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Inking the wheel - cartridge, pads, paint box pads, ancient page, embossing, white ink, etc.
In case someone doesn�t know, here are the steps to get ready to roll. First you remove the cover from the ink cartridge, slide it into the handle, pull the trigger (the little black think that sticks up like a shark�s fin) far enough back to put the cover back on the cartridge. This will pull the cartridge away from where the wheel sits. Putting the cover on the cartridge keeps the cartridge in place and prevents it from popping out of the handle. Been there, done that, and ended up with ink all over my fingers, LOL!!! Then gently snap the wheel into the handle. This is a good time to make sure the design is facing the �right� way. I am known to roll upside down a lot. Pull back on the trigger, remove the cartridge cover and then release the cartridge so it comes into contact with the wheel. Take a few practice rolls on scratch paper, this gets the entire wheel inked before you start rolling. That�s all it takes to get started.
There are 4 different ink cartridges available. The most common ink cartridge is the traditional acid free single, two or three cell cartridges. This is a great ink for most uses, but it is not waterproof so coloring with a wet medium could cause smearing. For the most part I use traditional ink and I use it for most applications.
The next ink is the Ancient Page ink cartridges. To quote Clearsnap, �Ancient Page ink is acid free, permanent, archival quality and waterproof on most surfaces. Ideal for scrapbook and keepsake applications. Smear resistant when used with watercolor markers.� Ancient Page ink cartridges are green. This is the same ink used in the Ancient Page ink pads, so your pad and cartridge colors would be the same.
The next ink is the Embossing ink cartridges. Again, to quote Clearsnap, �Rollagraph Embossing ink cartridges allow you to roll out a slower drying ink, providing ample time to sprinkle embossing powders. Tinted inks make the stamped image easier to see before embossing.� This ink is available in tinted or clear formulas and are in white cartridges.
The last ink cartridge is the White Ink Cartridge. This is a special pigmented ink is sold as a kit. You buy the cartridge and the refill together. This ink dries quickly so frequent reinking is required. This ink is wonderful for tone on tone effects and looks fabulous on dark papers. It also works on vellum, but you have to allow the vellum time to dry. A way cool way to make your own patterned papers.
It�s great that you can use the self inking handle and cartridge with the wheels to make designs. But sometimes you are limited because of the colors available, and if you want a rainbow effect you�re limited to the two or three cell cartridges. This is where you can use regular stamp pads. Take the ink cartridge out of the handle or use the pad inking handle. You simply insert the wheel back into the empty handle of your choice and roll it several times over the stamp pad of your choice, then roll onto your paper. You will have to reink by rolling across the pad several times after every time you roll across your paper. But this will allow you to use colors that are not available in the ink cartridges.
A wheel is the exact length of Clearsnap�s Paintbox2�s, Fluid Chalk and Crafter�s Pads. Those long multi color pads with the removable option plates. I just love these pads, I buy these over the Petal Points so that I can use them with the wheels. To use these pads start with the seam of the wheel, line it up with the start of the pad. Roll the wheel across the pad, and you�ll end with the seam at the end of the pad. Do this several times, don�t push really hard into the pads because you�ll get excess ink that may transfer when you wheel. Then wheel across your project. Of course you�ll need to reink after rolling across your paper, this is where the seam comes in handy. Use the seam to line up the wheel with the ink pad, just like before and roll across the pad, this will allow you to ink in the same spot and not mess up your pad or the colors on the wheel. This is a great rainbow effect. These pads have interchangeable plates so you can arrange the rainbow to suit your design needs. And if you just want to use two colors, you can roll across just the two colors on the pad for that effect. Then you�re not limited to which two colors to use.
You can use smaller single color pads, it takes a little more work, but just keep running the wheel over the pad until it�s inked up right. If you want you can use your water based markers and ink the wheel. This would be very time consuming and I can see how it would work if you wanted just part of the wheel, but personally I like wheels because they�re a quick way to stamp and coloring the wheels with markers would be too time consuming. LOL!!! But it is do-able.
