Reason 671 I Love Clear Stamps: Stretching Them

The time has come for yet another reason I love clear stamps.

And, friends, that would be you can stretch them like nobody’s business. Seriously, dude-ttes (and dudes, just in case there’s a few out there), you can. And the result is awesome.  🙂

Before I go into complete clear stamp gushing mode,  let me show you today’s card.

Hee, hee. See those butterflies?  Yep, those ones.

They were made with just one stamp from Technique Tuesday’s Boho Buzz set.

I used  the butterfly stamp two ways – stretched and not stretched.

If you have never stretched your clear stamps, here’s how.

Place your stamp on your block. Hold the stamp down on the block with a finger or two from one hand. Then, use a finger or two from the other hand to stretch the stamp out. Be sure to pat the stamp down to your block as your stretch it so it retains the stretched shape. Ink up your stamp and use it just like normal.

Depending on how detailed your stamp, you might a hard time getting a complete stamped image with your stretched out stamp. On the card here, it took me a couple times to get the red butterfly. My early images showed only the wings and not the body. My solution was to  set my paper on top of a mouse pad and to stand up when stamping the butterfly.  That combination resulted in a complete image.

Beware that you might have a hard time achieving this look with all your clear stamps.  I’ve found really bendy, flexible stamps work best. This is not a conclusive list, but some clear stamp manufacturers I’ve had good success with stretching their stamps are Technique Tuesday, Hero Arts, Pink Paislee, Stampendous! and October Afternoon. Those companies seem to make really bend-happy, stretch-happy stamps.  I tend to have a harder time stretching clear stamps from Autumn Leaves and Studio G. While it can be done, I’ve found it to be a lot harder.

Thanks for taking some time out of your day to stop by. I’ll be back tomorrow.