We finally have a bit of rain after two full months of nothing. The earth smelled of baked soil and everything was so painfully parched for awhile there. I’ve been watering the both the flower and vegetable gardens as much as reasonably possible, but all I could do was take the edge off the dryness. Today, finally, we have rain. And the whole world sighs.

The kids are at school, for how long I do not know. My monkey has a wicked case of the back to school blues and he spent the morning trying to convince me with a tummy ache, dry heaves, and a thermometer is his mouth that he really had no business leaving the house today. Poor monkey. He’s having a hard time and I ache for him. It bothers me when I can’t fix what’s hurting them.

I can’t blame him about wanting to stay home. I’m creatively uninspired. The count down until I go back to work has begun.  On a rainy day like this, I want to lay around and eat bonbons, look at magazines, and watch bad tv. But first, I listen to jazz and share some frog news with you.

We’ve had a number of frogs spend time around the pond. I’ve seen too many toads to count, although they are considerably smaller than the frogs. I tend to notice them during their hasty retreat. Which reminds me, I really must make some toad houses for them.

The frogs seem more interested in my goings on. Many of them are staying put rather than burping and jumping in to the pond. Here are two residents engaged in a staring contest: a bullfrog and a leopard frog.

The bullfrog is one of many. I’d say there are around six living in the pond. This one is a female, which you can tell because he belly is white. I found this great guide to help me identify them including the difference between the green frog and the bull frog.

This leopard frog has caused me a lot of confusion. I know it’s a leopard frog but haven’t seen a picture of another one exactly like it. Evidently, there’s quite a bit of variation from one to the next because of the spot colors. If anyone knows differently, please let me know.

One last bit of news: the last chick hatched on Monday. Poor little thing took forever and I began to wonder if I needed to get involved. We’ve named her “Pip” for now. She’s smaller than everyone else, and completely grey. I can recognize her eyes anywhere because she looked at me through the pip for a day before joining us. I’ll be taking formal portraits soon.

This is part 2 of my series on making your own stamps on the cheap.

Polymer packets

After you’ve made your exposure chamber, you need to order the polymer packets. I went with the higher quality, Imagebox supplies. Photocentric has three different types (read: quality) of packets for making stamps. Ruth from Stamp Off, Eh! broke down the difference between all three products and the type of stamps they produce. Photocentric notes in the item description that the Imagebox supplies make stamps of commercial quality. My instructions are for these Imagebox packets. If you end up going with one of the other types of polymer kits, you will need to adjust the time. Sorry, but I can’t help you there.

I ordered the Imagebox starter kit, which comes with both the laser and inkjet transparency sheets, a bunch of different size polymer packets in .125 thickness, curing salts, and gloves. It ended up being about $56 to my door. You could also just order the packets in the size you want and the salts and pick up the transparency sheets from Staples. They will sell the individual sheets for $1 each. I’ll talk a lot more about transparency sheets and printing negatives in the next post.

(I thought a lot about if I should include the negative discussion here but found it to be way to long and digressing to merge with this one. Forgive me for putting the cart before the horse, but you need to know and understand this process first.)

I will note that the smaller the packet, the easier it was to use. The medium A5 size of 5.83″ x 8.27″ or a6 4.13″ x 5.83″ was easiest to get evenly sandwiched between the glass while still providing a decent about of space to work with. Look around your house for a couple of sheets of glass that are the same size that you can sandwich the polymer packets in between. I raided my stash of picture frames and ended up with a few pairs of glass in different sizes. This might help you decide which sizes to order.

Other supplies

I didn’t buy anything other than the bulbs and starter kit for this project. I just used what I had around the house and I recommend you do the same. Besides the glass, you will also need:

- a bunch of clips that open up to accommodate both panes of glass and the packet in between them. 6 – 8 of them.

- a soft-ish brush that’s not too small. A nail brush will be the death of you.

- a timer.

- bucket or container to clean in that you will never ever use for anything else.

- a shallow waterproof tray.

I also recommend using an inexpensive pair of kitchen gloves that are re-usable just for making stamps.

Oh, and some clear tape doesn’t hurt.

Assume now that you have your negative ready and your supplies gathered including your polymer packets, exposure chamber, and glass and stuff. So let’s get started.

