Thursday, November 30, 2017

Red Castle Texture Plate 1 and 2: Mail Art Envelopes by Judi Kauffman for The Queen’s Ink

I’m on a roll with the fabulous texture stamps from Red Castle, now available exclusively at The Queen’s Ink.


This time around it’s all about envelopes, that humble bit of paper ephemera meant to bring mail and then get tossed aside. Even as a child, no piece of mail left my hands unless it was adorned. I love sending something that feels special even before it’s opened. And like to think that the postal workers will get a kick out of Mail Art Envelopes, too.
Envelopes are such a good surface on which to experiment and play, a way to test color combinations and work out design strategies for other kinds of projects. And who cares if they’re imperfect? They’re going to get marked and bent by postal machinery along the way, becoming fodder for collage in the hands of those who like to keep unusual papers.



Care to join me?
You will need little in the way of time and supplies: Some inks, stamps, and inexpensive white envelopes; two steps, two or three minutes per envelope at most. (Shown – A7.)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Choose 3 inks in colors that please your eye. Stamp texture blocks, mixing and matching among the two sizes from Texture Plate 1 (smaller) and Texture Plate 2 (larger stamps). Overlap and combine as shown or as you please. Work on a BIG batch of envelopes. The goal is to end up with a dozen or so, maybe more! If you goof up, put a label over the offending area or tear it up to use for collage. Even if it ends up in the trash, at most you’ve wasted pennies and learned from what didn’t work.

TIP: Make sure to leave an area for writing the address info. You can put your return address on the back flap. Another option – decorate the back flap, too.

2. Smudge and sponge on more ink to create some soft areas of color over and around the stamping. Use ink straight from the inkpad at the edges of the envelopes to add strong streaks of bright, intense color.

You’re done! See how easy that was!

If you’ve previously worked with un-mounted rubber stamps, skip the tips that follow and scroll on down to the supply list.



TIPS FOR WORKING WITH UN-MOUNTED RUBBER STAMPS:

Red Castle stamps are sold by the sheet and need to be trimmed apart with sharp scissors before use. I recommend KAI scissors, sold at The Queen’s Ink. They are VERY sharp and must be kept away from children and used carefully by adults!

When trimming, slightly angle the scissors away from the image so you don’t under-cut – you want to leave slanted ‘shoulders’. No need to trim too closely because the stamps are deep etched and don’t pick up excess ink at the edges.

Next, temporarily mount the stamp on an acrylic block that is as close to the size of the stamp as possible. (Don’t put a 1” stamp onto a 5” block – too large a block can wobble.) Use Scotch 3M Poster Tape or any similar low-tack double-sided tape on the block itself. Put NOTHING on the back of the stamp. (Blocks are sold at The Queen’s Ink by the set or as single blocks.)

For perfect and repeat impressions, use the same tape on the ‘clear stamp’ side of a stamp platform for temporary mounting. (The tape can be removed, stored and re-used.)

For the above two methods, stamps can be immersed in water for clean-up since nothing is on the back of the rubber.

If you prefer, back each stamp with cling foam, use acrylic blocks or the ‘rubber stamp’ side of a stamp platform for temporary mounting.

Note: Stamp platforms won’t work for oversized sheets of paper, cardstock or gift wrap, or for stamping on clay or wood or tiles and other such objects, but they’re marvelous for cards, tags, ATCs, etc.

SUPPLIES:
  • Red Castle Texture Plate 1 and 2
  • Acrylic blocks
  • KAI scissors
  • 3 inkpads in coordinating colors
  • White envelopes (A7)
  • Round craft sponge

No comments:

Post a Comment