Stamp Doodling ~ Part 2

Today I'm painting new pendants from my latest polymer clay "doodled" stamp…

Last time I gave you a little peek at the making of this stamp and today I'm going to show you how I used it. Polymer stamps are a great way to quickly and easily make several of the same design and they're a lot of fun too.

Grab some polymer and come follow along…

All you need is some conditioned polymer (not too soft though, or it will make a sticky mess on your new stamp! Leach if first, if needed), a cutter, needles for piercing, water, a large paintbrush, and of course, your newly baked stamp.

I like to measure out each of my pendants by rolling the polymer all the same thickness on my pasta machine and then using a cutter to cut the same number of pieces for each pendant.

Ready for stamping!

Next, I shape the measured polymer into the same shape, but making it a bit smaller than my stamp.

Using the large paintbrush, I flood the surface of the stamp with water, paying close attention to any deeper details.

Then I press the polymer into place, pushing it over the surface to the edges of the stamp.

Removing the polymer from the stamp is fairly easy—I start at the edges and loosen it all the way around working towards the center. Don't simply pull from one side or you'll probably have a stretched design. After several stampings you will find that the polymer starts sticking (the raw polymer will actually soften the baked stamp)—just carefully clean out any bits of leftover raw polymer (a needle works great for this) and pop it into the oven when you bake your next beads and it will be ready for many more stampings.

Pierce your holes and bake.

And then my favorite part—paint, stain and finish! Experiment with different colors in polymer and then layers of paint for varied looks.

Happy creating!