Mandala Stamping

hi I'm Taryn with Beaducation.com and

today we're going to have a fun class

where we're going to be stamping in a

whole new way we're going to be looking

at design stamps turning them upside

down roundabouts using letter sets as

ways to decorate your stamping projects

it's kind of a hybrid between collage

stamping and pattern stamping it's a lot

of fun if you're new to stamping feel

free to pop on over to Lisa Niven

Kelley's beginning stamping class where

you'll learn all the techniques you need

and then come on back and take this one

here's some of the tools we're using in

today's class we have two chain nose

pliers a brass mallet an assortment of

design stamps a ruler here we have a

bench block and a sandbag really helps

to quiet the hammering and simple pliers

if you want more information about

stamping check out our stamping

checklist online we have Pro polished

pads a sharpie marker a plastic mallet

extra fine steel wool I believe this one

is four zeros and a hole punch pliers

for today's project we're going to use a

one and a half inch circle blank we have

here examples of other blanks that you

can use we have a ton of them to choose

on the website that come in a variety of

shapes sizes and metals

we're going to start off by getting a

circle divider which we have online at

be education comm forward slash charts

so we printed one out and then we're

going to take our blank and we're going

to Center it on the circle divider and

we want to divide our blank into four

quadrants just with a marker so I'm

going to go ahead to find the center

part and to divide it we're going to

line up our ruler

more accurate you can be the better

there we go we want to we want to divide

it into four different sections because

we're going to be stamping this entire

blank and we really want to create a

pattern that's neatly we want all of the

designs allocated really well and we

want it to look neat and orderly even

though there's going to be a lot going

on here is an example of what we're

going to make so this is a copper circle

and we have multiple stamps on it we're

going to start with the circle with the

center there's a small little cross and

then we're actually going to do the

border next that way if you just start

in the center and worked your way out

you might actually run out of a room for

what you want to stamp so this way you

have a completed border a perfect Center

stamp and then we're going to grow

within those stamps so we have our blank

situated on a bench block and I'm going

to grab a circle design stamp I'm going

to situate it right in the center as

best as I can on our Center mark and I'm

going to go ahead and take my brass

mallet and give it a couple good Wallops

I'm pretty heavy-handed I love how I

feel like the heavier the deeper the the

print of the design stamp it gives it

more like an antique look I think it

really gives it something for the

oxidized ox for the sharpie or the liver

of sulfur to really go in and and make

it dark my next stamp I'm going to grab

one of these squares and I'm going to

start at the one end of our design of

our divided line I'm going to line it up

right on that line there and I'm going

to hit it pretty much four times one for

each corner of the square

then we have a little square let's go

ahead and rotate it and we're going to

work on each of those two lot of those

dividing points oh okay that one wasn't

as strong so I'm going to go ahead and

match my design stamp in it a few more

times Simon with that when I've done

those four points then I'm going to

eyeball it and go in the center so I'm

going to go right in between those when

I said Center I meant

center of those two stamps so

so once you then we've done our four

lines we've done in between there we can

stamp in between those with the same

stamp if we wanted or we could switch it

up we actually have a smaller square

that I think would be cute so I'm going

to grab a smaller square and then go in

between those the nice thing about

having it divided is you know that

everything is allocated really evenly so

you don't start at one point and make

your way around and find out oh I don't

have room for that last stamp or too

much it just works out really

beautifully

and then we have a nice border so if you

prefer your border to be a little bit

more full like you see that there's some

voids in between where the squares are

then you can take another stamp and

stamp in between those points if you

feel that there's not enough room to

accommodate a full design stamp then

what I like to do so we have this little

decorative stamp I'm going to take the

part that's a little more angular I'm

going to just kind of cozy it right in

between the squares and I'm going to

angle my design stamp in towards the

center of the blank we want to make sure

when we hit it that it all hits on the

blank and we don't accidentally imprint

on our bench block if you do it's a

little bit of a bummer because you can

it's a problem for your design stamp you

can dull it because hitting the steel

and if you imprint your bench block then

when you're doing further projects you

can get that design into your other

projects so I'm just going to take it

angle it in and then you get a little

bit of a neat design just on the edge

one of the things that this can do is it

can kind of distort your circle so it

has a little bit more of an uneven edge

some people like that makes it look

really antiquey other people might want

to clean it up with a file

we're going to continue to stamp from

the center out I'm going to keep using

this spiral finial design in the middle

because I think it's nice to connect the

border to the inside so I'm going to

again we're going to start we're working

in our quarters so I'm going to start

stamping right on the line

see right there I actually got a lot of

shadow on that design stamp and that's

okay because we're going to have so much

decorative pattern that I think it it's

not going to look like a problem it's

going to really look like it's part of

it

so once we've got our four I'm going to

go ahead and pick another design stamp I

think I'm going to go with a heart this

time and I'm going to I'm going to grow

in between the stamp so we just did it's

nice to think about shapes that work

with what you're the void or the space

that you have so right where these

circles look it's almost like a V and I