By not using the ink cartridge you can use any ink pad you own. Including the Stazon pads. Just be sure to finish the ink just like you would with any stamped item. Allow time for the ink to dry, heat set the ink, use the appropriate cleaner based on the ink, sometimes permanent ink may stain you wheel and you�ll need to be sure to use the right cleaners.
To clean the wheel I make sure to pull the cartridge back into the handle and make sure the cover is back on the ink cartridge. Then I roll the wheel on scratch paper until most of the ink has been rolled off, then across the cleaning pads and a quick roll across the drying towel. They�re easy to clean. Remove the cartridge and return it to it�s storage area.
To reink the cartridge. You will need to remove the cartridge from the handle. It�s sort of like inking a stamp pad, not too much, just a drop or two at a time. Use the tip of the reinker to help rotate the little wheel inside the ink cartridge so that you get ink evenly around the cartridge. If you don�t think you have enough, just repeat, with practice you�ll get the �feel� for this. You�ll know when to reink your cartridge because the images will start getting lighter.
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Wheeling Straight
Keeping the wheel straight is a practiced technique, just like working with a stamp to get a good image. Everyone forgets to practice with their new tools, I'm the worst at practicing. I'm always expecting a new technique or idea to be perfect every time and then I get disappointed when the first time isn�t perfect. LOL!!!
I roll from left to right, that way I can follow the path of the previous wheel. If you're left handed, roll from right to left, that way you can see what you've rolled before. I try to roll slowly when making background papers, this is the time I don't want gaps between images. Practice, going slowly and a guide will help make this easier.
A lot of people roll at an angle, or on the diagonal so you don't have to worry about being perfectly straight and even spacing. When I'm making gift wrap, I never try to wheel right next to the previous image, I sort of eyeball a half inch or so gap between the rows. Sometimes closer, usually not much wider, unless I'm running two different designs side by side. Then I roll design A, then design B, then Design A. I have two handles, so that makes things easier. You don't have to roll straight or diagonal, there really aren't any "rules". You can make wandering lines, lines on a curve or a wave. Have fun. Better yet let kids under 10 roll, they just have a blast and don't stress over straight lines or spacing.
I stand up at my kitchen table when I roll wrapping paper, I can see better and reach better (I'm 5'10" tall so I can really reach across a table). Standing also allows you to keep even pressure when rolling, if you change pressure or shift left or right when you roll the impression isn't as good. By even pressure I mean holding the handle at a 45 degree angle and either push or pull, either way is fine. This is again where practice rolling helps, you get a feel for rolling, the pressure and it makes it fun. And you do have to reink a lot when you are doing a lot of gift wrap. As soon as you see the image starting to lighten, reink. It will keep the paper consistent looking.
SU is selling a Clearsnap product, a wheel guide, you can buy the guide from SU or from Clearsnap it's around $10 plus shipping and tax. It's basically a clear ruler on feet that you can stretch out and run the edge of the wheel (not the handle) against to keep straight (you'd need two for wrapping paper). It also turns for mitering, but I'll teach you all a trick about that later. There are a few inexpensive substitutes. For wrapping paper I use newsprint end rolls from the newspaper office, tear off a length I'll need and away I go. Anyway, take a yardstick, and add foam dot feet, like people use for coasters and you've got your edge for rolling straight. I don't use a roller with wrapping paper, I just go and for the most part it lines up well.
The same can be done to a 12" ruler, I have an older model stamp positioner that sits up high enough for me to use it as an edge. Some people have even used their SU catalog as a guide, it has a square back, but anything with an edge, would work. I like the ruler idea because it's smaller and you don't have to worry about smearing the ink.
