Tuesday, July 10, 2012

imprints & 'out'prints...


After hearing about Scratch-foam from some of the ladies on the Metal Clay Heads team, and reading about it on Wanaree's blog here, I was very keen to get my hands on some. After a bit of (virtual) running around, a package arrived a few weeks ago.


I've been having lots of fun drawing on it & as well as using it to create raised textures directly on my metal clay (imprints), I had this idea to make some polymer clay stamps from some of the designs ('out'-prints).

First, I drew my designs on paper, then I put the paper on the foam & went over them with a ball point pen (pressing quite hard)  to transfer them to the foam. I then went over the lines with a small ball burnisher, making them as deep as I could.


After conditioning my polymer clay, I kind of smooshed it into the outline, them rolled it flat. (Ignore the coloured marks, I was experimenting with other polymer stuff - but that's a whole other blog post). I added handles to my polymer stamps (which you can't see in these photos, oops) & baked them.


At first I wasn't sure they'd be deep enough, but they seem to work quite well. I can't wait to finish & fire the pendant, so I can see the finished product :)

Did I mention drawing in the foam is heaps of fun? I could spend a day doing just that.


13 comments:

  1. they turned out great - sweet!!!

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  2. Wow, what a great idea! :) Do you think it's possible to make these beautiful stamps without that specific foam? I don't think it's available where I live :(

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    1. I'm pretty sure you can - you'll just need to find some smooth, dense foam. The scratch foam is quite thin & someone suggested to me that either meat trays or disposable foam plates would work. You might just have to experiment :)

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  3. They look really good Vickie - well done!

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  4. Oh they're so cute! I love the images you drew! So many exciting new products out there, so little time.

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  5. Fantastic Vickie! Very cute and cool little designs!

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  6. wow, that is adorable! so cute.

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  7. Now I'm not afraid to experiment with the one sheet I have! Thanks!

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  8. I just stumbled upon your blog and I stinkin' love this! Creative and adorable diy tutorial.

    ~Aubrey
    Project Lovegood

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  9. Hi, looks great I'd love to try it as well, could you please tell me where to get the scratch foam from.

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    1. Hi,
      I bought my scratch foam from Cavalier Art Supplies - they were the only place in Australia I could find it. If you are in the US you can get it from Amazon I believe. Otherwise you might have to try googling it :)

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Thank you for taking the time to comment :)