Decorating Wood Shapes Using Stamps

Every time I go to a local dollar store I look in the craft aisle. For a couple of years now I've looked at their wood shapes but they have always had shapes I have no use for. Just before Easter to my surprise they had both wooden flowers and butterflies. They come in packages of ten so I can experiment. LOL! I hope the store has more next time I go back.

(Don't know if it is new here but you can click on the images for a better closeup of details. Just thought I would mention it.)

For my first shape I've taken a flower one and brushed on a mixture of Gesso tinted with ink. I want to stamp on it. after it dries.  I could have also painted on it and then stamped after the paint dried. The great thing about this is if you goof stamping you can brush more Gesso on it or paint over your mistake. The Gesso dries quicker so that is why I like to use it. The wild plum ink Gesso has dried brighter than I thought it would. LOL! I thought it would be too pale when I was mixing it so added more ink.

 Pigment inks work best and can be heat set with an embossing gun. As you can see I used StazOn here. I would have gotten more even coverage if I would have used my brayer for inking the stamp. Still I'm pleased with the way it turned out. Make sure it dries thoroughly so you don't smudge the ink. Especially if you decide to color your stamped image using markers.

I haven't decided whether to heat emboss clear embossing enamel over the flower or not. If I was going to make a key chain or pendant out of this I would Gesso on both sides and heat emboss after stamping.  Just to protect it more.

The butterfly shape here I stamped directly with the pad onto the butterfly. I love the mottled effect I got. You can get really creative with lighter and darker areas. Making rectangles or squares with the ink pad. etc. The most challenging was inking the edges of the butterfly.

 Using my brayer inked the stamp and stamped. Because I was stamping directly on the wood which had not been sealed I went ahead and tried a rainbow dye pad. I figured if I didn't like it or the ink smudged I could always paint over. I like the softness and the subtle differences of colors.

My last shape I rubbed olive oil over the shape to seal it. I let it sit a few hours to make sure it was dry. I did not have any tung oil as it has been a couple of decades since I've restored woodwork or furniture. Or for that matter finished unfinished wooden things. Anyway I think olive oil is less toxic and definitely less expensive as I already have it in my kitchen for cooking. I love how the Copper ink came out even though I lost the metallic sheen.

There you have it three ways to stamp on wood:

1. Stamping over a Gesso or paint covered surface.
2. Stamping over a ink covered surface.
3. Stamping on bare wood which has been sealed first with something like olive oil or tung oil.

I hope I have given you some ideas of how to decorate wood shapes. By the way you can seal the shapes and stamp with them. LOL! If I don't get too distracted I plan to do a future post on that topic.

Remember using wood shapes is an inexpensive way to add to your projects. something which is a little different. There are so many ways you can use them but here again that is a future post. LOL!

Thank you for stopping by. Do come back as I'm working on a card for the Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger using one of the stamped butterflies.

Happy frugal crafting till we meet again!