Second Thursday Tutorial: One stamp, one color becomes a masterboard

Today we are taking ONE stamp and creating a masterboard.  I know those of you who live in the U.K. more than likely know what a masterboard is.  Although I've been told one was first shown on an American blog or web site, masterboards haven't exactly caught on here.  If you don't know what a masterboard is, check out my internet friend Helen (H) and examples of hers.  Another internet friend who specializes in masterboards is Angela.  You will find her masterboards on her blog by going to the top and finding "Home."  Go to the second row, the third "page" from the left and you will be overwhelmed with them.

Unlike these artists, I'm keeping mine simple.  I began by choosing three stamps I thought I might use.

I really wanted to use the flower, but

upon closer inspection, I realized the flower wasn't really deeply etched, even though it had a much nicer wooden block than the butterfly.

I purchased this butterfly stamp at the Dollar Tree where everything is $1.00 (USD).

As I've said in the past, my reinkers are divided into dye, pigment, distress, and solvent.  You will want to use dye ink for this project.  Since both had bled onto their original labels, I can't tell you the brand, only that I purchased them on clearance at my favorite mixed media store. 

I don't have many stamp pads, so I had to create my own by placing three wet baby wipes on one of my acrylic blocks.  I used the largest block I own.  Then it was time to stamp.

Ideally, you should rotate your stamp so it appears there is movement.  However, I often forgot to rotate it and many of my butterflies were headed in the same direction.  You shouldn't be afraid to stamp off the edges, either.

The spot you see on the page is where the baby wipes were exposed too long to  the card stock.

Of course, I had to try again to see if I could do a bit better the second time around.

Not sure this was much better.

The spot at the bottom of this image is a shadow from my lens.

Then it was time to clean and put my tools away.  You can see I got three masterboards out of this because I hate to waste anything, even dye ink.

Now it is time to turn these into greeting cards, ATCs, journal, or altered book backgrounds.

Ruminations:

1.  I must learn to stamp better, applying even pressure each time I press the stamp to paper.

2.  I wanted to fill the blank spots with second and third generation stamping, but I often forgot and overlapped a few images that caused confusion, something I had hoped wouldn't happen.

Thank you for joining me for this Second Thursday tutorial.  Once this goes live, you will be able to find it on my Tutorials page (found under Bleubeard's beautiful face).