a suncatcher? really?

Recently I posted about improvising with the L Letterpress plates. I remarked in the comments that these plates are not like clear polymer stamps; it had seemed to me that some folks had that mistaken impression. In trying to come up with a way to describe the texture of these plates it occurred to me that they're not that dissimilar from those plastic suncatchers that you can find in kids crafts sections of stores. I know, it's almost a sacrilegious notion, so real life printers, I ask your forgiveness and your indulgence. Turn away now. Ha! As if any real life printers would be reading. ;-)

So here's what I did....


Pictured above are my Big Shot, the multipurpose platform open to No Tabs, two clear cutting plates, a plastic suncatcher that cost me 48 cents, and a sheet of fairly thick handmade watercolor paper. The paper was torn from a tablet that I'd found on clearance at Hobby Lobby. The impression that was made by running the suncatcher through is the image at the top left. I hadn't applied any ink. The color that can be seen is some of the black that had transferred from the plastic. It's tough to appreciate, but the debossed image was really quite distinct.


And here's the card that I made using the image. I colored the design with watercolor pencils, tore around it, then mounted it on a layer of Core'dinations card stock that I'd punched using an EK Success border punch and distressed using sand paper.

Now, I'm not saying that these can be used in place of actual letterpress plates. It's just something that I did on a whim. I'd have to say though, that if I come across other fun suncatcher designs, I'd probably pick them up knowing that there's a fun way that I could use them to add a different look to my cards.