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This seems like a silly question, but maybe someone has a suggestion for me...
Is there any trick or technique that helps you do RANDOM stamping?? :confused: Like for a background pattern or for a One-Sheet Wonder? My random stamping never seems to look as nice as some - I'm hoping there is trick I can learn to make my RANDOM less random, if you know what i mean! ;)
I don't know if there is really a "technique" to this, but my favorite to do OSW is Roses in Winter. I usually start with the large base of the rose and stamp them diagonally across page spacing (sort of evenly). Like you might see if you had a wheel. Then I add all the other stuff I want to add -- leaves, small roses, etc. That set is "non-directional" so you won't get images upside down. I'm one of those "line everything up" kind of stampers. Probably because I am a Business Officer / Budget Analyst during the day ... everything has to "balance"!
I've been happy with the results. I love Balmy Breezes, but because the Palm tree would be upside down (or whatever), I'm reluctant to use that as a background...
Make sure you stamp some images off the side of the paper, so the image is cut off. It looks more like "background paper" this way.
I've heard lots of times, if you think it needs just one more stamp, STOP NOW! And I've found this to be true; every time I think "Oh, just one more," I regret adding that last stamp.
Try not to space things perfectly evenly.
If you look at store-bought cards, check out the background closely; you will probably notice these characteristics when you're looking for them.
I usually try to pick no more than 3-4 stamps and vary the colors or tones to be subtle. A dramatic color contrast/change seems to defeat the purpose of being background paper (unless the busy look is what you're going for). I start with the largest stamp first - usually one of the lighter colors too and stamp the fewest number of images with it. Then I proceed with the next smaller stamp until I get to the smallest one. I find it's easier to fill in and make it look more even with the small stamps than with the larger ones. It is very important to rotate the paper and stamp off to get partial images to make it look totally random. Hope this helps you.
Although someone else said not to overstamp, I've found with OSW that you need to make sure you really fill up the space. When you start cutting things apart the white space really becomes apparent. I stamp things much closer together than I would for a normal background when I do the OSW.
Also, as others have said - start with the largest image and then go down in size filling in all the space.
I have found that my ability to do nice random stamping is something that has improved with time and "practice" One thing that I think is important is to stamp a few images off the page. I also like the idea to use a basic triangle-ish format to get a good look.
I sometimes find that my problem is a tendancy to overstamp, making the background too busy.
I saw a video on craft tv weekly that recommended a "checker board" pattern when doing a randon pattern. It also mentioned the "off the paper" technique that someone else mentioned. The episode was on masking and played November 3. Here is the link to the archived episode:
I went to the crafttvweekly site to watch the videos and it doesn't let me watch the whole video. Any idea why? I can only watch 2-4 minutes of the 11-12 segements.
The suggestion of stamping in "triangle" or stamping in "threes" really does work - it seemed a little artificial to me at first, but by stamping two images a few inches apart and then "triangulating" the third stamp I was able to make my stamping appear more random (but random with a purpose, if THAT makes any sense). Also, I find that starting with the largest image and "filling in" with the smaller images helps. Depending on the stamp, I also rotate a quarter turn or so each time I stamp so all the images don't end up going in the same direction.
Question about random (background) stamping
