Stamping on wood?

[Ambelleina]

I'm sure this is common knowledge, but I've never stamped on unfinished wood before; any tips? :confused:

I am wanting to buy these fun unfinished wood tags and use them as keepsake Christmas present tags, but I'm not sure what to do with them. Some may be scrapbook paper mod podge'd on then stamped before sealing which is easy enough, but what if I want to do one with a bare look??

Would I NEED to buy/use staz-on or is there some technique I could use where reguar dye or pigment ink would work?? Is it as easy as just stamping or do I need to do something else first?? Help! <3

[Angelnorth]

Stazon is absolutely not necessary. In fact it probably wouldn't be a great choice since it doesn't always perform well on absorbent surfaces.

I'd give the tag a quick swipe over with some fine grade sandpaper to get rid of any obvious burrs and make sure you have a surface that's as smooth and level as possible. I'd probably use VersaCraft ink but if you don't have it, just try with whatever pigment ink you do have and it will most likely be absolutely fine. Dye ink is more likely to "travel" along the grain of the wood so you'd get more feathery edges to your image; pigment ink is thicker and less likely to bleed along the grain.

If you mess up, just use that as a tag that gets covered with paper later!

HTH!

[Ambelleina]

Thanks Joanne, I think I'll invest in some of the 1x1 VersaCraft ink pads in Christmas colors for this project since they're so inexpensive! I wonder if Krylon matte would work to seal if I heat set first??

[Angelnorth]

Versacraft should be fine without a sealant - just give it a quick blast with a heat gun if you're concerned about setting it. I only have the full size pad in black, all my Versacraft colurs are the little cubes and they work well for all sorts of projects. Have fun!

[Betty]

I used to stamp on wood a lot when I started stamping. I have painted wood with acrylic craft paint and stamped on them with regular pigment inks or even painted the stamp with the paint using a foam brush. (make sure to clean the stamps right away) You can do both on bare wood too. Heat set or emboss. I've done both but you might want to do a test first as some wood reacts different. Any sealant worked for me.
What you are doing sounds like a great idea. Where did you find the tags?

[Ambelleina]

Awesome tips, thanks Betty! I didn't think about embossing, but I bet that would be gorgeous in gold and red.

I found them on save-on-crafts.com under the Wood Craft Goods section, they have a lot of cool stuff on there for pretty cheap!

[chandler]

Your idea using wood tags sound great and would love to see the finished project. I am just getting into stamping and love reading all the great ideas here on this forum. So much to learn and so many beautiful projects.

[micx]

Hi Ambelleina,
I am using Memento Luxe on a table/chair set I bought at IKEA. It is working fabulously! I was wondering if you had success with your sealant? If so, what did you use? I am thinking of sealing my pieces before I allow my kids to play with them.

Michelle