Bluh, the test of the spirograph stamp didn’t come out how I planned. The stamp itself turned out alright, but I did it with some leftover linoleum instead of stamping rubber, so I think it didn’t take the ink the right way?
I’ll go buy some different ink tomorrow and try it again. Then I can get this
MYSTERIOUSshow on the road.The linoleum should work if instead of ink, you paint it with watercolors, let that dry, and press it onto a soaked piece of paper
Unfortunately I’m doing it on fabric instead of paper, or else I wouldn’t be having the problem in the first place (I have to use ink that can be set into the fabric and part of the problem is probably that this stuff isn’t actually supposed to be used for stamping……). I hadn’t heard of that technique though- That’s pretty neat! I effing love watercolor, so I might have to try that sometime.
Linoleum soaks up ink a bit before printing cleanly, especially with the old kind of linoleum you used by the looks of it. Also, if you’re using just the press-down inkpad things, that’s not going to last very long, because of how watered down it is. If at all possible try to get straight printing ink in a jar, which is more viscous (basically goop that you have to work with a knife for a while until it “warms up” and behaves more like ink). I’m not sure how actual printing inks work on fabric, but you could try that or some kind of artist’s acrylic (not just the cheapo acrylics you can buy for like five bucks, but the actual high quality pigment heavy ones) because acrylic tends to work well on fabrics. Fabric paint has an acrylic base to it, after all.
I know this stuff because I took a class on printmaking, so if you have any other questions or things I didn’t explain right I can try to reword it for you or answer better. Good luck!
I actually took a printmaking class last semester too! That’s what the linoleum was left over from, heh. I should really scan the stuff I did in that class, ‘coz I’m pretty proud of some of it.
I’ve actually never used an inkpad when I do stamps on fabric- None of the pads I can find actually heatset into the fabric, which is really what you need for printing on any kind of fabric. I’ve done some research/talked to some people since doing those test prints, and found out some cool stuff about printing on fabric. Rest assured though, I was using a thick ink to begin with! I hadn’t thought about it soaking into the block though- I always forget about that.
Thanks for the advice. ♥ I think my main issue was how I was putting the ink onto the stamp (I was using Jacqard textile colour, which while thick, is a lot more slick then most printing inks). I was using a brayer to put it on, which just got it caught on the edges of the stamp. I switched to using basically a homemade foam dauber and the stamping came out a lot clearer.
I’m not sure if I need to anymore, but you can buy a liquid fabric medium that turns any acrylic into fabric paint - It’s like 15 bucks though, and I don’t have that money to throw around, but I didn’t know it existed and that might help someone else doing it?
