Stamping with bleach

Stamping with bleach can be very exciting - because you never really know what’s going to happen.

There are several important things to know before you start:

1. Work in a well-ventilated area and don’t get bleach on your hands or clothing.
2. If you want to keep a small bottle of bleach specifically for craft use, make sure the bottle is clearly labelled to avoid accidents and don’t store it in a clear bottle as the light will reduce the effectiveness of the bleach.
3. Work quickly – the power of bleach is soon diminished by light. However, you can use this to your advantage to gain different effects.
4. Clean your stamps thoroughly immediately after stamping.

Will it harm your stamps? If you used the same stamp with bleach over and over again, in time I would expect some damage to occur. But for occasional use, as long as you clean your stamp thoroughly straight away, you should be fine.

You will need all your stamping supplies to hand plus a pad of kitchen roll in a small flat pot. Today I placed my pad of kitchen paper on a plastic takeaway pot lid.

Have everything you need to hand before you open the bleach. When you’re sure you’re ready, pour a small amount of bleach onto the paper pad then stamp…

Put your stamped cardstock to one side and wait for a few moments for the bleach to take effect.

On this card I then overstamped with the co-ordinating stamp using the same colour as the cardstock. I used the Stamp-a-ma-jig® to position the images where I wanted them.

I made this card for an Inspiration Challenge I’m posting over on In Love With Stamping next week, so this is a sneak preview for blog-readers. The inspiration piece was an Andy Warhol painting called Four Monkeys which you can see here.

Stamps: Heartfelt (p20), Daily Flexible Phrases (p65)
Cardstock: So Saffron, Basic Black, Bravo Burgundy, Rose Red, Always Artichoke, Elegant Eggplant
Ink: Bravo Burgundy, Rose Red, Always Artichoke, Elegant Eggplant, White StazOn®
Accessories: ¼” Grosgrain Ribbon - Elegant Eggplant (p86), Round Tab Punch (p80), Stamp-a-ma-jig® (p81), household bleach

All products by Stampin' Up! Please email me to order a catalogue, or click the picture of the catalogue on the right to view it online.