The Art of Stamping
Watercolor Stamping
Stamping with color is a great way to improve stamp designs and make your logbook really shine! After the thrill of multi-color stamps begins to wear off, a good way to stay creative is to try your hand at watercolor stamping. Watercolor stamps are not hard to do, but this technique does take a little longer to stamp so it is probably best attempted in a settled environment rather than on a trail. It can be performed on a trail, and instructions for that will be included as well; it is just easier to do watercolor stamping in a house, so this is a perfect rainy day activity when hitting the trail is out of the question.
- First, clean off your stamp. Your stamp may have old ink or crud on it from all your letterboxing adventures. When you try watercolor stamping, you'll want to start with a clean slate. Never scrub your stamp! Take a paper towel and wet it, then dab or softly wipe your stamp with it. Now stamp a couple of times on a dry paper towel. Repeat this process until your stamp is clean.
- Now, dry your stamp by leaving it stamp-side down on a dry nest of paper towels. Leave it there for a couple of minutes and go get some of the other supplies you'll need, like a small cup with water, some Q-Tips®, your markers, and some index cards.
- After your stamp is completely dry, pick out the colors you will use for your watercolor stamping. Remember that darker colors will overtake the lighter colors while deciding your colors.
- Now that you've chosen your colors, start with the lightest color hue from your selections. Simply draw right on your stamp with the marker, pay close attention to keeping in the area you want to color. Repeat this technique with the other markers, working from the lighter hues to the darker ones.
- Ok, now that you've colored your stamp with the markers, take your Q-Tip® and dip it into your small cup of water. Dab your Q-Tip® once or twice on a paper towel so that it isn't dripping, then take the Q-Tip® and gently dab it on your stamp. Turn the tip of the Q-Tip® so that you do not transfer the ink from one section of your stamp to another section. You may have to use more than one Q-Tip® for very precise watercolor stamping.
- Now that you've slightly coated the stamp in a layer of moisture, huff on the stamp and press down hard on your index card. Continue to press against your stamp for about 10 seconds, being careful not to slide the stamp around, and then lift the stamp up. You should have a watercolor image of your stamp. Experiment and enjoy!
Watercolor stamping can be done on the trail. Simply take the cap of your water bottle and pour a little water into the cap. That will keep you from getting ink into your water bottle and then having to drink multi-colored water on your way back from the letterbox!
Additional techniques can be incorporated into the watercolor stamping. For example, you can use the Q-Tip® on only one area of the stamp, you can apply the Q-Tip® in a pattern to create an effect (diagonal strokes, circular stoke), or you could apply a textured look to the watercolor by utilizing other objects to force different effects. Imagination is the only limit to this area of textured watercolor stamping, but some easy ways to begin would be to try dry-sponging the stamp with a dry Q-Tip® after you wet the stamp, applying something over the stamp while it is wet but before you stamp it (like plastic wrap, paper towel, sandpaper, etc), or any combination of the above. Please email me with questions, comments or experiences here.