Line up your negative on a sheet of the glass. Try and place it in the center so that it’s easier to sandwich evenly with the packet and other glass. This is actually quite important. This is where a little bit of tape really helps. I used bits and pieces of negatives for this example but honestly, I’ve had the best results with a one piece negative. I’ll get more in to that in the next post.

I placed the polymer packet under the glass so I could see where I was putting the negatives. I’ve also found that it’s best to err on the side of caution and leave a buffer around the negative and the edge of the packet. No good having it go all the way to the edge. Stamps don’t work that way and I wasted more of my packets doing this than anything else.

You should keep in mind the direction of text and the images you put down on the glass will be the inking side of the stamp. Remember this point as it can be quite important.

Once you get the negative(s) all set on the bottom glass, place the polymer packet on top. There’s a thick side and a thin side to the packets. Place the thick side down on the negative. Then place the other sheet of glass on top.

Polymer packet and glass sandwich.

Let’s review before moving on:

Starting from the bottom we have a sheet of glass and then the negative with the stamping side down. Then the polymer packet and another pane of glass. Note that there’s a bunch of polymer between the negative and the top pane of glass. This actually becomes the backing for the stamp and the stamping side is made closest to the negative. Are you following? It will make more sense after you mess it up yourself a couple of times.

Clamp that sandwich at equal places around the glass. Keep in mind the packet needs to be squished evenly. This is oh, so very important.  Make adjustments by moving the clips and pushing the glass down until you get it even on all sides. Let’s go to the exposure chamber.

Exposed stamps

(Remember, these times are for the .125 packets.) Place your glass and polymer packet sandwich in the chamber with the negative side down away from the lights and expose for 1 minute exactly. This just created the back for your stamp. Now we are going to gently turn the glass and polymer packet sandwich over and expose it for 4 minutes. This creates the stamping surface of the stamp.

Cut the packet on three sides and pull the packet open and you will see the stamps. The wet, goopy stuff is quite possibly the grossest thing I’ve ever had to clean other than meconium. Seriously. Try not to get any of it on anything, put on those kitchen gloves, fill up the bucket with really hot water and dish soap and go to town cleaning the stamps with your brush. Then clean some more. And once more again. Might as well go ahead and clean it a bit more just in case. And some more.

Be forewarned, good luck cleaning it. This stuff it evil and invisible and misleadingly slimy when it’s in water so you think it’s clean but it’s not. This cleaning process takes 1) more time than it does to make the stamps, and 2) a seriously neglected subject in all videos and discussions I’ve seen on making stamps with polymer packets. Basically, clean them as long as you can deal with and then wash the stamps off with some Mr. Clean to break the meconium seal on the stamps.

Rinse them off well with water and move on to using the salt that conditions the stamps and makes them a little less sticky and a bit harder. I mix a tiny amount of the salt in water in a shallow tray and place the stamps in it. Put the tray in the exposure chamber for about 3 minutes. Then they are ready to go. Almost.

It’s been a fertile summer here on the prairie. Every where I look there’s some sort of baby making going on. We had that incredible tadpole breeding event in our pond this spring and it hasn’t stopped yet. Just recently we discovered that our goldfish had babies. This is our third summer with the pond and we’ve never had this much activity in and around it. It was a nice surprise and the boys couldn’t be more thrilled. When we put in the pond we made it deep enough to winter over fish but we’ve never had any luck. This year, though, I plan on getting a floating ice melter. I’m told that will do the trick.

Now our little pond is now full of goldfish fry. They outnumber the adults around 2-1. They just started changing color, which is really exciting to see from day to day. The fry start out dark to camouflage and keep them safe. If you look closely, there are about 10 fry in this photo. Can you see them?

(I have long adored the names for animal groups and offspring. Take coterie for prairie dog groups, for example. Fry for a baby fish is so ironic, I can’t help but marvel at the wit implored. I find myself revisiting the list again and again.)

We had the momma silkies co-brood on a small group of eggs again. I was hesitant to encourage them after the last batch didn’t hatch. The momma’s chose a better place in the coop this time and after about 10 days, I moved them in to the condo. I had candled all the eggs to see if they were developing first. (I’m learning as I go here.) All seven eggs were either cochin bantam/silkie mix or pure silkies. I tried not to get too excited at the thought of having chicks after being heart broken not once, but twice before. But the momma’s did their job and got along great.