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Coloring the wheel designs
When it comes to coloring in the wheel images, there are no limits. It�s basically a stamp and ink. This is where the type of ink matters. If I�m using a wheel design on a card I will sometimes color in, other wise the ink color stands alone. Especially important when using solid designs. You can use pencils, chalks and other mediums. Just be careful when using water based mediums, if the black ink isn�t waterproof, you may get some smearing. Embossing or using Ancient Page inks will help with not smearing.
Things to wheel: Gift wrap, boxes and bags - tissue paper too - bag toppers
I mostly use my wheels on gift wrap. There are several ways to accomplish this. I buy plain old newsprint from the newspaper office here in my town. I bought the end of a roll, I paid less than $10 for it, and this was 7 years ago, so I don�t know if it�s still available. But it wouldn�t hurt to check out your local newspaper office and see what�s available. If not, any solid color gift wrap will work, except really glossy stuff, smearing might become an issue. I would look at places like those $1 type stores for inexpensive gift wrap or use coupons for the larger craft store chains to get rolls of white or kraft brown paper. I tear off a piece larger than I need, roll the entire piece of paper, cover and trim the gift as needed. I just roll rows and rows of design until the paper is filled. Sometimes I get a little fancy and use two designs of complimentary colors. Sometimes I use the plaid type wheel that makes lines, two colors, just make sure the lines cross in an interesting plaid design. If I allow enough space I have little squares that I can stamp small images in, especially cute at Christmas time.
If you buy poster board and make your own gift boxes, wheels are a big help. I have the Aleene�s box maker and a stash of poster board. I cut the poster board to the desired sizes (available with the box maker instructions). Lay this on scrap paper and wheel away. Then I score and assemble to box, tah-dah, a decorative box and now gluing decorative paper required. While you�re at it make a coordinating card. You can also disassemble premade boxes and roll them, then reassemble. If the box is solid enough, like a shipping type box, you can just roll that box. I have a customer who does this for her business, she likes that the box is �happy�, LOL!!!
Don�t forget tissue paper, white or colors, both work great. I buy it during Christmas when you can purchase the larger packages of white tissue paper. I put a large stack of tissue paper on the table, wheel the design on the tissue paper, and I have custom gift wrap. Now the ink will bleed through the first two or three layers, this doesn�t matter, because I�m either going to use the tissue paper to line the package or to wrap the gift. When wrapping a gift I end up using 3 or more thicknesses to cover the package anyway.
You can also roll designs on cardstock and make gift bag toppers. This is the folded piece of cardstock with cuts or holes in the fold to slip the handles through. This is a neat way to close the package. You can roll the entire topper, along an edge for a border, or roll across a separate piece of cardstock add some layers and add to the bag topper.
You can flatten the gift bags (lunch bags work great for this) and wheel the design on the bag too. You can just do a single roll or cover the entire front of the bag. You can even work the lunch bags around so you can do the front, back and the two sides. Once I turned a brown grocery store bag inside out, so the store logo was on the inside and wheeled this, the goal was a rustic outdoors type bag. This worked out really well.
If you�re interested in wheeling on the clear bags that are available, I�d suggest you purchase Stazon ink and ink your wheel from the Stazon pad. That way it will dry and not smear. Roll carefully on the clear bags, they could be slippery.
For this part of the class here are some ideas for using wheels when it comes to cards (backgrounds, borders, layering and making scrapbook papers). Also using the wheels for stationary and matching envelopes. Using wheels for tags and frames. Using the wheel images for a 3-D effect. Wheeling on vellum, tone on tone effects.
The wheel can be used in much the same way with cardstock as it can for wrapping paper or bags. When you want a background that coordinates with a stamp set the easiest way is to roll the wheel image horizontally, vertically or diagonally on the base of the card, or the cardstock to be used as a bottom layer. Before putting the wheel away, this would be a good time to decorate the envelope, front and/or back. Then you only have to clean the wheel once. Then stamp your coordinating image on a smaller layer of cardstock, and in between the wheeled layer and your coordinating image layer add as many layers of color or white cardstock as desired.
