2018 #14: Baked Texture Engraved Enamel with EAB {by Alison Bomber}

2018 Topic 13: Baked Texture
Engraved Enamel by Alison Bomber

This is the perfect way to create that wonderful finishing touch to any project! I can think of so many ways these wonderful plaques could be used. I'm astonished at how the colour can vary so much in the translucent powders depending on how many layers you apply! ~ Leandra

Hi everyone, it's Alison here from Words and Pictures with you today, and I'd like to share with you these "engraved enamel" word plaques created with Seth Apter's Baked Textures and my Eclectica quote stamps.

I'd seen Seth stamping into his powders in a demo from Creativation (I think), but mostly using background and texture stamps.  I wasn't sure whether I'd be able to get a detailed enough impression with my quote stamps, but I thought that if I could, the results would be gorgeous... and they are - though I do say so myself!

I'm afraid I haven't really got any process photos... It's not the kind of process you can stop and take photos in the middle of!  It's not that you have to be Speedy Gonzales, but you do have to keep moving through the steps to get the finished result.

I cut some oval and rectangle panels with a die, and used a WOW embossing pad to apply my Baked Texture powders.  I've used mainly either Vintage Beeswax or Deep Sea, but there's a touch of Ancient Amber added to one of them too.

I experimented with different numbers of layers of powder.  I found that it was perfectly possible to get a good impression whether with one, two or three applications of powder.  The joy is that, since both Deep Sea and Vintage Beeswax are translucent once melted, you get deeper colour tones as you add more layers.

Once you have the look you want, ink up your stamp and have it to hand.  Then simply reheat the plaque (yes, you can remelt Seth's powders - so useful) and press the inked stamp down in position.  Leave it there for at least 15 - 20 seconds before you remove it, and then gently peel it away (also fine to leave it until the powders cool completely), and there you are.

This small plaque has just one layer of the Deep Sea (love, love, love those white specks in the powder which give it such a great enamel look)...

... and this one has two layers for a much darker, more mysterious effect.  For these Deep Sea plaques, I inked up my stamps with Picket Fence (white) Distress Ink so there would be a colour contrast.

For the Vintage Beeswax plaques, I inked the stamps with Jet Black Archival.  I also want to try this with Sepia ink - I think it will look very cool.  Here again, there's a lovely difference according to how many layers you use.  The large oval with the lovely Victor Hugo music quote is one layer of Vintage Beeswax.

The small oval with the Lao Tzu silence quote is done with three layers (and the Pythagoras, one of my all-time favourite quotes, with two)...

... and the large rectangle for Marcus Aurelius's quote is a first layer of Vintage Beeswax followed by a top layer of Ancient Amber.  I love the beautiful golden glow!  Be warned that if you do use multiple layers, you have to be careful to press equally across the stamp, not lean on one edge.  That slight indentation you can see above left of the words is the edge of the rubber stamp.  It only happened to me on this last stamping of all, so I don't think it can be that much of a risk, but I wanted to warn you.

The quotes are from a variety of collections: EAB02 Darkness & Light, 

EAB03 Music & Silence,

 and EAB08 Strength & Courage.

I just love both the enamelled effect you can get with these powders and the fabulous indented impression of the words. I'm still slightly amazed that you can achieve such detailed stamping in the melted powders.  I think this one where the glint of light on the surface echoes the glint of light in the words might be my favourite... what do you think?

I can imagine all sorts of ways to use these plaques - on tags, in art journalling, on altered objects - and I'm looking forward to trying out different ink colours, to see how that looks.  And of course I'll be playing with some image stamps too, at some point.  According to Seth, red rubber stamps are indestructible, so be bold.  (I can't speak for other stamps... I don't know whether you might get into trouble with using clear stamps for this technique - I haven't tried.)

I hope you've enjoyed seeing my engraved enamel word plaques.  I certainly enjoyed experimenting, and I love the results.  Thanks so much for stopping by, and go bake some textures!

Blog: Words and Pictures
Pinterest: butterfly crafter

To join our challenge and win a PaperArtsy £50 gift voucher:

Simply make something arty relevant to the topic, and link your creation from any social URL (eg. Instagram, Pinterest, Blog Post etc) sharing your original make to this topic link Topic 14: Baked Texture . The link will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, Sept 2nd 2018, and the winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.

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