2019 #4 Tick Tock: Wood Blocks with Ink & Dog Minis {by Lotte Kristensen}

2019 Topic 4: Tick Tock

There was a phase back in the day, where many stampers opted to remove their stamps from their wooden mounts. But I never heard of anyone keeping the wooden mounts!! Well, Lotte did and here's why! ~Leandra

Hey everyone, it's Lotte here, hope you're all well!  

I've been playing with some of the older Ink & The Dog stamp plates - I remember when these first came out, they were just so amazingly different from anything else on the market at the time, and they remain some of my most favourite stamps.  At that time, however, everything was very vintage (=brown) so I decided to brighten things up a bit for this project - I *do* like when things clash a bit, all in the best possible taste, of course!  (If you get this reference, I'll be delighted ;D)*

Once upon a time, rubber stamps came almost exclusively mounted onto wooden blocks.  Then somebody clever realised that you could store (hide) far more stamps if they were cling- and unmounted.  Result!  So, when I remounted some of my old stamps, I ended up with a lot of blocks which I kept, because you just never know when something might come in handy.  I've used them quite a lot by now, they make quite interesting little projects to do - I'm thinking these would be fun to have on your desk to fiddle about with, a sort of stamp-y executive stress reliever 😉

So, first I painted my blocks in PaperArtsy Fresco Finish London Bus, Slimed and Mermaid, having initially base coated with some white gesso (though this isn't actually necessary for the opaque colours).  The back of the red block got painted with Slimed, the green block with Mermaid, and the blue one with London Bus.

Next, with the Clocks 3 stamp set, I stamped the red block in Versafine Crimson Red - first the square collage stamp, then the watch on top. Next the green one with Clocks 5 stamp set in Versafine Spanish Moss - the ruler and then cogs, filling in with the gauge stamp. Finally, the blue one with the large watch stamp from Clocks 3 in Versafine Vintage Sepia, the swirl from Clocks 6 in Versafine Smokey Gray, as well as 'the time of my life' from Clocks 5 in Smokey Gray. 

  

Don't hesitate to stamp things on top of each other like this, we're after a textured background - the more layers, the better IMHO!

Turning over the blocks, stamp the green one with Versafine Spanish Moss, using the words stamps from Clocks 3 and 6, as well as the cogs from Clocks 5; on the blue block, stamp the collage squares from Clocks 3 in Versafine Deep Lagoon, and the Time & Tide in Smokey Grey; on the red block, stamp the cogs from Clocks 5, as well as the smaller watch from Clocks 6, in Versafine Crimson.

Now, stamp the Time & Tide from Clocks 3 and the watches from Clocks 6 on the green block, using Versafine Deep Lagoon; on the blue block, the word stamp from Clocks 3 in Versafine Onyx Black; and the collage square from Clocks 3 in Versafine Onyx Black onto the red block.  Also stamp the smaller words from Clocks 5 onto white cardstock in Versafine Onyx Black, cut out and glue onto red block.

Turn the blocks back over, and on the red one, stamp the large words from Clocks 6 in Versafine Deep Lagoon; on the green block, the phrase from Clocks 5 and Watch from Clocks 3 in Versafine Onyx Black; and the blue block, the gauge and phrase from Clocks 5 in Versafine Black Onyx.

With the collage square stamp from Clocks 3, stamp the top of all the blocks in Versafine Smokey Gray:

And that's us all done!   

Well, I hoped you enjoyed this project - as I said already, I've made quite a lot of these, they are quick and easy and it's fun trying out different, sometimes eye-watering, colour combos for high impact.  As always, they're easy to personalise for someone, you could do any theme or colour scheme, and embellish them as well - I've used old radiator keys etc in the past, though here I just wanted the stamps and colours to take main stage.  Don't forget to share your makes on the Facebook group page, I would love to see what you come up with!

Until next time 😊

Lotte x

* It was one of the late and brilliant Kenny Everett's catchphrases