For National Stamping Month, we’re sharing a stamping technique that will have you looking like you can draw and paint like a pro! The best part—it’s incredibly simple!
To start things off, you will need a detailed stamp. Look for one with elements that you would enjoy coloring in.
For our illustrations today, we are using the cardmaking stamp set from The Good Life paper collection. This stamp set includes a large stamp of a calm brook and a wide selection of beautiful sentiments suitable for a variety of occasions.
Once you’ve got your chosen stamp, grab your watercolor paints and colored pencils, and pair these with the Linen Exclusive Inks™ stamp pad.
So, here it is.
With Linen ink, stamp the image that you want to color and then use the light lines as a guide for applying the color, filling in shapes and tracing lines as you go. When you’re done, it will look like you freehanded the design rather than stamped it!
This technique works well with most media—watercolor and colored pencils are two of our favorites.
Most of our inks are water-based, and that means that they can smear if they are colored over with watercolor. If you choose to watercolor an image stamped in Linen, make sure to give the ink ample time to dry. Even still, the ink may run a bit as you paint and, in this case, that is okay! Linen is such a light color, especially when applied on white, that it will hardly be noticeable, if at all.
This image of a brook we are using, from The Good Life–Cardmaking stamp set, works especially well for this stamping and coloring technique because it was designed to look like it was hand drawn, even when stamped in a darker color.
Here it is watercolored again, but this time stamped in Intense Black.
The Intense Black stamp pad is intense not because of its color but because it is a non-smearing, fast-drying, solvent-based permanent ink. It’s waterproof qualities make it ideal for watercolor (and alcohol markers!).
We asked our Creative Arts Manager, Karen Pedersen, to share with us a few tips on how to apply watercolor once we’re ready for this step in our technique.
Have you ever tried this stamping and coloring technique before? What did you think? Let us know, in the comments below!
