AROUND THE STUDIO:  Lots of changes around the studio.  Emily has gone back to school full time.  She will continue as the Art Director for Old Island, however, we will not be seeing as much of her in the studio.  So, I am in the process of hiring someone to work with me filling orders and making stamps.  In the meantime, it is pretty quiet around here!  

Actually, our whole business has changed very dramatically over the last couple of years.  We do not need to have as many people working with us anymore.  Not because of falling business; to the contrary business is great.  We are selling many thousands more stamps each year, but they are mostly unmounted stamps.  The trend in that direction continues.  Two years ago we sold more unmounted than mounted stamps at the Christmas shows for the first time.  This past season it was 67% unmounted.  We expect it will be over 75% this year.  So, we do not need as many people cutting, sanding and labeling maple blocks...and fewer loggers falling those big old maple trees out back!  

At this point I was going to make some comments on the record breaking weather we have been experiencing, but then I thought that would make it even more obvious that I am suffering an acute case of writer's block!  Oh, I have a pair of eagles hanging around more than usual...and there seems to be more robins than ever wintering over...and there are some really unusual mushrooms in the woods...I appreciate them, however, none of them makes a story for the newsletter.  I do not usually see two eagles hanging out together day after day.  So, I think something might be up.  Like maybe they are thinking about making little eagles.  In any case, I do not really know at this point, however, I am confident Mother Nature will provide me with material for the next issue.  Sometimes we just have to be patient!

Above right: Emily and Trudy Stamping up a storm before the Christmas shows (See note below on cleaning stamps below!!) Left: Trudy demonstrating at One-of-a-Kind in Toronto  Right: Our booth ☺                                                         

NEW STAMPERS:  We would like to welcome the hundreds of new stampers that we met at our Christmas shows.  I thought I might cover some basics like, "How do I clean my stamps"?  The answer is water.  That is all we use.  A good way to do it is to wet a paper towel on a countertop and then blot the stamp into it until you no longer see the image.  Then use the towel in your hand to dab the ink from the edges of the stamp.  The best way to clean your stamps is by using a rubber scrubber.  It is a shallow plastic tray with short nylon bristle covering the bottom of the tray.  You spray water on one half of the tray and keep the other side dry.  To clean your stamp you rub the inked stamped on the wet side a few times to remove the ink and then transfer to dry side to rub it a few more times. The bristles get into the crevices of the stamp, and it almost seems that it is 'pulling' the ink out.  This method is especially nice for really detailed stamps.  The third method of cleaning is using baby wipes.  Choose baby wipes that contain no alcohol. They are quick and easy. All stamps will look slightly discoloured after using them, but the colour will not transfer.

I have heard that Stamping Up promotes using lanolin to keep the rubber soft.  I am skeptical about that, because the rubber is impervious to just about everything.  I even sometimes use paint thinner to clean glue from the rubber.  

Having said that, I would recommend that you do clean your stamps between use, because some inks do seem to have a deteriorating effect on the rubber over time.  The rubber can turn sticky, soft and begin to lose its shape.  The new "caulk" inks are of particular concern.

Another precaution you do need to take is to keep the rubber of your rubber stamp from being exposed to ultra violet light over an extended period of time.  That means do not store your stamps exposed to direct sunlight or florescent lighting.  Ultra violet light hardens the rubber over time.  If you have clear stamps this is especially important.  The clear polymer stamps will harden over time regardless of how you care for them, but you do not want to sped up the process.  The good news is that with a little bit of care you should be able to leave your stamps to your grandchildren.  Even if you are just starting your family now.  Years ago, before I started the company an old printer in Victoria showed me stamps that he had made in 1929, and they were in great shape!

SAMPLE CARDS:  One of the most frequently asked questions from new stampers at the Christmas shows was, 'do we have a gallery on the website for stamping ideas'?  I tried a gallery for a while, but I was not satisfied with the results.  It was a lot of work, and I did not think our scans did the cards justice.  Also, there were not a lot of traffic to the gallery.  So, I ended it.  However, there are in fact lots of sample cards on the site.  For years, Margaret and Emily have written articles with sample cards for the newsletters.  I began to archive them about three years ago.  If you click on Newsletter on the Home page, you have a choice of viewing the current newsletter or the archived ones.  So, if you are new to the website, there are tons of samples with written explanations on how to achieve similar results for yourself.  One caution when viewing the archived newsletters is that all the navigational buttons may not work properly.  So, you might want to tend to use your browser's Back button instead of my Return buttons.  

MARGARET'S MUSINGS:  If you have had an opportunity to see our display at anytime over the past several years, you would have seen sample cards by our friend Margaret Appleton.  Margaret is always trying something new, and comes up with some great effects with our stamps.  She has agreed to write a short piece for each newsletter on stamping in general and on techniques slightly beyond the basics.

If you’ve had an after-Christmas break from card-making, maybe it’s time to get busy again!

The constant rain that we’ve been having in these parts made me think of my latest stamping technique project---misting. I used an old perfume atomizer, as I prefer a very fine mist, but any spray bottle will do.

Using my ink pads directly, I swirled and dabbed several inks on to the rubber of a good-sized shadow stamp. After misting the rubber I let the colours run together a little and then stamped on to a plain sheet of cardstock. After the cardstock dried, I added gold touches. (I dabbed a bit of scrunched up Kleenex on to my watermark pad, dabbed onto the misted paper, and then brushed on gold Pearl-Ex powder here and there. You could use an embossing pad for this, also.)

I decided that the colourful results would look best on black cards.  So mounted all my efforts on to black with gold behind.

EM'S GEMS:  Many stampers play around with trying to sell their cards as a small business venture.   Emily Hull is one of the few that I have seen who has been very successful at it.   She is also the artist behind many of the original images in our line.  She has a much broader arts background than most stampers, and so her approach is often from "outside of the box".  Enjoy!

Happy New Year!

In between school, studying and training Oliver, my new puppy, I’ve been experimenting with my delightful (new!) sewing machine. This month, I’ve combined some of my favorite materials to create unique cards. (I plan on using them for overdue Christmas "thank-you" cards.) Paper bits, stamping scraps, metallic rubs, and an embellishment or two were used to create collage-type cards on the sewing machine. Note that glue is only used after sewing, as it could gum up the machine! I’ve used a plain stitch, but you could use just about anything your machine can do. For a finishing touch, light color paper was sewn inside the cards for writing on- the stitching looks great on the backside of the card too!

I just can’t get enough of this stamp- it’s a strong image that holds its own or looks great combined with other stamps. In this case, I stamped it in Chestnut on a piece of Chop paper, then lightly stamped a background mesh image on top. I cut some text from a brochure I had saved, pinned it to the paper, and used metallic rubs all over. Finally, I sewed the image on to a black piece of cardstock, removed the pins and embellished with a piece of twine. Don’t worry about sewing a straight line, or a perfect pattern… the effect will be beautiful, even if it’s not perfect!

I began by stamping a newer botanical image in velvet ink on a piece of Merlot velum. I also stamped a "Many Thanks" stamp on the velum. Using my fingers, I carelessly applied metallic rub to a piece of corrugated cardstock, and sewed it combined with the stamped velum onto a pre-scored card. I used a spray adhesive to adhere the handmade paper and Merlot skeleton leaf to the velum. For an embellishment, I stamped the botanical again onto cream paper, applied metallic rub and adhered it as a finishing touch to the card.

This card was made using the same technique: layering the paper bits then adhering them with the sewing machine. I went a bit crazy with the metallic rub to finish the card, and I love the result- it highlights the thread and makes the card look antique.

Happy Stamping & Sewing!

Emily Hull