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Help! I can't "random" stamp to save my life. I was trying to stamp "poinsettas" (from paint prints) on my a bag for a gift and I'm so driving myself NUTS!! They either look too "uniform" or one spot has nothing and I stamp on it and it looks bad. Are there any tips on how to random stamp??
Thanks, Sunshine
__________________ ~*~ Sunshine ~*~
Proud Army Wife to Hubby serving in OIF and Momma to Landon (9), Daylon (7), and Princess Keely (4)
Hi Sunshineb, I suck at doing the 'random' stamping also, as I have only been doing it for a short while, I have had to figure out my own way of making things work, I find that if you do background 'random' stamping and you mess it up some, just cover it with a bit of pretty paper and have bits of the 'random' stamping showing and not the part that you may have done wrongly.
Try moving your stamp in a triangular pattern, following either a semi-vertical or horizontal line, and stamping some of your images partially off the paper. Hope that makes sense.
My random stamping sucked for a long time, and in some cases, still does. I find that if I mess something up, just use it for a background. Most of your other images will still show thru and it looks pretty good.
Make sure you go off the page on some of your images (part on part off). Also tilt your image a little (again randomly) each time you stamp - nothing random about a stamped image all exactly straight up and down.
__________________ Jeanne S - Inky Paws SCS Moderator
lol this is something I just seem to be able to do--I thought for sure that would be an easy technique--I had a party and these people (no offense to anyone) just could not do it. But the thing is they looked at it and thought it was cute, but it honestly was...umm...well I'm sure you have had people like this.
my husband can't do things that are supposed to be kinda crooked or "off"--he is a perfectionist and he can't make it not be perfect LOL even if he tries, it still ends up perfect.
Try working in odd numbers. Things look better clustered in either 3's 5's or 6's (yes I know that 6 is an even number!). Anyway, I kinda try the brick laying method and make an uneven row then go back and fill in the next row in between where the spaces are above. I agree with the advice given already to rotate and make sure to 'stamp off' on the edges.
A silly but effective way to see if your color is distributed evenly is to squint your eyes and look at the paper. No, I'm not nuts (I've already established that I don't know even numbers). You'll look funny but you can really tell if you need, say, more red on the left, etc. Try it!
Here's a clippie of mine with a random pattern: Gallery at Splitcoaststampers
If you have gaps you don't like could you try using a smaller stamps to fill in the background. I always think that 2 stamps or more on a b/g look better. So could you use a small leaf or snowflake stamp to fill in the gaps?
Help! I can't "random" stamp to save my life. I was trying to stamp "poinsettas" (from paint prints) on my a bag for a gift and I'm so driving myself NUTS!! They either look too "uniform" or one spot has nothing and I stamp on it and it looks bad. Are there any tips on how to random stamp??
Thanks, Sunshine
HA HA! I thought I was the only one with this problem. I mean, how can one not be able to random stamp?? But I have a severe problem with this! I guess my need for order and balance will always take over!!! Grrrrrr!
I haven't read all the replies yet, so maybe someone gave some good advice on how to get over this!
Thanks for letting me know I am not the only one..off to read the responses now...
Merry Christmas to you!
__________________ ~ Lynn ~ The Famous Hollywood Peachie Behind every successful person is a substantial amount of Coffee!
You can also turn your stamp a quarter turn every time you ink it. Also, I stamp the biggest stamp first, then fill in with smaller images or sponging. I can random stamp like nobody's business! It totally fits my flighty, impatient and chaotic nature! I'm a natural at chaos!!
My SIL & I joke about trading - her stamping MUST be straight & perfect - & mine is always more random. In fact, if mine is straight it 'bugs' me - even if it has to be for the piece I'm doing. I forget which lady suggested using the 'brick laying' idea & this would work especially work if you do this on a full size piece of c/s & then cut the c/s down to the size you need. If I am using a piece of c/s that is already cut - & some will be covered with other layers - I'll just stamp the edges that are meant to show. This may be easier to do randomly than a complete piece of c/s. You can practice with scrap paper.
Most important - just start stamping away & have fun.
SantaKitty
Here's what works for me: I start at the upper left corner of my card stock and stamp diagonally down in a line making sure I partially stamp my image off the edge of the card stock so the pattern looks continuous. I start my next line diagonally lining up below the last pattern(if that makes sense). If I am altering images and/or color I do the same. The photos are bad but attached are a couple of examples of what I'm talking about.
__________________ I LOVE being a SU demonstrator! my gallery my blog
AT a class i took, the instructor had little triangles cut out of plastic and she had us use them as a guide and it really works. If you visualize the triangles and rotate your stamps and stamp off the edges...you have random!
This was talked about recently on another thread, I think in the Stamping 101 forum (sorry, I'm too tired to go look for it). Some of the ideas mentioned (that stuck with me) were the triangle thing, using more than one image (most suggested 2-3), starting at the center (or close to it) and working your way out & starting with the largest stamp, leaving room for the next largest one & so on to fill in.
Sorry if this doesn't make sense, but it sure helped me!
Leslie in TX
p.s.--the squinting thing actually does sound logical to me! Can't wait to try it!!
I found a template made by PrintWorks at a stamping show last year. It's
8 1/2 X 11 and is a checkerboard pattern. As long as your stamp is rather small, it works great to create "perfect randomness!" (by stamping in the open squares) Of course, you need to line it up initially so that it is partially off all edges, but it works like a charm.
"Random" stamping-HOW TO??