Here�s one sample: I did case and adapt this idea from a card I received in the past. I did this with the dragonfly wheel and coordinating bug set from Stampin� Up! First I used black ink and diagonally rolled the wheel image onto a full size piece of white cardstock, filling up the entire sheet. Then I used the round sponge for the Clearsnap Stylus system (although any round sponge or solid stamp will work). I used some of the pastel colored ink (SU�s soft subtles) and stamped circles of color over the dragonflies. Not coloring in each bug, just adding color all over the card. This large sheet of background paper I cut into four smaller pieces and layered on a piece of white cardstock (base card). Then I stamped the coordinating dragon fly stamp, colored it in using the same inks as the background, added glitter to the wings (all dragonflies have to sparkle, LOL!) This was layered on a bit of blue cardstock and attached at an angle to the front of the card.
For borders there are only three �arrangements� that come to mind. Roll the design along the bottom of the card and stamp either a coordinating image or words in the space above. This image or words can be layered with other cardstock, so in effect the bottom layer is a single line of a rolled wheel. You can color in the wheeled design or not. Sometimes, depending on the rolled image, I use my scissors and trim along the design, sort of decorative edge that follows the images. Adding a solid coordinating piece of colored cardstock adds a nice decorative touch. The second arrangement is to roll the image along the top and the bottom of the card and then add either an image or saying in the space between. Layer or not as the card needs. The third way to use the wheel image as a border is to roll the image on a piece of cardstock, trim away the excess cardstock, and layer the wheeled image onto colored cardstock and then onto the base card. The base cardstock could be something like a patterned or word background. I did this with the cat wheel and the By Design background from SU.
I stamped the By designs words on blue cardstock with blue ink, sort of a tone on tone effect. Then I layered this onto white cardstock base. I rolled the cat wheel from Clearsnap in matching blue ink onto another piece of white cardstock, this I cut out, about a �� on each side more than the image. This gave me a strip of cardstock with an image, which I layered on the word background.
Wheeling full sheets of cardstock will make great background papers for scrap booking. Cutting pieces for layering is also good. When doing full sheets you can color in your images quickly with the stylus type tips, sponges, chalks even inking the brayer and large color blocks will work. If you use a waterproof ink then use watercolors or Radiant Pearls for color wash. You can also color each image in individually. There are lots of fun ways to add color to the large sheets of wheeled images.
I will cut tags for gifts or for layering out of sheets of wheeled images. Use the die cutting machines, punches, colossal patterns or just scissors for added interest for layering. You can make quick bookmarks this way too. This is especially handy if you�re doing a theme and want a lot of things to coordinate. For example a shower or a party, even gifts. I�ll wrap the gift and then use the same wheel images for the card or gift tag.
Wheels will allow you to custom fit photo frames. There are two ways that I know of to come up with photo frames. First roll the image 4 times on a piece of cardstock, decide on the total width needed, cut out each roll to give you 4 strips. Then simply lay them around the photo, trim to fit and secure to the page. When it comes to the corner you can cut diagonally to make a mitered look, or just butt the ends against each other. If you don�t care for the look of the corners, add a coordinating image in the corners. Or cut out part of the design and use it as a layer on the corner.
The other way to make a frame is kind of hard to describe. You�ll need scrap paper and a post it note. What you do is make a mask with the scratch paper on either side of the area you want the image to be. Start rolling on the scratch paper, roll across the scrap paper and continue to the other piece of cardstock. There is one side. Continue for all four sides making sure to keep the sides equal and straight and you have a frame. To get the mitered corner, you�ll do the same as above but put the post-it note where the diagonal will be, use the post it note as a mask, and wheel. This sounds hard and confusing, actually I don�t do this much. Practice would be very important, but I�ve seen it done and it looks really nice. The wheel guide which is on the market will make this very easy to accomplish, and it may even have instructions.
