Projects III

Domino Bracelet by Michele Kopack

 
Says Mish: "I used the travel-size dominos, drilling holes horizontally with a Dremel drill. I used Fresco inks to marble a very light background and also the sides, then I stamped the Shakespeare Heroines and William Shakespeare with Memories black. The sides are over-stamped with Brilliance copper using a marble-veined rubber stamp. Each layer was heat-set and a final coat of Krylon matte spray went on all the surfaces. I strung the dominos on soft-flex beading wire with size 4 mm. firepolish black glass beads and a toggle clasp."
Marbled Tile Coasters by Linda Reid



These gorgeous tiles make great coasters and lovely gifts. You can even hang one on a wall or incorporate then into a backsplash.
Directions:
Wipe off dust from tile surface.
Apply backgrond colors of your choice using Fresco/Colorbox Fluid chalks. With the "direct to tile" technique you can apply the color with your fingers, sponges or stipple brushes or simply wipe the pad on the tile.
Heat set.
Apply a thin coat of Mod Podge or decoupage medium with a brush, coating the tile. Allow to dry.
Using a light shade of the chalk pads, stamp a background image like a crackle design. Here we used stamps from the Beguiling Text stamp plate.
Stamp main image with StazOn or Document black ink. Heat set.
Seal with a final coat of Mod Podge, acrylic spray or Diamond Glaze.
If using as a coaster, you can put some cork dots on the bottom to protect the table.

Cracked Glass Heroines by Julie Kosolofski

To get this intriguing cracked glass effect, Julie first stamped each Shakespeare Heroine, coated it with four or five layers of UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel), put it in the fridge for a bit and then took it out and flexed it to crack it. To make the cracks stand out she quickly rubbed it with dye ink and then wiped off the excess.

Polymer Clay Ophelia Card by Janet Bell


Janet, who runs Creative Studio in New Zealand loves to
use Stampsmith stamps in clay. Here's her how to:

First, make the center piece from gold polymer clay.
This is very easy. Cut off a quarter of the block. Condition
by hand, queezing and folding for 10-15 mins.  Brush a ceramic tile
with cornflour and roll out the clay quite thin, but not so it buckles.
Add corn flour, lightly brushing and turning the clay to stop it sticking.
Lightly brush off  the excess powder. 
Take the small Ophelia stamp, ink her up well
with Ancient Page coal black or other dye ink. (Better still, brayer the
image.)  Place the stamp on the clay and push very
gently until you feel it slightly biting in.  This is
a 3-D piece so you want the image to cut in a little.
Leave to dry.  You can hurry this process by gently
waving your heat gun over it for 5-10 seconds
every 5 minutes.  Place a shapelet template over the
Ophelia stamping and decide which way looks
best.  Take a very sharp craft knife and SLOWLY,
holding the knife vertically slice around the shapelet.
Pull away the excess clay  slowly to reveal heart shape.
Add some microbeadz or other embellishments.
You will not need to remove the piece of the  ceramic
tile as it will go straight into the oven as is.  Bake
according to manufacturer's directions.  As it is a thin
piece err on the side of shorter time,  about 20 minutes.
To make the card itself, start with making the center
piece so the Ophelia heart will fit, plus you will be
able to see the punch-outs in the middle of each side.
This is foam-layered onto the stamped floral background, which
was stamped in Adronidack lettuce. Add feather.
Finally, glue the clay centerpiece in the middle.

