Making more of my own stamps

Hi Everyone
It's a little damp today. All the weather reports say its going to get very, very cold - feels quite mild today ! Best enjoy today's temperature !!!

I'm quite frantic today, my boys are off on a camping weekend ! Loads of kit and much organisation going on (mainly by me). As a result of all the organising, my life is on hold and I've not done anything on my lists. This will be a short blog !

I have managed to add yet another stamp to my repertoire. It's inspired by the book (making an impression - look back a few blogs for the details).




The new stamp is the far right stamp. Here are the stamp impressions placed on the January painting.



Lots of more work and I think, several more stamps. Stamping has taken over as my current obsession. Everything I see must have a stamping possibility !

My second piece on die cutting is about the cutting 'plates'. The cutting plates relate to the Sizzix machines. Here is an example. These plates are for the smaller machine, called the 'Sidekick'. The plates are just the right size to allow themselves to be posted through the slot in the machine where there are rollers, 'sandwiching' a die through the rollers. I will show this in another session. For now I'm simply showing the plates.




These plates look very different because the one on the left is very old and scratched (and cracking), the other is a new unused plate. Each time the plates are used the one in contact with the die cutting surface makes an impression on the plate. I still use the old plate but its very near the end of its life. I should bin it !



The next photo shows bigger plates to fit the larger machine and a long plate which will fit both the Sidekick and Big Shot (name of my larger machine). The size of the plates are directly linked to both the size of the machine and the size of the die. Again, you will notice the larger plates are very well used and definitely bending. This happens. A way of managing the ending is to regularly turn the plates after each cut. I do sometimes adhere to my own advice. Through experience I think you can decide if its OK to use with the 'bulging' plate, it's all about producing the final die cut. If a very detailed cut is the end product a flat plate is usually required, if the cut uses simple, clean lines, the uneven plate is more forgiving. Not much more to say about plates. They are bits of acrylic/plastic of the right size and width to help the die cutting process. You can't cut the material with the dies if you don't use them in my Sizzix machines. I mentioned the Quickcutz machine yesterday, there are no plates required for that machine (just in case you were wondering).

That's about it for this week. Yet again, I've got to say - 'where has the week gone ?'. Have a great weekend.

Bye for now.