How do I bleach?
 

I want to do some bleaching technique. What exactly do I do? I looked in the resources area, but couldn't find anything on it. Thank you in advance for the help!

If you want to stamp with bleach this is how I was taught to do it. Take a couple of paper towels and fold them into fourths. You could also use a piece of white felt if you prefer. Put the paper towels (or felt) onto a styrofoam plate. Pour a small amount of bleach onto the paper towels and use it as a stamp pad. You will have to play around to know how much bleach to use, but what you want is for the towels to be quite moist without being waterery.

Then just take a stamp and use the towels as your stamp pad. Depending on what cardstock you use you will get different looks. Be sure and clean your stamp well with a wet paper towel when you are done to get the bleach off.

You can also "paint" with bleach. I just put a tiny bit in a glass bowl and use a paintbrush. That's a neat look. I'm sure there are other techniques out there too, but these are the only two I've played with.

Hope this helps!

Bleach technique and clothing
 

These are probably dumb questions, but bleach stains are my worst enemy --- they drive me nuts --- so I've been avoiding this gorgeous technique. After the bleach dries on the paper, could it somehow ruin the recipient's clothes? Has anyone ever heard of this happening? Does dry bleach do anything?

Thanks!


-Kylie

dry bleach
 

Once the bleach has dried into the cardstock, it will not change the color of anything else it comes in contact with.

another cool bleach technique is to emboss the image with black ink on dark paper. then take a colored (not clear) bottle and fill with bleach and spray on the cardstock. You can then color in some of what you've bleached out or brayer over it. The bleached area will pick up the brayered ink, but the dark cardstock won't.


Don't store bleach in a clear bottle. It is dangerous. Don't ask me why, it is just what I was taught in a class!!

be sure when you bleach, you are using a fresh bottle of bleach, otherwise you papers won't totally bleach out. If you subscribe to the Technique Junkies Newsletter at www.patstamps.com some of the past issues have had some diff. techniques using bleach.

HTH

after a suggestion from this site - we used the panty liners to soak up the bleach and it worked great

Try using Clorox's gel pens for bleaching. You just squeeze a very little bit right onto your rubber and then stamp. So far I haven't ruined any of my clothes this way. I'm far messier using regulary bleach. Just make sure you rinse your stamps after using.

Thank you everyone for your tips. I received a card from my Secret Sister using the bleaching technique I think. I've never done it myself, but really loved the look of it. Thanks again! I'm off to the laundry room!