A few Stampscapes Scenes.

 I have made about a dozen of these scenes, but will blog them in small batches,as it will be a photo heavy post!



Stampscapes Rubber stamps are exactly what they sound like- stamps that create scenes- landscapes/seascapes/skyscapes. This link goes to the makers US website- Kevin Nakagawa- and this next link goes to the UK supplier.
Visit Kevins website for loads of picture inspiration, and he has a massive list of You Tube videos on all aspects of scenic stamping.





The stamps blend together seamlessly, so masking isn't required, and they can be arranged and combined in an almost endless variety of scenes.

   For all my scenes, they were first stamped out in Black Dye ink, and the colour added later, using the Colorbox stylus tools and dye based inks. Adirondacks, Distress, Marvy and Memento were all used to colour them. You could also use sponges or daubers, even brushes to add your colour, I bought the Stylus tool & tips as that's what I'd watched Kevin using.









Starting with the first picture, the top left card was stamped out using the following stamps:
 144F, Cabin with Fence,
149F, Waterside Bluff, Right,
196F Pine Tree and
244E, Tree Cluster.

The cabin was stamped first, then directly below it the Waterside Bluff, R. This also comes in an opposite image, Waterside Bluff Left.
Following that, the Tall Pine on the left was added, then the 'Bushes' were stamped, using just the top portion of the Tree Cluster.
Although I said there was no need for masking, by using a torn piece of paper towel as a 'mask', then stamping the Tree Cluster with just an upper portion of the image above the top edge of the paper towel, treetops can become bushes, or tall trees made shorter, and appear to be growing out of the grass.
 The colour is added in layers, starting with the lightest value of colour, then moving up to a mid tone, then finally your darkest tone. 3 colour values are often all that is needed.The water only used 2 blue shades, the sky, 3. Moving on to browns for the cabin and rocky edge of the Bluff line.

 Followed up with green tones for the grass, the added in some meadow flowers using gel pens. You could of course use coloured inks to stamp out your scene.



The second scene, top right, picture 1, shows how you can combine different images.




 The stamps used here are:
359G, Snowy Creek, stamped out first. Although it's called Snowy Creek, it can just as easily become a creek surrounded by grass, simply by how it's coloured.
 
Next comes 144F, Cabin with Fence again. It becomes a totally different scene to the first one, just by changing out one stamp.

 

Next addition is 251C, Sedge Filler, which is stamped out on both banks, to turn it into a grassy meadow, rather than a snowy scene. There are a number of grass 'filler' stamps in the range, and really help to bring a scene to life.

Next the addition of some trees, again using 244E, Tree Cluster, and added in exactly the same way as for the first scene.






















 Now the colour addition starts, and it is good to have some light- the white of the page- left in the sky, for a light source, and reflecting this on the ground/water in your scene.




Again, 3 values of blue were used in the sky and water. Then onto green for the grassy areas.

  A very pale green to start with, followed by a yellow green.

Then a slightly darker green was brought in,

 and then a quite dark one, all the time leaving some areas in the lighter shades, so that your scene has some depth.

 Finally some meadow flowers added again with gel pens, then a final bit of stamping, right at the front,068D, Reeds Large.

OK, final scene in this post. The longer scene uses a stamp called 049G, Lakeside Cove lge.

The image actually looks like this:
but I made it look the way it does by using a slightly longer piece of card,and not centring the image, but stamping them side by side. The 'Northern Lights' were created by streaking in some light green and purple/pink in the sky, then building up some blue layers on top. That was also reflected in the water. Brown added to the rocks, and stars created with white gel pen.

All the images were done on glossy cardstock, but matte coated works just as well. When the scenes were dry, they were sprayed with Artist Fixative, which helps to bring back the colour, as it does fade a little on drying.

All these scenes are now posted on my Stampscapes Gallery page, and all the stamps used in each image are listed next to the photo.

White Inkpads- The never ending search!

Right, so I know I did this sort of thing a while ago, probably a couple of years now, and since then I've acquired a few new whites. As you do.
 This is by the way of a bit of a side project, as it started out that I was going to recreate the card I made with Pauline last week, then I looked into the Black Magic technique  on Pinterest, and realised that it can also be done with White Pigment Ink, so I thought I'd do a side by side comparison, to see which gave the best effect, Gesso v Pigment Ink.
 Then I needed to see which of my whites would give the best coverage on black, and here we are with a blog post!
When I did the last try out, I think the only pads I had were the Hampton Arts, Studio G and Brilliance, besides the despised Staz-On White Opaque, and I believe I also embossed them with white detail powder. These ones are not heat embossed, so the colour is as it comes from the inkpad.

So here they are, and I've made the image extra large, so you can see them clearly. I've also split them down into rows, with a few words for each.

Tims Picket Fence shows up remarkably well I thought, but the middle two, Do-Crafts Artiste Palette and Ink It Up left a very pale imprint. The Adirondack Snowcap also produced a good print- when I realised it had a plastic cover over the inkpad!😀😀

 On the next row, I thought only the Versacolor White gave a poor image. By the way, the Colourbox Frost White is a VERY juicy pad- I had to clean off the stamp and try again, so a very light hand when inking up with this one.😁

The final two, and I did squeeze these on to the bottom of the card, as I'd used an offcut, but wanted to get them all on the same base, for comparison.
 Both these inkpads produced a good image, in my opinion. I'd be happy with either one.
 Could well be a case here of getting what you pay for, as the two worst performing were also both at the bottom end of the price range on inkpads, just a couple of pounds each.
My top three would be Memento Luxe, Brilliance Moonlight White and Colorbox Frost White,followed by Picket Fence,Hampton Arts & Studio G. Snowcap from Adirondack would be next, along with Versacolor, and finally Artists Palette and Ink It Up.

 By the way, a tip I picked up from a forum: When using a White inkpad for something like the Bokeh technique, where you are adding white ink to a still damp inked background- smoosh your white inkpad onto your craft mat, or put a little reinker on your mat, if you have it. Then work from that, thus saving your precious white inkpad from getting stained.