Sunday, April 20, 2014

Before & After and Tutorial: Multi-colored stamping

Hello and Happy Easter!

Multi-color stamping, or using several colors on the same stamp at the same time, is one of the basic techniques every stamper should know--it's easy, and the results are fun. So I thought I'd take the opportunity to show you how easy this technique can be, while showing you my Easter manicure. :)

I started off with Barielle Peach Popsicle, a lovely soft peach creme:

Barielle Peach Popsicle
 
Barielle Peach Popsicle

I decided to transform this lovely into Easter eggs, so I pulled out Winstonia 212, to use along with Sally Hansen Lickety-Split Lime, Brisk Blue, and Lively Lilac. To do the stamping, I put a generous stripe of each of the three colors over the lines of decoration of the stamping image. Normally when you stamp, you can get away with only putting polish over half of the design, and then scraping the polish into the rest of the image, if you want to save polish. But I've found that for this technique, it's best to paint across the whole portion of the design; that way when you scrape, there is less risk that you'll get the wrong color in the wrong place:


Cover the area you want with the color you want for that area
Next, scrape in the direction that preserves your color best. What I mean is, in this case if you put your stamper below the green stripe and scrape toward the edge of the plate, you will risk getting bleed from the green into the blue, and the blue into the lilac; so instead, you want to place your scraper on the side where the three stripes all end, and scrape up in the same direction that the stripes go. That will minimize bleeding.

Then, pick up your image and stamp onto your nails as you normally would:


My nails after they've just been stamped, with no clean up and lots of animal hair. How does it get there no matter how much I clean my tools???

I wanted a little extra bling for this manicure, and I happen to have Milani holo toppers in matching colors, so I put a little of each onto my plate, and with a dotting tool, I went over the dots in the manicure:


I use my plate as a palette, since it's there anyway. :)

And here is my final mani, cleaned up, blinged out, and defurred (mostly, sigh...):


Happy Easter!



There you have it--if you like the look of multiple colors in a stamping image but have been hesitant to try it, it really is just that easy. Let me know if you'd like me to make a pinnable tutorial graphic. :)

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you have a wonderful holiday!
M.

18 comments:

  1. Our furballs just want to be involved in every aspect of our lives... ;)

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  2. "No clean up and lots of animal hair", lol! Well, yes, obviously, as Kelly pointed put already, they just don't want to be left out. :D
    As for that "colour bleeding" - I see what you were after with this mani (it's really cute, and bright), but sometimes that can be a desired result, and I think those stampings can look great.

    And using a plate as a palette -- genius! I never thought of that (see, 'cause I'm hardly ever (more like never) using them). Thanks for a great tip!

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    1. Yes! I think it's a great look when you bleed the colors on purpose, too. And I'll get you stamping one of these days...::glares at you::

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    2. Y'know, I'm a step ahead of ya (err, sorta) - I've been really into *water marbling*(!!) lately, with some actual success and quite stress-free! :)
      So I'll leave all this stamping biz in more capable hands.. :)

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    3. Okay, you gotta teach me how to make water marbling stress-free...please please please!

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    4. Seems I spoke too soon, lol; beginner's luck that was.. Most frustrating thing for me right now is hardly getting any polishes to work (too old & thick, so should thin them out)! Oh, and (scotch) tape. Lots of it! Up to your wrists, if necessary. :D

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    5. Good luck to you...I'm going to wait until you perfect it and then have you teach me, lol!

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  3. What a fun stamping manicure! Its perfect for Easter too.

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  4. Love this effect! I need to try this sometime! :)

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  5. Great tutorial!! I haven't done this in quite awhile but this post is making me want to try it again :D

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