Guest Design Spot: flower pounding

Please note: this article was originally published on the Cuttlebug Challenge blog. I think enough time has passed that I'm publishing it here as well so that it can go out to my email subscribers and be linked along with my other tutorials.

Hello everyone! This is Jay from IndigoInklings dropping by for another visit this month at Maggie's request. Recently I read about a technique that was done using the Wizard by Spellbinders. It's called flower pounding. Flower pounding itself isn't new. As you might guess, it's been done using a hammer or a mallet and a nice flat solid surface. Flowers were placed atop paper and pounded to release and transfer the pigment. What was different was that this was done with less effort (and noise!) by using a die cutting machine. I decided to adapt this technique for the Cuttlebug and share it here.

Now thankfully, this time of year there are lots of flowers in my backyard. These are a few that I picked just for this project. Love the wonderful variety of shapes, textures, and colors!

What you need to have on hand for flower pounding, besides some fresh flowers, are your Cuttlebug machine and plates and some card stock or water color paper. What I did was cut the sheets in half and then fold each half in half to make a folder. There's no need to be neat about this. I know my Scor-It is in the photo, but it was there primarily to be a nice backdrop.

Here is the sandwich that I used for flower pounding: A, B, and C plates, with the flowers placed inside the folder. I've found that the side that releases most of the pigment is the face of the flower, so if you don't use a folder, then put the bloom face down onto your card stock, then cover it with a layer of scrap paper before sandwiching it and putting it through.

Here you can see that I did place the folder between the plates before rolling it through. You can also see why I used a folder. This can be a juicy project. Depending on what type of flower you use, it can be really juicy! This is why I mentioned that water color paper would also be a good option.

This is what it looked like when I opened up the folder. You can see that pigment has been transferred from these shrub rose blooms to the card stock.

This is how it looked after I peeled the flower petals etc away. Both sides of the folder are potentially usable, so that's another neat thing.

Here is the same sandwich, different flowers. These were much thinner than the first blooms. I had a shim handy, just in case it looked like the blooms needed to be squeezed harder, but I didn't need it. It's a good idea to have at least one or two of them close by though.

Again, here is the folder opened up.

And this is the design that's left once the flowers are removed. You can gently rub the flowers off with a finger. Often you can peel up an edge of a petal with a fingernail then pull it off the rest of the way. I found that using a scrap piece of card stock as a scraper worked nicely, too.

This is one more example with a Bachelor Button. I used watercolor paper for this one. I've had a lot of moisture get forced out of this type of flower before, so I learned from that!

This is one side of the outside of the folder after rolling it through.

This is the other side. I really liked the colors and the delicate look.

Here is the folder opened up. The flower was squeezed from the top then down toward the stem. This is why I also tended to place my flowers near the edge of the folder that would be going through the machine first. Think of the Cuttlebug as a wringer with all of the pigment and moisture getting squeezed out and forced along as the bloom moves between the rollers. It's much less messy to have excess folder at the trailing edge to catch all of that. Yes, as you might guess, that's the voice of experience. :-)

This is one side with the flower parts removed.

This is the other side. The amount of pigment left by the flowers can be impressive. And don't discount the stems and leaves, or the stamen and the pollen. They can all leave color, shapes, and texture behind.

This is a card made with flower pounded shrub roses. Notice the bright yellow that was transferred from the pollen. You might recognize the scalloped QuicKutz border embossing folder that I used as the background for their layer. The sentiment is by Hero Arts and was stamped using Memento dye ink.

Since the pounded Yellow Loosestrife blooms left behind an image so reminiscent of stars, I paired them with the above sentiment from The Little Prince made by Silver Crow Creations, and I added some QuicKutz die cut flourishes.

The focus of this card is that Bachelor Button "image" that was on the outside of the folder. As I said, the delicate look appealed to me and I wanted to go with something more subtle. The stamped sentiment is by Hampton Art Stamps and I added the score lines using my Scor-It.

I made this last card using one of the images made with a shrub rose bloom. I cut and embossed it using Spellbinders Nestabilities dies and layered it on top of white card stock with some decorative scoring that I again made using my Scor-It. The decorative edges were made using the Fiskars Upper Crest border punch. The sentiment is by Hero Arts and was stamped using white craft ink.

So, no tips or tricks using embossing folders this time, but I hope that I've inspired you to try a technique that doesn't get much more complicated than going outside and picking some flowers. I've found that fresh blooms work better, by the way. Again, it's that voice of experience. :-) And for those of you who are Big Shot users, or even owners of the original red Sizzix machine, click on over to my blog where I've described how to flower pound using those die cutters.

Have a good day everyone! Enjoy your weekends! And be sure to have fun checking out all of the special features that will be published on this blog in the upcoming days. :-)

rock-a-blocks

Okay, be prepared--this post is graphics-intensive. There's interest in these rock-a-blocks by Crafter's Companion, so I tried to give you a good look at what they are like.

