Stamp School: Mirror Stamping & Brayered Backgrounds!

Hi friends! Today I have a couple of fun techniques for you to try! This will either introduce you to new supplies or help you get more use out of the supplies you have.

Watch the video for the tutorial! I will list options to get the same or similar looks with other supplies below in case you don’t have what I used.

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Supplies:
Stamp (artneko)
Charm (artneko)

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Glossy cardstock (not photo paper)
Colored Cardstock
Kaliedacolor ink pad (this is a blank one, it is cheaper to buy this way and you can use the dye based reinkers you have)
Memento black inkpad
Soft rubber brayer
Gelli Plate

Substitutions!

Instead of using a gelli plate as a mirror stamp you can use a sheet of inexpensive rubber gasket from the hardware store, a piece of soft carving material like EZ cut, a large eraser from the dollar store, the reverse side of a fairly solid clear background stamp or you can actually buy a mirror stamp, they were popular many years ago and now they are coming back in style but if you have a gelli plate or any other of the mentioned items you don’t have to buy it!

If you don’t have a brayer you can use color dusters (or stippling brushes) or sponges to create the blended background. To do this add your yellow all over the glossy cardstock, then add orange on each side overlapping the yellow, make sure to leave pure yellow in the center. Then add read at the top and bottom. You might need to go over the entire panel with yellow again but do this last and then wash your sponge so you don’t contaminate your inkpad. You can also buff the cardstock with a tissue to help marry the colors.

A Warning!

Do not use photo paper when using a gelli plate as a mirror stamp, same goes for high quality photopolymer stamps, I once got photo paper permanently stuck to a nice clear stamp because it bonded too well to the glossy quick dry coating. It ruined the stamp and I don’t want anyone to ruin their expensive gelli plates.

I hope you enjoyed todays tutorial and think of many ways to use these techniques. The next time you are stamping a person or animal but wish it was facing the other way you can use the mirror technique and they next time you want a blended sunset you will know how. What will you try next? Let me know in the comments and happy crafting!

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