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Idea of the Month Stamping on Velvet...With a Twist! Even if you think you know all there is to know about stamping on velvet, read on! I have included a couple ideas I hope you haven't seen before. Stamping on velvet is a beautiful but easy technique; you will love the results!
Let's get started! First, some basics: You will need to purchase dense, high-quality velvet made with rayon or acetate only (polyester velvet WILL NOT WORK). Yes, high-quality velvet is expensive, but you will only use small amounts. As far as stamps, both solid and line-image stamps will work, but they should be deeply etched to give a good impression. Look at the rubber around the edge of the design. You want the rubber to be cut close to the image so that the iron does not heat these "unwanted" areas and transfer them onto your velvet. (Close To My Heart® stamps are of excellent quality, deeply etched and closely trimmed.) Practice on a scrap of velvet to see if the stamp gives you the impression you want. Don't worry about the heat harming the rubber on your stamp; remember that rubber stamps are manufactured at very high temperatures to begin with. STEP 1
The process is very simple, actually. Set your iron on the Cotton setting. Place your stamp rubber-side up on your ironing board, counter, etc. Place a piece of velvet face-down over the stamp. Spritz the back of the velvet lightly with water from a spray bottle. Place iron straight-down on top of velvet and press gently but firmly for 2-3 seconds. Do not slide iron. Lift iron straight up and check for a couple things. First, if your iron has holes in the bottom and you see marks from the holes on the velvet, move the iron slightly and press again for 2-3 seconds (the marks should get lighter or almost disappear). You should also see a faint image of your stamp through the back of the velvet. If you cannot, or if you cannot see a portion of it, press again for 2-3 seconds. The whole process should not take longer than 10 seconds. You will need to practice to arrive at the best combination of time and pressure for each stamp. When you are done, peel off the velvet. Optional: If you plan to cut out the image and mount it on the front of a card, you may want to use fusable interfacing to stabilize the velvet (this makes it easier to cut out and mount later). Simply cut a piece of interfacing the same size as your velvet. Lay down the stamp and velvet as described above, then lay the interfacing on top of the velvet, with the "sticky" side facing the back of the velvet. Spritz the whole thing with water, then proceed with the ironing. You'll end up with the interfacing fused to the velvet.
STEP 2: THE TWIST! This is a very cool twist to velvet stamping. Simply ink up your stamp first using a metallic gold ink pad. Lay the stamp rubber-side up on the ironing board, cover it with the velvet and proceed as described above. The result is a beautiful metallic image as shown below (you can see the difference between the two techniques):
The ink does not rub off the velvet, though it is a bit more difficult to clean off your stamp. Experiment with different ink colors! Enjoy! Click here to return to the Past Ideas page |
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