Better Backgrounds

I would like to share with you how I make my backgrounds a little better. I use to just press the ink pad all over the background and hope for the best. (Don't pay attention to the left end part of the B. I didn't press hard enough there, my mistake which can be fixed. I'll explain that at the bottom of this post). This background is ok but I wanted it a bit better.

What I do is ink up the image and then I come back in with an inked sponge and go over the whole thing. I continue to ink the sponge as I go too. I go over the entire image. This way I know the whole area has ink on it. Then stamp as usual with the rubber side up, your card stock on top and then a sheet of scrap paper over that and press down with your hands. Always keep one hand on the paper at all times or it will shift.

Ok, to repair that spot on the first image I will take my mask and lay it over the B matching up the edges and then I'll come in with an inked sponge and gently fill it in.

I fell upon this technique by accident. I had a word rubber stamp, I believe it was "The Legend of the Candy Cane. I tried and tried to get a clear copy of it but had no luck. I inked up my stamp pad so much that the "e's" filled in with ink. NOT pretty. SO I took a sponge and sopped up the wet ink and stamped the image onto a piece of card stock. It was the most crisp clear image I had ever done!

I published this post and the sponged B doesn't show up much different than the ink pad only one. Trust me on this one, it does look a LOT better.

There's also another tip for larger stamps that you have problems with the ink beading up on them. Take a regular block school eraser and go over the image. This will pick up any factory oils and allow the rubber to accept the ink better. Finger oils also make the ink bead up on the rubber so try to avoid touching the rubber as much as possible.