Lots of folks like the fact that a rubber stamp usually comes with all its picture elements in place. All that’s left to do is ink and stamp it, and then maybe paint it.

But others feel the itch to do some design experimentation of their own - to mix and match and come up with original combinations. Well, that’s exactly the idea behind our new Design Time stamp sets. We give you the parts - and you put them together however you please.

In this article we will be working with ceramic tiles, but these ideas and techniques are equally at home on cards, ATCs, in books, or any other form of paper art. We’ll start with a simple 4"x4" tile and then move on to a bigger, grander piece.
This tile combines Design Time and Domino stamps from Cre8it - with ink, paint, and embossing powders, to create an unusual and interesting Shaman type figure. It’s fun and very easy to create.
About the Tiles:
You can use any 4" square tile for this project. You will just have to choose the ink appropriately.

In the top picture to the right, you see a natural terra cotta tile, a glazed Italian tile, and two of the tumbled marble variety available at home improvement stores. If you choose the glazed or tumbled marble type, which are not absorbant, you will have to use a permanent ink made for non-porous surfaces - such as Stazon.

We weren’t wild about the terra cotta tiles we found, and decided to make our own from the white bisque tiles we have on hand. We found very pleasing results using both Terra Cotta acrylic craft paint by Delta (right), and the Terra Cotta Decor-It ink from Ranger (left), which gave us the perfect color for our white washed polymer clay medallions - made from the boxed Terra Cotta Sculpey now found in craft stores. This great look is obtained with our exciting White Wash High Desert PolyGlaze - which will be introduced and available in the next issue.
Very convincing terra cotta tiles can be made from unglazed white bisque tiles which absorb these paints very well, so they don’t look painted. At a recent show, artists preferred the painted over the real terra cotta tiles on display.
What You Will Need for this Project:
There are lots of our own products used in this project because they are things we love to use, but, feel free to substitute wherever you like.

Tiles - 4" square If using white tiles, you will also need one of the Terra Cotta paints shown above. We used unglazed Bisque Tiles from Cre8it and the Delta craft paint.

Design Time Stamp Set (Large) from Cre8it

See-through mounting system (we used Simple-Mounts from Cre8it)

Your choice of Domino Stamp Sets from Cre8it (there are six design choices), or some other unmounted design stamp approx. 1/2" x 1" rectangle - that is cut into a nice rectangle shape (we will be using both sides!!)

Brilliance Ink, Graphite Black: Stamp pad and Re-inker

Small pointed round paintbrush (see Brush article in Now What? Volume One if you don’t know what this is)

Versamark or other clear embossing pad

Embossing Marker (we used Marvy Wet Ones)

Gold and Silver Embossing Powder, regular - any brand

Heat tool (hotter type like Marvy/Uchida preferred, but Ranger Heat-It will work)
Now, just add your imagination and turn the page.
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