Step 1:
Use fine sandpaper or a rough terrycloth rag to smoothe the edges of your bisque tile and remove any dust from it.
Step 2:
Place a small puddle of Plaid Glaze Vernis (Antique Bronze) on a styro plate. Using a make-up sponge (which has been wet and wrung out) to dampen the surface of the piece of styro packing foam. Using the same sponge, pat an even covering of the glaze over a 4"x4" area of the foam.
Note: Craft acrylic paint could be used for this step, but it should be mixed with an acrylic glazing medium to give it a lighter, more transparent appearance.
Step 3. Lay the tile face down on the foam and *lightly* apply even pressure. The glaze will transfer to the tile according to the amount of pressure applied (see below left). If you are using bisque tiles from Cre8it, you have 2 good sides, and we recommend that you imprint both sides to give yourself twice the number of choices. Re-ink the foam before each imprint and remoisten the make-up sponge when necessary. Already, we see options to try. If you would like a lighter pattern of coverage, you can use a different texture source. The reverse side of the same packing foam makes a slightly different impression, for one thing. And the tiles below right were printed using the mezzotint heat-impressible foam from the Texture Tools package - without heat impressing it with anything. You could even lightly sponge the glaze on the tile with a sea sponge.
Using your heat tool, heat the Penscore block for about 20-30 seconds until it will hold the impression of your fingernail. Then heat it until the impression of your fingernail disappears.
Quickly press the heated side down on the “leaf” texture sheet, and hold for about 10 seconds. You have now made a stamp of the leaf pattern,
Step 5.
Cut a piece of the adhesive-backed felt slightly larger than the Penscore block, remove the backing paper and stick it to the middle of the styrofoam dinner plate. You have now made the stamp pad.
Step 6.
We want to use acrylic paint for this step because it needs to dry waterproof - since it will be a coaster. There are great waterproof dye ink stamp pads, but we couldn't find any with the graduation of the two colors we wanted to use. So, we chose two colors of acrylic craft paint by Delta: Santa Fe Rose and Golden Brown.
Generously apply each color to one half of the felt pad. Squiggle your way from top to bottom.
Use a flat ended clay tool or the end of an old cerdit card, to spread the paint from top to bottom. The idea is to get the two colors to blend seamlessly in the middle.
Load the Penscore stamp with the blended acrylic by tapping it on the felt pad. Make sure the stamp is completely covered - especially the corners.
Place it carefully in the center of the tile and apply light pressure. Notice that the Penscore block lines up with the height of the tile exactly.Carefully lift one side to be sure that the entire image has transferred - if not, replace the block and apply more pressure to the areas that need it.
Before you dispose of your inkpad (the acrylic will dry up pretty quickly), stamp this background several times on miscellaneous cardstock. This will serve two purposes - you can test designs in the next stage before committing them to tile. . . and these pieces are great for card designs. Clean your block often with soap and water during this process because acrylic paint dries quickly and is harder to remove when dry.