Ophelia CD Clock by Laura McKeag


Items needed: Clock Kit, 2 CDs, Card Stock, Lumiere Paints, Silver Leafing Pen,
Puzzle Pieces, E600 Adhesive, Rubber Stamps, Embossing Heat Tool.
How-to: Sponge Lumiere paints on one of the cds. Completely cover it so you cannot see any of the cd.  Heat-set just a bit.  Stamp fern image with black Brillance ink and heat-set again.  Take the 2nd Cd, heat it with the heat gun until you can cut it without breaking.  (This can be tricky but, with practice it becomes easier). Cut the second cd into two one-quarter moon slices.  Stamp fern on the pieces again with black Brillance and heat set.  Stamp Ophelia on beige card stock and color with coordinating Cats eyes ink and cut her out.  Paint puzzle pieces with white acrylic.  Sponge on the same Cats eyes colors.  Stamp images. Emboss with clear embossing powder.  Arrange the pieces on the cd and glue them with a thin layer of E6000.  Place the one-quarter moon shapes behind and glue them also.  Take your clock pieces and disassemble them, and add  a square piece of cardstock the size of the clock's housing between the clock's housing and the cd (where the batteries go).  Paint the little bit that is going to show through the cd hole.  Put your hole for the clock pieces through the cardstock and assemble the rest of the clock. Tighten it up and set the time. For finishing touches add stickles to Ophelia and silver leafing pen around the edges of the cd.

Ophelia Puzzle Piece Ornament by Elaine Akers

Here's how Elaine created her ornament:
Take a new or used large-sized child's puzzle piece. If you are going to use it for a tag or ornament punch a hole before you start in the top part of the puzzle piece.
Stamp the puzzle piece. The puzzle I used already had a white backing, and so I didn't have to paint the back side. I just stamped with Memories ink and then colored with Marvy markers. Make a mask for Ophelia and stamp a background. Heat set the ink.
Then you can spray with a matte finish, or coat with clear embossing ink, and then give several coats of clear UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel) and add some beads while the UTEE is still hot.
Or just leave as is, but I would probably color with colored pencil if I wasn't going to seal the finished piece.
Use Krylon leafing pen around the edge of the puzzle piece. Thread cording through to hang. You can also use the finished pieces on a page in a altered book.

Or...glue a photocopied scan of a old photo to the puzzle piece with a UHU glue stick. Glue the puzzle piece and the back side of the paper. Press onto puzzle piece.
Cut off the excess paper, and then trim closely with a exacto knife.
I use laser paperweight paper for color copied scans.
You can use wooden puzzle pieces, and coat with Envirotex to make a key chain.
You can find many uses for the puzzle pieces: magnets, pins, tags, ornaments, seating placements, embellishment for cards, shower favors.
It's a great, inexpensive project to do with children too.

Shakespeare Heroines Grid Card by Elinor Jensen

Elinor's directions: Titania is the main image. (Ophelia gets so much press!) I blocked off a center square with post-it notes to reduce the size of the image and stamped. For the grid lines, I laid the edge of a transparency sheet along the sides of the Titatina image. I find that using a piece of transparency allows perfect placement and the sponge slips easily. I use a circular sponge with the round edges - sort of pinch the side of the sponge, grab some ink, and dab it along the edge; I sponged four grid lines around the central image to the edges of the cardstock. I blocked off each square with Post-it notes before stamping the other heroines. I use a stamp positioner - it's perfect to help decide stamp placement. I filled in two remaining sqares with miscellaneous images - and used flowers that I have dried with a microwave flower press. When finished, I shaded the area around the images with Archival Sepia and A.P. Stone Gray. Fresco Indigo Velvet was used for the heroine images and Archival Sepia and Ancient Page Stone Gray for the grid lines.

Heroine pins by Tina Shoaga

The main images are on shrink plastic stamped in Brilliance inks and colored with chalks. The frame is black polymer clay imprinted with a stamp and
antiqued with rub-ons. A coat of Diamond Glaze at the end adds shine.

Ophelia Domino Accordion Book by Lori Woodbridge

Lori used beige Brilliance ink to give a base color to the dominos and then stippled on pearl turquoise Lumiere paint. She sealed it with clear nail polish, adding accents of rhinestones and glitter.

