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DIY Mark Makers: Object from Around the House

We love all the beautiful stencils, stamps, drawing tools, and masks that can be purchased out there.  However, collecting them can get quite expensive (trust us on this one, heh-heh).  Also, there are times when we want our marks to be, well, a little less fabricated and a little more organic.  Then again, there are times when we are simply looking to make the odd mark.

Nothing beats a mark maker that was intended for something else (like our pizza cutters).  The objects that make those unique marks are worth their weight in gold!  Best of all, they are free because they are things we already own.  They're just waiting to be discovered from somewhere around the house!

WARNING:  If you do pull something from around the house to use in art making, be sure to keep it out of the kitchen and away from food preparation/consumption stations from then on.  Otherwise, it could be bad for your health. Many of our arty products can be toxic or are known in the state of California to cause cancer.  So, please be careful.

There are a variety of house-hold objects featured as drawing tools, masks, stencils, and stamps in our tutorial today, including a pizza cutter, mini knitting needle, key, silk flower, strainer for a drain, piece of rain gutter screening, orange juice can lids, buttons, basting brush, and more!  They serve so many other functions, but make the best marks...

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CALL to READERS:  Please show us your mark makers.  Leave us a comment with a link back to your own arts and crafts projects utilizing unconventional mark makers.  We'd love to see your creative pieces and learn about the objects you used to make them!

3 DIY Patterns via Stamping

Pattern is one of my favorite ways to create interest in backgrounds for my illustrated stories.  And, some of my favorite patterns arrive by stamping with a few beloved stamps and a variety of inks.  There is just something beautiful about stamping; the imperfections, the handmade quality of the technique, that something that gives each mark a sort of organic feel.  Whether it's for a collage, a scrapbooking layout, or an art journal page, I love stamping!  Naturally, this resulted in the following technique video that demonstrates how to create DIY patterns in three ways:

1. Basic pattern:  When each mark is lined up in rows and columns.
2. Basic offset pattern:  When the marks are offset from each other, row by row and column by column.
3. Organic pattern:  When there doesn't appear to be an obvious tile in the pattern -- no rows or columns.  It's as if the pattern might appear in nature.

Enjoy and happy stamping and creating!

Unmounted Stamp Storage/Organization Idea

When organizing my creative space, I was stumped by a big question:  How should I organize my unmounted stamps?  There were just so many possibilities.  I could:

• Adhere them to CD cases (Jackie does this and it works well for her).
• Mount them to hanging acrylic sheets like Samm Levitt.
• Organize them in a box as Christina has done.
• Make an acrylic book, like Renee.
• Store them in a jewelry-style box like Buzz and Bloom.
• Put them in a binder.

After stewing over it awhile, I decided to adopt two of the ideas:  Binder and box -- only, I used a basket instead of a box.  Then, I ordered a few more 12x12 American Crafts binders and went to work organizing my stamps by categories supporting my creative approach:

• In the basket, I place all of my Close to My Heart stamps.
• In the first album, I placed:
  
  • Letters/Numbers
  • Words
  • Spots (e.g., journal spots)
• In the other album, I placed:
  • Christmas themed stamps
  • Shapes (like circles, stars, squares, etc.)
  • Nature/Organic
  • Whimsical
  • Swirls

Finally, I went to work filling the binders by:

1. Mounting the stamps to transparencies (either pieces that came with the stamps, or left overs from other stamp packages).
2. Mounting the transparencies (stamp side out) to 12x12 card stock with Scrapbook Adhesives Mounting Squares.
3. Writing the manufacturer's name on the transparency with a Sharpie.
4. Placing no more than one piece of card stock into a page protector (to keep the weight to a minimum).

So far, I love this method of organizing my stamps.  When I'm looking for a specific style to enhance a page, the stamp is easy to find.  In addition, stamps are organized in such a way that it is easy to skim through and view them all.  I really enjoy this.  It's like looking at inspiring art captured in acrylic.  All in all, it's a great system for my creative process!

