September 2004 - Heather Taylor
"Direct Brush-to-Stamp Technique"

heathert@orientalstampart.com
Kalama, WA, USA

(Click on picture for instructions)

How long have you been stamping?
Since August of 2003, or thereabouts. Really seriously since February this year, I think.

What is your favorite technique?
If I have to pick one, I'll choose brayering.

Favorite stamp company?
Don't have one in particular. Love Fred Mullet's stamps, Parson's Studio, Non Sequitur, Gotcha! Images, and I could go on…

Favorite Asian stamps?
Don't really have one in particular, though I do tend to use dragonflies a lot. Not that they're uniquely Asian, however…

Favorite stamping accessory? (i.e. EP, UTEE, Pearl-Ex, punch)
I do like PearlEx and Twinkling H2O's. And Ph. Martin's India Inks.

Favorite colors?
Oh, whatever suits the subject. Colors that I wouldn't normally like (orange & green, pink, brown) have totally surprised me.

Your favorite embellishment to finish a card?
I have trouble finishing cards, sometimes. I'm always searching for the thing that's going to complete it, and sometimes it's a bit of calligraphy, or a flat-top eyelet, or a bead or two…

What is the one tool you couldn't live without? (i.e. X-acto knife, heat gun, glue stick, sponge)
X-acto knife. I don't own a paper cutter…

Any helpful tips for the group?
Gosh no. I *get* helpful hints all the time, and really appreciate them! In fact, that's why I like OSA so much-it's rarely about one person, and very much about the group as a whole.

As a member of the Oriental Stamp Art group on yahoo, why do you like stamping in the Oriental theme?
I've always been attracted to Japanese art (which devolved from Chinese art, of course)-the simple, flowing lines; the serenity; the space in the art that calls for contemplation.

Is there any one place or city you'd like to visit to find rubberstamps, supplies, or Asian art elements?
Japan, I guess.

What other stamping lists or clubs do you belong to?
ISF (International Stamping Friends) on Yahoo.

What favorite Stamping magazines would you recommend?
Don't know-can't afford any of them. =)

Published in any magazines? If yes, please list.
Not any rubber stamp magazines.

Any other hobbies, talents or craft interests?
Reading science fiction, gardening, playing with the llamas and the goats, pen and ink drawing, calligraphy (though I'm no good at it)

What inspires you to be creative? i.e. do you listen to music while you stamp or watch TV, keep an art journal?
STUFF. Every time I get a new piece of STUFF, I start popping with ideas…

Any art background ?
Minor in art in college, worked as a yellow page layout person, then took one year of graphic design courses as I was an in-house graphics person for a construction company (as well as their secretary).

Have you used any unusual item in your stamping that wasn't necessarily meant for stamping? (i.e. found item or household item)
Don't think so.

Any favorite books on stamping or art techniques that you would recommend? Any on Asian arts & crafts?
Wish I had some!

Do you have a day job when you're not stamping?
Yup, taking care of my 16 month-old son; doing webwork; and teaching French conversation skills.

Tell us about your family and where you live.
I live with my partner and our son in southwest Washington state, which is in the northwest corner of the United States. The weather here is very much like that in Switzerland, where I grew up: cool and rainy except for the summer, which is mostly warm and pleasant.

We have 4.25 acres with 2 cats, a big gallumphing black lab that my son adores, 2 llamas, and 2 goats. We're surrounded by trees and coyotes and one bobcat, with a burbling stream down in the ravine along one side of the property. The house is an 1890's farmhouse, so everything is pretty run-down, but it's a lot of fun. And, we have a huge double-trunked redwood in our front yard. Can't beat that… =)

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INSTRUCTIONS FOR "Direct Brush-to-Stamp Technique"

Materials:

Pear: A Stamp in the Hand
Dragonfly: Yellow Rose Art Stamps
Text: Gotcha! Images
Mon: unknown
Reinkers: Memories Yellow, Memories Mango, Studio 2 Ink-It Violet; Colorbox Black
Rubbing alcohol spritzer
Pale Gold embossing powder
Peony and Rose Colorbox cateyes
Versamark Watermark ink
White copy paper (cannot be glossy paper!), red-brown cardstock, shimmering light gold cardstock, textured wine red wallpaper (+ 1 piece of throwaway textured wallpaper)

Instructions:

Make the background on white copy paper by dropping a few drops of yellow, mango, and violet reinkers onto a spare piece of textured wallpaper laid at the bottom of an aluminum pie pan. Spritz inks with rubbing alcohol. Take a soft rubber brayer and run it through the inks once, then roll onto the paper at a diagonal. Keep on doing this until you like your paper or you run out of ink. You can refresh the ink by spraying rubbing alcohol on it every time you run out, that way you get gradually lighter colors on the paper. See Brenda M.'s Backgrounds to Dye For for the full technique description.

Next, squeeze out three-four drops (a little goosh) of Colorbox black ink onto a CD cover or whatever you use as a palette. Take a sumi-e brush, or something similar, and wet it, then run it over the stamp. Then pick up a little of the black and run it down one side of the stamp (this will be the part that's in the "shadow"). Rinse your brush out a little, then brush some lighter gray onto the rest of the stamp. Stamp it on the paper. I don't even bother mounting the stamp for this-just lay it down and press gently. Cover the whole sheet randomly with pears, leaving some spaces too. Roll a Q-tip onto your Watermark Versamark pad, then onto the part of each pear you want highlighted, in semi-circle motions. Sprinkle lightly with Pale Gold EP, and heat till melted.

Cut out an interesting portion of the sheet the size you want for the centerpiece of the card (mine was 3" x 4.5", I think). Ink the dragonfly stamp with Peony, then Ink the mon stamp in Watermark Versamark; cover both with Pale Gold EP and heat till melted. Stamp text with Rose, heat till dry.

Layer onto red-brown cardstock with ¼" border showing (I used Magic Tape to get it to stick), then onto a slightly larger piece of coordinating textured wallpaper, and finally, mount onto shimmer light gold cardstock. Voilà!

Heather
=)