Yesterday morning all of the fun started and we ended up with two cochin/silkies hatching first. They are all grey with some little spots of yellow. It’s a bit like Christmas when they come out of the shells and you get to see the colors/combinations. They are adorable and very social. When I come in to check on them they all come out to see me.

This is the first silkie that hatched. It’s pale yellow now but I think it’ll end up being a white silkie. Here’s the math on it: mom and dad are both blue silkies. Let’s say they lay five eggs. Out of the five, 2 will be black, 2 will be white, and one will be blue. We were lucky to get three blue silkies in the first place but now I’m excited for more colors.

We had one more cochin/silkie hatch after I took the photos. There are three more eggs to go. I’ve listened to them all and can hear the chicks working at getting out. One has a pip and I can see the little beak. (A pip is the little hole they make when they first peck through the shell.) I’m waiting on two more silkies and one more cochin/silkie combo. I’m so glad to welcome them all to our family.

This is part 1 of my series on making your own stamps on the cheap.

In order to make your own stamps, you need someplace to develop the polymer packets into stamps. This is achieved using UV light bulbs and a box of some sort that reflects the light.

I did a fair amount of research about the bulbs before I made a purchase. I say a fair amount, but honestly, I became rather obsessed. UV light is a very complex subject. If you don’t believe me, have at the Wiki. I started my research process by exploring what types of light will 1) provide the needed UV output. and as I quickly learned 2) Must be safe to use. All UV lights can cause damage to skin and eyes, so keep that in mind while making your bulb choice.

There are three types of bulbs to consider:  fluorescent, LED, and black light. The fluorescent bulbs emit an unsafe amount of UV light for most purposes. This type of bulb is used for germ killing wands and is available but comes with a stiff warning. The LED are more efficient at UV output, but require a less conventional setup. I would like to use what I have on hand: a few standard T8 light fixtures I use for starting seeds indoors. I found that black light bulbs serve this function best as they are readily available, emit UV light but won’t kill me or make be go blind if I use them in a controlled environment. That being said, you still probably shouldn’t stare them.

If you are wondering about the nail curing lamps, yes, it is the same sort of light. I found these little boxes on eBay. Black lights, in general, have a good UV output for our purposes but most have low wattage. We all know what wattage is, right? The lower the wattage, the less powerful the light. That means a low watt black light will take more time to develop the stamps. (This was probably the biggest pain to figure out with a lot of trial and error.)

I ended up getting two GE 15 watt black light bulbs at Lowe’s for around $8 each. That means I have an output of 30 watts. You could use shorter ones, but as I said, I wanted to use the fixtures that I already have on hand.

If you have a small clip lamp, you could pick up a spiral black light bulb at most stores for around $6. The wattage is lower than I’ve used, so your exposure time will need to be adjusted. Point being, that figure out what fixture you have and then pick up a black light bulb that fits it. Keep in mind that all of my instructions for developing the stamps are based on a system with 30 watts.

To build the actual chamber, I explored the options. Clearly, my system was determined by the size of my lights. Now I looked for something enclosed that I could mount the lights in. My hubby had the idea of using a rubbermaid-type tub or a plastic organizer drawer. Both are great ideas but would have required me buying them. I ended up going with a cardboard box. It’s large enough to make t-shirts or the largest of stamp sheets. You could also use a shoe box, cigar box, anything that fits your fixtures just keep in mind that it needs to be fairly light proof for best results.

To assemble the exposure chamber, I lined the inside of my box with foil, shiny side out. The I cut holes in the top of the box and mounted my lights inside. The plugs also go through holes the the top so that I can easily use them. My box is large enough to fit the biggest polymer sheets, which I find to be the easiest to use. They are 8.5 x 12 inches and offer a ton of usable space.

That’s it for building the exposure box. Post questions if you’ve got them and I’ll answer them to the best of my ability.

Next I’ll cover negatives and making the stamps.

