journal practice

The mini journal is evolving. I thought it would be strictly a glue and stamp book but now I'm adding writing to see what happens. It looks kind of interesting as a design element and it might help me with the blog, too, since that's also a work in progress.


Last week when I had a few days off I went to Stamp Asylum in Plano. It's a small store packed with mounted rubber stamps, printed ephemera, cards, stamp pads, chalks, tools, embellishments, and I forgot what else. I bought two rubber stamps, and got a stamp pad and a "rubber stamper" magazine at half price. The store has classes for all levels of rubber stampers that look interesting but most are too expensive for me ($60 to $150 on average) and seem to require items I don't already own.

All of the stamps at the store are mounted stamps; there weren't any unmounted ones. I've discovered that unmounted stamps are much less expensive so I bought a few to try them out. They work great although I have to handle them differently. I've ordered some acrylic mounts and static cling foam that will let me mount each stamp temporarily when I want to use it. So many new things out there in the art world!

I got a rubber brayer that I've been using to ink some of my stamps and also to mash down some of the pieces on my collages. I like it better than my burnisher.(I think my burnisher is the same thing as a "bone folder" but I like the term "burnisher" better.) You get really even pressure over a small area or an entire page of a book.

The Rubber Stamper magazine was interesting for some of its examples and techniques, but I didn't like it enough to subscribe. I did get the names of some rubber stamp manufacturers and a few interesting tips about layering papers that could be useful. They have a web site with a few tips on rubber stamping.