Photo Stamps - Tutorial

I spent some fun time playing with the photo stamps from Scrollworks and learning some techniques and tricks as well as making a few mistakes along the way. :)

There are samples in this post of various types of inks and paper to share with you to give you insight into how a photo stamp will appear depending on how you ink it, stamp it, type of ink and paper.

The first examples use everyday white cardstock. Georgia Pacific Image Plus

The image used for all the examples is the lovely Emily from Scrollworks. 

All images were stamped using the unmounted images on an acrylic block with tack and peel. Using with an EZmount or padding can make it easier to get sharper images.

First Row:

Image 1 was stamped by using a brayer to apply Versafine Black Onyx Pigment ink onto the stamp. Hold stamp on angle to verify enough ink has been applied. Stamp on cardstock. 

Image 2 was stamped directly onto the cardstock using Versafine Black Onyx pigment ink.

Image 3 was stamped by applying Versafine Black Onyx pigment ink to the stamp directly and then laying  the paper over the inked image. Brayer top of paper to apply ink to paper. 

The second row of images on the top all were inked up by applying the ink pad to the stamp and stamping directly on the paper.
Images in the order displayed left to right used the following inks Ranger Archival Ink Jet Black, Memento Black Tuxedo Dye Ink, and StazOn Jet Black ink.

StazOn and Ranger Archival Inks provided the sharpest images.

Matte Finish Paper from Marco's

The exact same inks, application of ink and stamping techniques are the same in this sample. The inks took to the matte finish paper beautifully.  The paper helped produce a much clearer and more beautiful image of the stamp. 

The too inky image was a mistake which can happen when inking multiple times without cleaning the stamps and also brayering too much ink onto the image.

Inking up notes: 

Applying excessive ink or an over juicy inkpad will get a very dark image when stamped. 

Clean the stamps after using.

For juicy inkpads - apply ink with the brayer to control the ink application on the stamp.

The images also looked lovely on a pattern paper background. 

Glossy cardstock with StazOn ink:

Now onto  bloopers and blunders...

I had a few failures along the way.  This lovely image is June and here are a few of my mistakes:

You can see if you don't ink the image properly or provide enough pressure while stamping  you are not going to get a great image. A touch of glitter on your stamp will also show up as black dots. (Don't ask how that happened. :)

Depending on the type of effect you want to achieve with your stamps you can select your paper and inks to fit the project. I had so many lovely Emily's laying on my desk that I decided to create something user her and share.

This image was stamped using StaZon and the matte finish paper. The image is also  lightly colored using watercolor pencils and a little water. She is framed by a Tattered Angels chipboard  Framed Font. The black die cuts are Spellbinders Medallion Fleur De Lis.

Hope the photo stamps tutorial is useful.

Have a Fab Friday!

Suzz