Thursday, December 17, 2009

Stamping With Bleach

I was organizing one of my technique journals, and came across these two cards I did in one of Heidi's classes:


 
In both, the focal images were done by stamping with bleach.  What is most interesting about this technique is that you really never know exactly what the bleached out image is going to look like in advance.  Different colored cardstocks react differently to the bleach.  And you may not even get the same result each time you use the same cardstock.
If you look at the card directly above, you can see that even within the one stamp, the flowers are not uniformly bleached out.  And I love that!
How to do it?  Couldn't be easier.  Just make a stamp pad by putting a couple of layers of paper toweling in a shallow container and wet them down with the bleach.  Press your stamp into the pad and then onto your paper.  Silhouette stamps work particularly well with this technique, but try a variety of stamps on different papers and see the results.   How much bleach you use and how hard you press will also affect the outcome.  Have some fun and experiement!
Just remember to clean your stamps afterwards.  And work in a well ventilated room!

9 comments:

Sherri Auld said...

What a great technique - I would never have thought of this one in a million years. And so easy!!

Love the second card especially!

Tami Putvin said...

Love the cards Eileen, what a fabulous idea.. Thanks for sharing.

Wishing you abundant blessings,
Tami

Angie Hall Haviland said...

Very Pretty, Eileen!!

Lori said...

Great reminder of an underused technique! Love your cards!

Anonymous said...

Nice technique, Eileen. I will definately give it a try.

Carol P

Diann said...

These are very nice, Eileen, and I have used this technique before but it has been awhile....adding it to my list to try again! Diann

Juliet A said...

These are gorgeous - they make me want to whip out some bleach right now!

Sherry Goodloe said...

Well-ventilated room . . . ahhhh yeah, learned that the hard way! LOL I was wondering why I felt light-headed.

Anonymous said...

Oh WOW Eileen!!!! These are BEAUTIFUL ma'am!!!!! They look so rich and elegant!!!