Oh I just love the new stamps from Anna Hewlett (Rosehart Studio) and
Powertex. They sold out in a flash on the Hochanda shows too. Here are a couple
of my card samples created for the show.
On this one I used the Hiero Heaven stamp. The background was stamped and
embossed with clear or gold embossing powders onto the black card. The vintage
papers were created by stamping and colouring with Distress Inks (Scattered
Straw, Vintage Photo and Peeled Paint).
On this one I created the background by stamping with black archival ink onto
craft card and colouring with pencils (they gave a nice chalky effect).
I created the gold embellishments using a Soft Form Relief Paste (Pebeo). I
inked the Hiero Heaven and Scarabella stamps with archival black ink, spread
with the paste and left to dry for 48 hours before peeling away. Extra colour
was added to my scarab using acrylic paint.
No Powertex in these but I did have a little play:
Experiments:
This soft form paste stays flexible when dry so it can be curved around 3D
objects and can also be stitched into. Some of you may know me for my paper
crafting and textile art, so this is something I keep in my stash.
I have since had an experiment with using Powertex onto my stamp and leaving
that to dry. I did have a concern about using Powertex on my stamps at first.
Not that it would harm the rubber but I like to mount my stamps onto foam mount
for clean crisp stamping in my textile and paper crafting. I thought that the
Powertex might seep into the foam and harden it up ruining the cushion. I did a
couple of bench tests to try it out:
- I inked up part of the Heiro Heaven panel with Archival Ink and poured on
some Ivory
Powertex. Immediately it started reacting strangely with the ink. The outer
edges of the puddle started moving and swirling and lost their colour.
- I also poured some Powertex onto a non-inked area (although there was a bit
of residual dried ink on there).
- I mixed in a little Stone
Art into the Powertex, making a paste, and spread this onto an inked area.
This was more controllable than pouring liquid and there was no strange reaction
evident with the ink beneath.
- I also poured some Powertex over one of the smaller stamps, deliberately
spilling it over the sides and onto my foam mount.
Experiment results:
Similar to my usual texture paste it took 24-48 hours to dry fully. All the
test pieces worked really well and peeled away from the stamp really easily.
Residual dried on Powertex was easily removed with warm water and a nail brush.
The embellishments are quite stiff but remained flexible enough to curve around
if desired, particularly if warmed up in the hands or with a hair dryer.
The ink transferred really well giving a nice dark image into the
embellishment crevices, even the one that seemed to have a strange reaction with
the ink worked well.
The smaller stamp that I covered in Powertex also cleaned up easily and the
Powertex pulled away from the mount foam ok too, although I had to pull it away
gently as it hung onto the foam quite tightly.
If you use unmounted stamps then obviously there is no issue in covering them
with Powertex. I would say that if like me, you like to foam mount your stamps,
then I would recommend making a bit of a paste with Powertex plus
Stone Art or
3D
Sand and spread this over. It is much more controllable and you can keep it
away from the edges and foam mount more easily.
I hope that my experiments help with your own creative play.