Also, Shirley, a number of pics down this post I stamped a few images using some of the Memento inks. I think that you'll get a better idea of how bright these can be. The stamped images in my other card were a little deceiving because so many of the designs were open and looked a bit lighter because of that. I forgot about the second part of your question when I was stamping these though. I'll address the translucency in a different post.


This is my set of rock-a-blocks. I'd even saved the packaging, or at least the instructions, so now you can see it here. There are four "blocks" of varying sizes in the set.


This is why I keep putting the word "blocks" in quotations. They're not really blocks, as you can see in the side view up above. They're open in the center, so they're really shaped more like short pieces of gutter. That doesn't sound nearly as attractive as blocks though, eh?


Here you can see the "runners", or guides, that keep you from pressing too hard on the stamp. These are what come in contact with the paper as you rock the block.


In the above photo, I've placed a clear owl image by Hero Arts on the block.


It sticks up just past the top of the guides.


For this size stamp and "block", dew drop inkpads like Mementos are very handy. You want to avoid getting ink on the guides since that ink would transfer to your paper or cardstock.


This is what my inked stamp looks like from the top as I would be getting ready to place it on my paper. You don't lose any of the advantages of the stamp being clear.


Now here is where things change a bit. With wood-mounted red rubber stamps, you want firm pressure applied straight down. You're not supposed to rock the stamp. Well, with these blocks, you're supposed to do exactly that--rock the stamp. Just one rocking motion though!


The recommended way to do this is to rock from top to bottom or from bottom to top. It gives you more control than trying to rock it side to side. Here I started at the bottom of the image.


Then I began to rock it forward. You can see that the block is easy to grip.


And I rocked it forward a bit more.


And there I have my stamped image! Not bad for a right-handed person snapping pics with her right hand while stamping with her left. LOL! Notice that I only rocked the stamp once. You don't want to rock back and forth because there's no guarantee that your image will rock back exactly over where it was placed the first time.


Here I wanted to show some of the colors of Memento inks and how bright they can be when stamped using a more solid image. I also want to point out that I got nice consistently stamped images with no blurring or doubled up edges. Like I said in my last post, sometimes I tend to put too much pressure on my clear stamps and they get that blurred look at the edges. The guides on these blocks keep me from doing that.


The blocks work nicely with bigger stamps, too. This is another image by Hero Arts.


I've inked it with Memento London Fog. For photo purposes I showed this as if I stamped it going from side to side. I wanted to show that rocking motion again. I really did rock it from bottom to top though.


And this is the bigger stamped image made using one of the rock-a-blocks.


Now these work great with every clear stamp that I've tried so far. They won't work with stamps that have EZ mount cushion. That makes them too thick and you lose the usefulness of the guides.


You can use naked red rubber though. This is a stamp by Silver Crow. It has Aleene's Tack It Over and Over glue on the back. This is a glue that once dry acts as a temporary adhesive, in case you're not already familiar with it.


Here I've inked it up with Memento Tuxedo Black ink.


And here is the result of the rocking motion from bottom to top. Again, a nice crisp image.

Apparently there is a spray adhesive that can be used with these blocks. I've not read good things about it though, and I've not used it, so I won't say anything else about that. You could probably use some kind of double-sided removable tape, but you'd want to make sure that the edges of your stamp images were well adhered so that they won't move and smear when rocking.

A few more details....

Sizes:

• largest is 5 7/8" by 3 7/8", the space between the guides is actually 5 1/2" though
• next size down is 4 1/8" by 2 7/8", the space between the guides is actually 3 3/4"
• long narrow block is 5 7/8" by 1 3/8", the space between the guides is 5 1/2"
• smallest block is 1 1/2" by 1 3/8", the space between the guides is 1 1/4"

These measurements vary a bit from the ones stated on the packaging where they're rounded up.

Most of the rock-a-block vendors that I've seen online are in the UK. After being shown at the most recent CHA I'm sure that they'll be available closer to home. I bought mine from Eclectic Paperie--good service and quick shipping.

The bottom line? I'm very satisfied with these rock-a-blocks. Even if I could only use them with clear stamps they do their job well enough in my opinion to justify buying and using them. Like I said, for me and my stamping tendencies, they make for nicer and more crisp stamped images. The blocks are also very light, easy to grip, and easy to use once you get used to the different motion. It's nice not to have to apply much pressure to stamp a complete image, so for folks who have physical issues with stamping, these blocks could be a good alternative to regular acrylic blocks.

Again, these are best used with clear stamps or with uncushioned rubber images, and you do have to exercise a little more care in inking up your stamps because you want to avoid getting ink on the guides. I find the latter to be a fairly minor issue though. It's not tough to have a paper towel close by and give the runners a quick swipe after inking and before rocking, and it's not really all that different from making sure that you don't have stray ink on your mount whether wood or acrylic.

I hope that gives you a better idea of what these "blocks" are about. They rock! :-)