By Kay Tiedemann Yo u n gTips & Techniques

Watercolor paints andglossy papers might seem likestrange bedfellows—watercolorsdon’t usually soak into non-porous papers. But Judy Cantrelldoesn’t worry about breakingrules—she used watercolorcrayons to color a photographicimage after it was stamped onglossy paper, and the results arelovely.

“When anyone sees myphoto-type cards, they can’t be-lieve I use watercolor crayons,”Cantrell notes. “My secret: Usea clean stamp, brayer the imagewith waterproof ink on glossycardstock, let it dry overnight,watercolor, let dry, then polishthe image with a soft cloth.” Her favorite paper for this tech-nique is 10 pt. clay-coatedglossy cardstock.

DDiirreeccttiioonnss DDiirreeccttiioonnss 1) Place a cushiony pad,

such as a computer mouse pador a squishy plastic placemat, ona flat work space and lay a pieceof glossy cardstock onto thepadded surface. The extra squishof the pad under the paper willyield clearer results from de-tailed images, like photostamps.

2) Place a rubber stamp of a photographic image(Cantrell calls these “photostamps”) with the rubber side upon a flat table surface. (See “Tips” section on next page forhow to prepare the rubber for inking.)

3) Ink a rubber brayer by rolling it in one directionover an ink pad. Cantrell uses a Speedball brayer and water-proof permanent Archival black or sepia ink. Keep rollingthe brayer in the ink until it is well covered.

4) Roll the brayer in one direction onto the rubber pho-tostamp until it is well covered with ink.

5) Stamp the inked photostamp onto the paper. Pressthe stamp down with an even motion to make sure all linestouch the paper. Be careful not to rock the stamp. Cantrell

suggests leaving the stamp on the paper for ten to twentyseconds before carefully lifting it straight up and off. Setthe image aside to dry. For best results, allow the ink to dryovernight.

6) With a wet brush, swipe a very small amount of yel-low, orange, pink and several dabs of brown paint from wa-tercolor crayons onto the center of a pallet or plate. Adddroplets of water so that the paint has a runny consistency.Pick up more paint as needed to get the color desired for theface, arms, neck and hands of the photostamp image. Testthe color on a scrap of glossy paper.

Cantrell prefers to add color to the face in the imagefirst. If the image gets too wet as you paint, blot it with acotton cloth. Cantrell notes, “Actually I keep a cloth in onehand and the waterbrush in the other, blotting and adding

SSwweeeett SSmmiilleessSSwweeeett SSmmiilleess(Stamp credit: Sugar and Spice #94—Hearts

in Touch Rubber Stamps.)

Picture Perfect Stamping

MMaatteerriiaallssMMaatteerriiaallssPhotostampSpeedball brayerCushioned pad (foam pad created for stampers or mouse pad or squishy plastic placemat)Glossy Kromekote cover cardstock �� to �� pt�Lyra watercolorcrayonsNiji waterbrushArchival black or sepia inkRanger mini staplesAdirondack Alcohol inksFelt pad to apply thealcohol inksGlueRhinestones (Cantrellused Studio �� clear)Black cardstockWhite china or glass plateCotton cloth

paint as needed.” (See “Tips” section below for more tipson using watercolor crayons.)

AAddddiinngg ccoolloorrAAddddiinngg ccoolloorr7) Mix orange or yellow with brown to color the hair.

Cantrell mixed blue and red to color the child’s clothes.She obviously enjoys playing with the paint, mixing yellowand brown to color the flowers, and highlighting the blos-soms with bright orange. Set the painted image aside to dryovernight.

8) Further enhance the artwork and mimic the look ofa real photograph by “polishing” the stamped and paintedimage when it is dry with a dry soft knit cloth.

CCrreeaattiinngg tthhee bbaacckkggrroouunndd CCrreeaattiinngg tthhee bbaacckkggrroouunndd aanndd aasssseemmbblliinngg tthhee ccaarrddaanndd aasssseemmbblliinngg tthhee ccaarrdd

9) Trim the photostamp image, leaving a narrow whiteborder or trim it closely and glue it to a slightly larger white panel.

10) Make a “polished stone” background panel byloading a piece of felt with pearl, purple and yellow alco-

hol inks and smearing the inks onto a piece of glossy card-stock. Cantrell cautions against over-mixing the alcoholinks on the felt and recommends leaving some areas on thecardstock light. The polished stone panel in this card wastrimmed to 4 x 51/2 inches.

11) After gluing the painted photostamp image to thealcohol ink background panel, apply mini staples to thecorners. Cantrell added rhinestones for extra pizzazz andglued the embellished portrait to a black folded card.

TTiippss ffrroomm tthhee aarrttiissttTTiippss ffrroomm tthhee aarrttiisstt• Prepare a new photostamp by lightly scrubbing the

rubber with a soft nail brush and dish soap. Rinse well anddry the rubber with a lint free cloth (such as an old cottonsheet cut in small squares). If the photostamp still does notgive a clearly stamped image, the rubber might need a lightsurface sanding with an emery cloth under running water.

• Just before inking a photostamp, make sure the rub-ber is free of pet hair, lint, or dust.

• Cantrell advises, “If you are new to stamping largephotostamp images, it might take you several times to findthe right pressure to get a perfect image.” Don’t give up!

• Cantrell uses a total of six colors ofwatercolor crayons—pink, green, orange,blue, yellow and brown. From these col-ors she makes all the shades she wants bymixing them together.

• Use a clean white china or glassplate as a palette, scribble each coloraround the outside of the plate, and mixcolors on the inside surface. After a ses-sion of painting projects, allow the paintsto dry on the plate and cover it with plas-tic wrap until the next coloring session.Reactivate the paints by lightly sprayingthem with water.

Kay Young lives and stamps in south-west Wisconsin where she stares long andhard at a delightful color Sudoku board.She occasionally finds herself figuring outwhere to add a new marble.

Judy Cantrell mixes orange or yellow with brown to color the girl’s hair�

Coloring on photostamps

Copyright RubberStampMadness Inc. 2011