Rubber Stamping on Acetate Opens Up Different Opportunities in Your Cardmaking......You need to take a little care when Rubber Stamping on Acetate but the end result will more than compensate for this. First of all, what is acetate? Acetate is a non-porous clear film which can be used in the office environment, eg for overhead projector presentations, as well as in the craft world.
It is avaliable in different weights and you can buy it from either craft or office suppliers.If you are just starting out crafting we suggest you purchase from a craft supplier so that you can be sure of getting a suitable quality for rubber stamping. The ink you use is crucial - it must be one that is fast drying and does not need heat setting. We would recommend Stazon. Some acetate can be heated but we think it is far easier to stick to using Stazon thus eliminating the chance of trying to heat set another type of ink and finding out your new sheet of acetate wasn't what you thought! Choose your Rubber Stamp and stamp your design onto the acetate. Beware: The surface is slippery so when you stamp be very careful not to move the stamp at all. Any movement will cause a blurred image. A well inked stamp will only need the lightest touch on the surface. As with other techniques in cardmaking - if you don't get it right first time don't give up! Practise a little and you soon will get it right. TIP: Even though Stazon is fast drying we recommend leaving it for about 5 minutes until you try to work further on your card. IDEA: If you don't want to always stamp in black and can't afford numerous other pads just invest in a white Stazon pad and a good set of Pearlescent Chalks. Stamp using the white and as it is drying use a Sponge Dauber (if you haven't got one of those improvise with a piece of bath sponge)loaded with your preferred colour of chalk and daub into the wet ink. TIP: If you are stamping a number of images in a row always start with the centre one and work outwards - it makes positioning much easier. You cannot use just any type of pen to colour in your image - water based products will not dry on acetate. If you have them you can use Over Head Projector (OHP) Pens but most of us won't have them on hand! Specialist Gel Pens such as Sakura Jelly Glaze Pens will work well. You can also use glass paints. You can also Gild your work or you can use PVA glue to glitter part or all of your work. TIP: If you intend to glitter all the image then we suggest working on the reverse side of the image. This is a good technique to use on Christmas cards. The nature of acetate means that you cannot use glue or double sided tape to fix/mount your work onto a card. If you do they will show through and spoil the effect. So what do you do?... We suggest you use Brads or Eyelets to fix to your card. Alternatively you can carefully make diagonal slits in the corners of the card and slot you acetate in - rather like mounting old photographs. You can do this with a craft knife or purchase a special punch which will do the job for you. You can also use acetate in a Window or Aperture card. IDEA Use a sheet of acetate as a "wrap" round your card. Rubber stamp the "wrap" in your chosen design then just add a small piece of card inside to write your message on.
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