 comments:

Artatag said...

Such a fab idea and the results are stunning. I like Barbara Gray very much and this tip is awesome. Thank you so much!
Cheers
Gabriele 26

Shaz in Oz.CalligraphyCards said...

Maggie these are just stunning!!!!
... am taking wee peek around as have been very bad blogger last half of the year..
I have been unwell and seems just posting and managing a few visits was the best I could do.. Shaz in Oz.x