Stationary, this is what sold me on stamping in the very beginning of this wonderful addiction, I mean hobby. Custom stationary, any color or image I wanted, not just what was on the market. I purchase those pads of white or colored stationary sheets, without lines, from Wal Mart. I also purchase matching sized envelopes at the same place.
I either stamp borders or all four sides of the white paper, mostly I just stamp the top and bottom. I also decorate the envelope to match. 2 pieces of paper and one envelope I consider a set, I put 8 or 10 sets in a clear bag, make a coordinating tag or topper and give as gifts. I also always have some on hand for my use. I even make some just for notes, I wheel the design, I just don�t make coordinating envelopes.
To use the wheel to get a 3-D image. Before cleaning the wheel, roll again on scrap paper. Closely trim out the images you want, color as desired and fit this over the rolled images on your design. In a way this is like spot lighting, just add a foam dot to give some depth to the image. Very easy to do and adds a nice look to your work.
I use Clearsnap�s white ink cartridge on colored cardstock to give a sort of tone on tone effect. This isn�t a strong snow sort of white, it�s just a soft look. I use this for layering and such. You can also use the wheel with an ink that matches the cardstock, or roll across a stamp pad without an ink cartridge in the handle. This is another way to achieve a tone on tone effect.
With vellum you can wheel across it just like you can stamp on it, just allow time to dry. You can color in your images from the back for a softer look, or just don�t color in at all. The vellum can be used as a top layer for a finishing look, allowing the background to show through, or the wheeled vellum can be a layer in the overall design.
Just like wrapping paper, I roll designs across lunch bags or solid colored gift bags from the $ store. Add some coordinating tissue paper and you have a lovely package.
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Shrink
paper clay,
Polymer and paper clay and the moldable tips
wood
Fabric
Candles, napkin rings,
candy bar wrappers
Paper weaving pin - see video
Rolling in strips then assembling the strips to cover a can or something
Picture please! Sounds like it might be a good organization / storage tip for many of us . . . and the cd towers can be picked up for very little money now that so many people have mp3 players.
I'm so computer challenged. I'll try to remember tonight to have my daughter help me. I've never uploaded a picture here before.
I have mine in the wheel cases, stored with my other stamps. I have a Bygel rail with baskets and have the handles in the basket. I see them, therefore I use them lots. I like to use them on the envelope flaps (I have an example in my gallery). I am a machy machy, "everything hat to be even" girl!
Has anyone bought an uninked wheel cartridge and inked it with Versamark?
I probably use versamark with my wheels more than colored ink! love the settle backgrounds it makes. I've also embossed the versamark before!
With all of my stamps, I stamp each image on one large index card for each set (I prefer SU! stamps!), and also on index cards labeled by categories (such as Birthdays, Christmas, Sympathy, etc.). That way if I need a birthday image and sentiment, I can see what I have easily. If I think a certain set has just the stamp I need, I can search by set name. (Some people might just say, "Why not sort your stamps by category?" My answer is that some stamps can fit more than one category!).
So...do the same thing with your wheels, and you'll be ready!
Actually, I also have a Craft Locker wheel locker (http://www.craftlocker.com/index.php...&products_id=3 ), and I keep them organized by category. I LOVE my CL, but they've been out of stock for quite a while. I am now loving my SU! wheel storage trays--easy to organize by category. My extras that aren't yet in either are stored in narrow 3-drawer organizers by Sterilite that I got at Target.
I, too, can't imagine unmounting my wheels--I LOVE the ease and the ability to make as long an image as I need (great for gift wrap!). I get uninked cartridges and make my own In Color (SU!) ones using ink refills.
Hi!
I've been tempted to unmount the wheels based on the fact that I'm happy I unmounted my rubber stamps. After much consideration (boring DH to death as I weighed the pros and cons, LOL!!!) I am keeping them on their wheels. They work great the way they are and I have plenty of storage, so they'll stay they way they are.
What I know about wheels Part 2