Alphabet Card in a Box by Susan Sawn (shown with daughter Jacki)


Supplies needed:
    Alphabet stamps from The Stampsmith
    Small jewelry-type box with removable cover (3 ½ x 3 ½)
    Dye inks
    White/off-white cardstock
    Layering cardstock in your choice of colors
    Double-sided tape or glue stick
    Ribbon
    Scissors
    Exacto knife and cutting mat

    Using white or off-white cardstock and dye inks, stamp two of each letter needed (ideas:  stamp the receiver's name; CONGRATS; Surprise!).
    Stamp coordinating design onto two pieces of 3" x 3" cardstock (for inside top and bottom of the box).
    Stamp coordinating design onto top and sides of box, if desired.  Insert a square stamp or piece of wood into the box to provide a flat surface to stamp on.  Designs can also be stamped onto sticker paper, which is then adhered to the box.  The bottom of the box can be used for address and postage if box will be sent through the mail.
    Trim stamped papers and layer with one or two colors of cardstock (can't be larger than 3 ¼" x 3 ¼" in order to fit in the box)
    With Exacto knife, cut a slit in the middle of the 3" x 3" stamped paper.  Slide one end of ribbon through the slit, and attach paper to the top of the box with tape or glue.
    Attach stamped letters back-to-back onto ribbon (e.g., for Susan you'd have 2 S's, 2 U's, 2 S's, 2 A's, 2 N's - attach the 2 S's together, the 2 U's together…) so the word is attached to the ribbon starting from the top of the box working to the bottom.
    Cut a slit in the middle of the bottom 3" x 3" stamped paper.  Slide the remaining end of the ribbon through the slip, and glue to the bottom of the box.

Here is a shirt that Lynn Williams made using the Iron-On transfer technique. Lynn learned it from Linda Reid.

Instructions, by Lynn Williams:
T-Shirt transfer technique (or canvas tote, apron or sweatshirt)
1. Prewash T-shirt and dry. Iron out wrinkles.
2.Plan your design on scrap paper first to plan your design, colors, and placement of stamps.
3. Cut the inkjet paper to the correct size, using the practice sheet as a guide.
4. Find the middle of the shirt…you can iron it in half and place a pin at the top to mark the center point. Place a cardboard shirt board inside the shirt.
5. Stamp onto iron-on inkjet transfer paper using dye inks and rubber stamps(for EDSP paper, stamp on the the WHITE side..NOT the GREEN side)…You can also stamp an “open image with black permanent ink and watercolor in the image.. or stipple on color. Trim around the design with scissors if desired, before ironing onto the shirt. (Lynn used Stampin' Up inks for this project.)
6. . Preheat shirt by ironing first, until warm.. Place transfer face down onto shirt
Iron onto T-shirt following directions in the package.
(I used "linen" setting ..ironed for 3 min.)
7. . Wait until cool to pull off paper…. This will give a shiny surface. If any part is not adhered replace paper and iron again.
TIP: Excellent quality transfer paper at: www.EDPS-NJ.com ..order the COLD transfer paper
I’ve found a big difference in the quality of transfer paper…get the best available to avoid headaches getting the paper to adhere. The thinner paper can cause problems adhering after washing too.
Washing: Turn garment inside out before washing and line dry or use cool dryer.
NB: avoid stamping bold letters or word stamps…they will transfer in reverse.
I have used French script lightly in the background without a problem however..
DESIGN TIPS
Study collage techniques. Some online collage sites:Nick Bantock art : www.griffinandsabine.com/, Dragonhome collage gallery: www.collage01/album_main.htm
Collaging a t-shirt design I like to use one larger stamp as a focal point…sometimes stamping on an angle adds interest.
“Masking” the central focal point and stamping over the edge of it makes it appear to be in the forefront…you can also stamp on the edges of the focal point image if desired.
Plan your colors ahead of time…get your stamp pads ready in the desired colors and lay out the stamps you may possibly use. I suggest using three or at the most 4 colors that blend well.
I suggest you practice your design first on scrap paper before putting the final design on the transfer paper.

More Photos:


Marking the center of the shirt with a pin


Stamping the transfer paper


Ironing the transfer paper onto the shirt


Peeling back the transfer paper to reveal the masterpiece!


A closeup of Lynn's final result. The full sweatshirt can be seen at the top of this page once again.

Stampsmith stamps used in this project from these plates:
Art Nouveau 2 ~ Les Belles Femmes
Medieval Tile Designs on Ebay
Also see the Medieval Collection on The Stampsmith website

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