I Tried That! Stamping Flip Flop

So, here is the first in my "I Tried That" series.

Have you ever wanted to use a stamp image, but you'd really like it "flipped around?" You might want this for placement, or to match up a mirror image of the stamp.

I remember reading once that you can create a mirror-image by stamping the image on the flip-side of a larger, acrylic stamp. So, here's my step-by-step experience with this technique.

You'll see that not all my images came out crisp and clear. But, I am convinced that this can be solved with more experience, so I am definitely keen to keep playing with this idea.

Here we go ...

I started by selecting a "large-ish" acrylic stamp that I could flip around (smooth side up on the block) to hold my image.

I mounted the stamp on the acrylic block with the textured side on the block and the smooth side facing up (in other words, I put it on the block "upside down"). I will call this my "host stamp."

I wanted to use this bird image in a "matched set" with the two birds pointing beak-to-beak. First, I stamped the image as it would regularly appear, onto my paper.

Then, I stamped the image again, this time onto the flipped stamp (remember, you need the textured side down for this technique, though the textured side up provides a whole different technique!).

Now, I'll mention here that I tried a few different inks. The one that seemed to work the best was the Memento Ink from Tsukineko (do note that Staz-On won't work well because it dries too quickly and is too permanent to allow you to take the image off the stamp and onto the paper surface).

Here's the flipped image, both coloured in. You'll see I didn't quite get crisp lines on the flipped image, but I addressed that by going over some of the image with a super-fine black marker, which you'll see the results of in the photo below..

Here's the finished card, all coloured in and embellished.

As I noted above, I think the crispness can be refined with more practice, and with trying a few different stamp surfaces. I even tried stamping straight onto the acrylic block (without a "host stamp") and had mixed results with that approach.

I decided to also try this with a wooden-mounted stamp. You'll see the image below of the original orientation of the buggy stamp, and then the transferred, flipped image.

I did find that it was sometimes better if instead of stamping onto the "host stamp," I instead took the acrylic block with the host stamp on it, and "pressed" it onto the image I wanted to transfer. Since the "host stamp" is smooth, the image can tend to "slip" as you attempt to stamp onto the host, and so it was a little less likely to wobble when I did it the other way.

Here's another image of a series of feathers. Again, the flipped image (the middle one) isn't totally crisp, but that could be fixed with a fine-tip marker, and I think once the feathers are all coloured in, it will look fine.

I also tried this with a a floral bouquet image. The one on the right is the "original" and the one on the left is my mirrored image. Once they were all coloured in, I think the result is quite good (if I do say so myself!).

Finally, I thought I'd try stamping with Oxide Ink instead of the Memento. I thought that because the Oxide Ink has a longer drying time, it might give me some more flexibility. I have to admit, I did this really quickly just before I planned to post this, so you'll see the "wobble" in the lower side of the flipped image. Again, though, I think this has good potential!

So, I think that was quite successful and definitely something I would suggest trying out. Have fun!