Techniques - Page 4

• Sand shrink plastic sheet before stamping using 300 grit sandpaper
• Stamp image with permanent ink, such as Staz-On
• Color with chalks (color will seem very light but intensifies as it shrinks)
• Punch 1/4" hole in top if you want to hang (you can't punch hole after shrinking)
• Trim shrink plastic close to image
• Use heat gun to shrink plastic. Don't bring heat source too close at first - warm entire piece
• As piece starts to shrink, move heat gun around to shrink evenly
• Piece will curl up and try to wrap itself into a ball! Turn off heat gun and pull any stuck edges apart, then continue heating. (Sometimes, I use the tip of a pencil to hold the piece down, but if you press too hard, the impression will remain in the finished piece)
• When piece seems uniformly shrunk, turn off heat gun and let cool (as soon as you turn off heat gun, you may press a wooden block on piece to prevent warping)
  
  I have also stamped successfully with pigment ink, but ink will stay wet until heated so you will have to color after it shrinks. You can use chalk, ink, markers, etc. Chalks may have to be sealed if added after shrinking.
  
  Although it can't be seen well in the third picture, I outlined the edge of the finished piece with an embossing pen and sprinkled with embossing powder; then heated to melt

  These are just the basics - for a lot of great information, visit Lucky Squirrel, makers of Shrink Plastic

• Tap a stiff-bristle paint brush onto your ink pad, then tap onto your paper
• Don't tap too hard or you'll get a blob of color
• This takes a little while to cover the paper so be patient

Tissue "Stamping"

I was trying to get distinct "dots" of color and sponging with acrylics blended the colors too much. I tried bubble wrap (which worked well), and a plastic scrubbie, but the tissue paper gave me exactly what I was looking for.

• Squirt some acrylic paint in a plastic pallette
• Crumble up a small piece of tissue paper (the kind you wrap gifts with) - use one piece for each color
• Dab tissue into paint, "stamp" on scrap paper to get rid of some of the paint, and dab onto your paper.
• Repeat with other colors
• The sample was done with watercolor paper but it works just as well on card stock.

• Using either laser or ink jet printer, print your image on text weight paper
• Tape a piece of tissue paper that's a little larger than your image (like you use to wrap gifts) over top of the image. Tape all four sides down
• Print image again and remove the tissue paper from the text paper.
• Apply a thin layer of Mod Podge to a CD and carefully lay the tissue paper down, smoothing surface
• Apply another thin layer of Mod Podge over top and let dry
• Trim edges
• Sponge with pigment inks and clear emboss 2-3 times

  This works well with dominos also, but I didn't clear emboss. I spread with Future Floor Finish. This only works on unbleached dominos. If you bleach the domino first, the FFF "eats away" at the tissue.

#1
• Fill in image with watercolor pencil
• Dip brush in little water, wipe off on paper towel, and touch brush to watercolor pencil
• Color will run a little; use brush to smooth

#2
• Draw small filled in square with watercolor pencil on paper
• Take clean brush, dip in water, wipe on paper towel, and "paint" water onto small portion of stamped image
• Take another brush, dip in water, wipe on paper towel and rub on watercolor square to pick up color
• Touch watercolor filled brush around the edge of wet stamped image,and color will run
• By putting color on the edge of the image, the darkest shade will appear there. You can use plain water on a brush to bring some of that color to the rest of the image, keeping the delicate shading characteristic of water colors.

• Crumble a piece of wax paper and straighten it out but leave lots of wrinkles
• Sandwich wax paper between two sheets of glossy paper (I cut one glossy card in half and used both halves)
• Iron (no steam) the waxed paper "sandwich."
• If you hold the paper up to the light, you can see the wax left on the surface. If not enough, repeat ironing.
• Stipple, sponge, or brayer color on card (must use dye ink as pigment will not dry on glossy paper)