Woodware stamp

This is another picture I made using a Woodware stamp.  I did it at the Craft Barn, Chris Dark showed us the background and then we stamped in black on top, and outlined it in white.  It takes a while to outline it in white, but it makes a huge difference.  We were making pictures for a calendar, but we made quite a few that day, and I decided to frame this one.  I used die cut butterflies (done from the spare bits of paper on the outside of the picture).

For the background...... very simple, and it's an old technique, but such fun!  You need a non stick craft sheet and maybe sensible to wear an apron, too . . . . ...   On good quality stamping card, you need to spray it with water first (just a small spray bottle), but it needs to be wet.  Then spray it with spray inks - we used Dylusions, but any brand will do.  (Though I must say that I thought the Dylusions colours were fantastic - very bright.  I have used other brands when trying it at home, but not as nice as the Dylusions ones.)  I tended to use 3 colours, but you can use more. 

Spray it in patches round your card, and make sure it's covered - don't be afraid of using lots of colour.  If it's started to dry out a bit, spray with water again.  You can also place another piece of card on top to take up some of the spare ink - again, cover with a bit more ink if necessary.  (You can probably get a third one from the ink left on the mat at the end, too.)  Spray again with water if necessary.  Now you need salt crystals - they need to be rock salt (I tried it with normal salt at home, and it doesn't work), ie the posh stuff that you normally grind down.  Place the salt on the wet paper, and then leave it to dry.  You can finish off heating it to set it, but not at this point - you'd end up with salt going everywhere.  When it's dry (I left mine for an hour, then used my heat gun to finish drying them) you need to brush all the salt off.  You can keep it in a spare bag to use again (never waste anything....).  I didn't use that much salt on mine (well, I thought I had, but clearly not!), and I ended up with a really nice effect - looks a bit like snakeskin.  Others had used far more salt than I had, with lovely results - someone did one with dark blues and purples in it, used loads of salt - looked like the night sky at the end.