REVERSE CLONE TECHNIQUE

Normally (and these times are anything BUT normal!), I would have held my monthly Stamp-In Workshop yesterday, April 13. But, obviously under the current circumstances, an in-home workshop was completely out of the question.

With this in mind, I sent a care packet to my regular Stamp-In customers. In lieu of a workshop and the chance to share something new with them, the USPS brought them a mini workshop. In the sunshine packet, I included a letter, a few pieces of DSP, a snippet of trim and a square of acetate, as well as the directions sheet for making a card using a new technique.

The technique, reverse clone technique (I don't know if this is an official name, but it fits), is new to me. 

Do you ever have a cute figure stamp where the character is facing in one direction? But you'd like this little guy/gal to be able to have a conversation with another figure just like him or her? Or how about a reflection? A stand of trees alongside a body of water, just begging to be reflected in the water.

Well, with this technique, you can do this type of stamping. In my experience with it, it's not perfect. But then, what in life is actually perfect?

The previous two paragraphs shown here is how I introduced their mini workshop in my letter to my girls. I continued:

Your assignment is to create a card using this technique. You can use the DSP and/or ribbon in your card. But you don't need to. 

When we can finally start to get together again for our workshops (May???), please bring your creation along with you to share with everyone.

With all that said, I promised that I would publish in this blog post the card I created using the reverse clone technique:

Since they were two froggies (from last year's Sale-A-Bration!), I couldn't resist using some of the delectable DSP from this year's Sale-A-Bration. Of course, you would find two frogs having a conversation in a lily pond!

The frogs also begged me to let them have googly eyes, so I graciously complied with their request.

The little water ripples in which they are submerged is cut with a cool die from the Lakeside die set on page 193 of the Annual Catalog.

In looking at my completed card, can you tell which is the cloned frog? I realize, as I'd mentioned previously, that the technique is not perfect, but still satisfying enough in the results.

Following are the directions I sent to my girls on how to do the technique. Read them over, and if you are so moved, try it out on your own! It's fun!

DIRECTIONS:
You will need a piece of clear acetate (or Window Sheets, page 169 in the Annual Catalog) slightly larger than the stamp you plan to use in your project.

In my sample I used a whimsical frog facing slightly to the right. Stamp the image onto Whisper White cardstock (if you plan on coloring it), or cardstock of your choice.

In a nonpermanent black ink (DO NOT USE STAZ ON INK; IT IS PERMANENT), stamp an image onto the acetate. Be careful not to wobble or move the stamp and pick it straight up off the acetate. If you are not careful, you will get an indistinct image. If this does happen, simply rub it off with a baby wipe and start again.

Be sure to use a good black ink. I used Memento Tuxedo Black Ink because I wanted to color in my froggies with Stampin' Blends.

Working quickly, position the reversed clone exactly where you want it near the stamped image on the cardstock. If you're doing a reflection, do the same thing.

Use the edge of a bone folder, and holding the acetate tightly in place, scrape across the acetate to transfer the image where you want it. You need to scrape all the stamped ink onto the cardstock. If, when you lift it up, a bit still remains on the acetate, carefully set it back in place and do a little more scraping.

I did find that the cloned image is not quite as dark as the original. But, if you color it somehow, that seems to diminish the differences.

Once you have your cloned image, decide how you want to finish your card and proceed from there.

Wipe off the acetate with a baby wipe for use in another future project.

Cloned

Smiles.