think art will really work well in there

and at this point we'll keep picking new

design stance so I'm going to grab I'm

going to grab a triangle and I think I'm

going to stamp it right at the top of

our of our spiral finial see little

triangles pointing out and then we'll

change to a new design stamp I'm going

to go back we have another triangle

it's a little stouter but I think it's

nice to repeat stamps because I think

that it's good to see things multiple

times I'm going to put them above our

O's

then we'll rotate to a new one we have

this is a little spiral leg it kind of

looks like smoke I'm going to try and

fit that on top of our point to your

triangle see how that works if things

overlap that's okay I think it just adds

to it like this one

hump it there's space but I see that

there's a lot of space right here so I'm

going to go ahead and add it there if

you're a stickler for the rules you

don't have to deviate but I kind of like

just filling in where there's voids

especially at this point where we follow

the rules so you can see we pretty well

filled it with a lot of design stamps if

you're happy with it that's exciting I

like it but this is another opportunity

to use one of my favorite tools which is

the dimpling plier so if you think like

for some of the larger design stamps

like the square you notice that there's

nothing in the center you can use this

dimpling plier which I love just has a

nice little 1 millimeter or well this

portion comes down and creates a little

1 millimeter hole so I'm going to go

ahead and grab our blank I'm going to

take this I think I'm going to go inside

every square so I'm just going to take

that apply some pressure that takes us

to the beginning so at this point if you

were really heavy handed and you stamped

it very hard there's a chance that your

blank could have then gotten a little

misshapen ideally we want it nice and

flat and what you want to do to flatten

out your blank is we're going to then

take a pro polish pad I'm going to cover

our bench block if you don't have a pro

polish pad you can you actually can

hammer on there it's just going to pick

up a lot of the imperfections or you

could use a piece of leather

some people even tape their block it's a

lot of different options this is so easy

so we're just going to put our blank on

the other so I'm going to put it fancy

side down so I'm going to put the design

stance down and I'm going to take our

plastic mallet and I am going to hit it

very hard with a lot a lot of pressure a

lot of hits because we really want to

flatten it you can hit as many times as

you need to to flatten it and if you

also want to flip it this way in hammer

it whatever way is going to get the job

done you don't have to worry so much

about this side marring it because it's

a nice soft material plastic after we

really hit it hard have it nice and flat

with this one I'm just going to grab

like a thicker we don't want to use a

fine tip so we had some of thicker

sharpie and I'm just going to go ahead

scribble over this oops

you want to go ahead and go back and

forth a lot because you want to make

sure that the deeper impressions get the

Sharpie in it especially some of those

dimples it can be more difficult to

color in so we want to let it dry if you

don't let it dry you can make a mess

with your polishing pad sometimes I'll

pick it up and kind of wave it around

then I'm gonna blow on it because I

don't think it's done I'm going to take

this and a pro polish pad and I'm just

going to take away the excess you'll see

it starting to come off it's already

starting off beautiful

Oh am i one of my challenges is I like

things to be fast and easy this is kind

of taking too much time which if you

want it really shiny you must persevere

and use that Pro polish pad I like

things to look a little bit antique I

like texture so I'm going to grab some

steel wool and I'm just going to take

this steel wool works magic wonders

really really fast and it gives a little

bit of a muted shine because you're

going to have that the marks from where

the steel will actually marks the metal

but it still looks beautiful so here we

have our polished mandala so now we want

to punch a hole in it unless you want to

keep this just as a beautiful coin so

I'm going to grab a pair of the hole

punch pliers you can kind of pick where

you want it to hang sometimes you might

stamp and it looks like there is an

actual top or a bottom but you get to

pick wherever you want I think I'm just

going to put it where one of the dimples

is in a square pop a hole in that and

then we'll get ready and put a put a

jump ring through that you could also

use a Tina like we did with these where

we ended up using metallic colors and it

looks almost like these are two

different metals so this is a fun

alternative

so this is our finished product once we

put a jump ring and a chain through it

and behind we have other examples of

what you can do using different various

shape blanks like this is one of our

plaques and here we have the guitar pick

I love how with this one you could

actually use a coin or something to

create a circle and find the center and

then build it out so it doesn't have to

cover your entire blank you can kind of

offset what you're stamping and create a

design on top of the design of the blank

so you're working with the shape I think

this one looks like lace this one's one

of my favorites because if you don't

have a ton of design stamps this one's

made entirely from a letter set so we

have OHS C's Peas or no I think they're

bees DS a lot of letters these this is a

fun fun way to do the same project just

with a letter set or a couple letter

sets and then up here the two top ones

are actually rings this is almost

exactly the same project same blank

different stamping same technique but we

ended up using the nylon jaw ring

bending pliers and then you can create a

ring from it which i think looks

fantastic and same with this one we use

the nylon jaw ring bending ones with the

plaques and then just stacked them so we

have a border on top of it a lot of

awesome opportunities lots of different

adventures I hope you enjoy making them

thank you so much for taking my class I

hope you enjoyed the project we worked

on I hope you also continue to make more

of your own because even if you use the

exact same stamps they always turn out a

little different so good luck and stay

up on