Three Ways to Use Stamps on Transparencies

Inkjet transparencies are a great thing to keep on hand for creative projects (my favorite are the Inkjet Transparencies by HP).  The inkjet-type of transparency takes ink quite well and lends itself to a variety of uses, like the ones pictured below.  You can make transparent overlays, use a transparency as a see through stencil (for perfect placement), and create your own transparent letters!

There's one thing to remember when it comes to inkjet transparencies, however.  If you can see the blue arrows on the top band, you need to flip the transparency over.  One side accepts ink, the other doesn't.  From then on, the only limit is your imagination!

TIP: I have found that Mini Glue Dots and 3M spray adhesive work great for adhering transparencies to just about any surface.

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Credits: The stamps used in this post were from Stampin' Up, Judi Kins, and All Night Media.  The ink was from Close to My Heart.  In addition, my cutters were from Marvy Uchida and QuicKuts.

Homemade Stamps

If your up for a little adventure, try making some homemade, grunge-style stamps.  You can use just about anything:  Thread, erasers, bubble wrap -- you name it!  I used Eraser Clay from Sculpey and some foam to create the stamps used on the following layout:

	I shaped the Sculpey and baked it according to product directions. (It takes only 10 minutes to bake!)
	I used cookie cutters for outlines for my foam.
	Then, I adhered my homemade stamps to my acrylic stamp block via some Tack 'N Peel. TIP: I already had Tack 'N Peel on one side of my acrylic block because it works great for unmounted rubber stamps, too.  Put the stickiest side on the block so that the peel side faces outward.

Finally, I placed a piece of foam under the stamping surface (under my cardstock) so that the stamps could press into the paper and leave their mark.

It was a lot of fun including homemade stamps in my project!

Stamping on Glass

I love the look of layering. It brings dimension, texture, and the unexpected to your art.

Recently I was framing a project and as it came together I felt that it needed something. Another layer perhaps? I thought about printing on a transparency and placing it over my project, but I really didn't feel like taking the whole project apart. What to do?

I decided to try stamping on the glass instead. The results were exactly what I was looking for. I stamped my images while the glass was still in the frame and it worked great for this project since I wasn't worried about perfect images. To ensure even consistent images I recommend taking the glass out of the frame before you stamp.

In the pictures below you can see the project before the glass was stamped on and after. It gave it the dimension that I was looking for and only took about 5 minutes to do.

After "playing around" with this project I spent some time figuring out the best products to use to get the results I would want for future projects. I tried four different types of ink and acrylic paint, here is what I discovered...

1. Pigment Ink gives you a rich color and dark image, but it will never dry on glass. The one benefit of never drying, you can wipe it off later if want to change your project. I would only recommend this ink on projects that won't get handled. I used it on my project above simply because I had the right color in pigment ink and I knew that it would be "erased" later.

2. Dye-based ink gives a much lighter image, but does not smear or wipe off as easily as the Pigment Ink. This ink is also not permanent on glass, after two weeks I could still rub it off.

3. Fabrico or Versacraft ink produces a light image like the dye-based ink. The one benefit to using this ink is that if you heat set, it will be permanent on glass. Without heat set it rubs off as easily as the dye-based inks.

4. Solvent ink stamps a dark solid permanent image. This ink is very thick and is designed to work on surfaces like glass. Because it is thick be careful when stamping on glass as the stamp likes to slide along the surface. You will also want to purchase a solvent ink cleaner to get this heavy ink off of your stamp completely.

5. Acrylic paint produces a light textured image. It will dry completely, but with a little water you can wipe it off later.

I encourage you to experiment with ink and glass. Walk around your home and look at the images you have framed, could they use a little dimension? Grab a frame and start playing. Use a non-permanent ink while you experiment which will give you an easy undo. Have fun and let us know how your projects turn out.

For more information about the variety of stamp pads available click here.