I’ve spent a good deal of time over the last few years trying to figure out how to make my own rubber stamps without spending a pile of money. Years ago, I discovered Granthams. They provided me with some basic instructions for the process. Back then, the process involved a complex series of steps using chemicals and supplies. I wasn’t ready to take the project on just yet.

Then, about a month ago, I saw a post about Tereasa Collins’ Stampmaker. It rocked my world, for a few moments at least. I did a lot of research about it. I say a lot but what I found was very little really available. I have three concerns abut her system:

1) It’s expensive. It has a retail price of $169 and no listing anywhere in the universe of the refill prices. I even spoke with a store own who is bringing the product in but still had no idea of the other expenses. Hmmm.

2) It’s small. The largest size stamp it can handle is 4 x 2 3/8 inch. That’s not a lot of space to work with. I want to make larger stamps. The types if stamps that aren’t available anywhere. Isn’t that the point?

3) Quality. As we know, all stamps are not created equal, especially clear/acrylic stamps. I want lots of contrast and detail. I want to preserve tiny lines and make them in any shape I want. What kind of stamps will this little machine make?

I did my research and what I found is that this is in no way a new product. There have been a few variations available by Photocentric, the manufacturer of the Stampmaker, for awhile. They all use roughly the same process and cost around the same as the Stampmaker. My research did lead me to some interesting information:

There’s been a lengthy discussion about it over at Split Coast Stampers. From there I found a blog post by Ruth from Stamp Off, Eh! that breaks down the difference between all three products and the type of stamps they produce. This last point was extremely important to me. I don’t want to invest a lot to make low quality stamps. That’s just silly.

So I entered the world of ultraviolet radiation all on my own. I gathered supplies from around the house and purchased the packets from Photocentric. I did end up figuring out how to make my own system for a lot less and achieve the highest quality results. My overall cost was around $75 and that included the supplies to make dozens of stamps in whatever size I want. Now that I have my system up and going, I only need to spend about $2 for a stamp the size of this dragonfly, around 4 1/4 by 3, which is the bigger than the largest size the Stampmaker will handle. And it gets cheaper for larger stamps. Sweet.

Dragonfly stamped with Versamark and then dusted with pigment powder.

There was a bit of a learning curve to the process at first. What you need to know is posted no where online, so I’ve save you the heart ache and walk through the process over the next few posts. I’ll include instructions for making the exposure chamber and the stamps. I’ll throw in a few giveaways of my end result, just for fun.

See? I told you I was up to something!

Here’s part 1: Building the box.

Here’s part 2: Making the stamps.

Inspired by all the nature that swirls around me, I ordered the new 7 Gypsies Conservatory line as soon as I saw it. If ever a line of paper was made with me in mind, this was it. Seriously happy because I don’t have to cut up my pretty vintage book plates for images any more. I ordered two of each sheet, but I can tell I need to go back for more. It’s just so pretty!

Nature is a common theme in paper right now. I’ve seen some new stuff by Basic Grey and Graphic 45 that’s more stylized that the 7 Gypsies. I’m a purist and don’t want anyone to mess with a style that’s worked for way more than 100 years. If it’s not broken….

This pattern made my heart swell. I want my world to be covered in it. Those are the rubons from the same line. I like them. A lot. But they are way too small for my taste and I want them in stamp form. I have to admit they’ve inspired me to solve a conundrum. I’ll post more on that in coming weeks.

I tried, really tried to be minimalistic about these banner. They don’t have a word on them and I pulled way back on the decorations. I wanted simple, which was really hard. If  I’d put everything on them that I wanted I’d never be able to hang the banner up. It would weigh a ton.

I did go with a quote from Shakespeare’s The Tempest, “but you, O you, so perfect and so peerless, are created of every creature’s best!” It was in a small book I keep stuffed with colorful fall leaves.

And it’s all finished with some old lace tied in a bow. I like the texture it lends to the piece. Now it hangs over a shelf storing many a project I’ve made in the past.

Some may call me foolish for making a banner digital file. But I make them often enough and hey, they are a pain to cut evenly. I made two versions of the file. One was used for the background and has a ric rac shape to the edge. The other is simply a plain banner, but perfect for small projects and cards. Here they are all zipped in eps, svg, png, and dxf:

Ric Rac Banner.zip

Banner.zip