Digital Craft Circles / Cup Cake Toppers / Bottle Tops

Today I listed by latest craft circles / cup cake toppers / bottle tops, whatever you want to use them for.

People often use these circles to make jewelry cabochons. There are plenty of blank glass domes on the internet.

One of the questions which is often asked is whether they can be used with an inkjet printer. The answer is yes, but some extra steps need to be taken.

It also depends on the ink you use. For my cabochons, I use an Epson which is excellent because I can use Durabrite ink which I believe is pigment  based. They are not totally waterproof but I believe they are better than a lot of water based inks, at least for this purpose. I have not used any other types so can't really comment on that. I am not endorsed by Epson but I've used one for several years now and find it's the next best thing to a laser.

To turn the digital images into cabochons, you need the correct size glass blanks. There are plenty on eBay. You will also need a clear adhesive. I have only used one for this purpose and that is Diamond Glaze. If you are using a laser printer, you can use this directly but if you are using an inkjet you will need to seal the image first. I've used Nunn Design Sealant and that worked. However, if you are lucky enough to live in the US, I have just seen a new product called Glamour Seal. I've never tried it but it looks like Diamond Glaze except that it works with inkjet prints without the need for an extra sealant. The other item I've just found is Keen Crystal Clear Acrylic Spray. Again, I've never tried this but next time I make some cabochons, I will give it a go. I think it is just a sealant so you would use with Diamond Glaze. Anyway, below is my latest digital craft circle download available in my Etsy shop. Simply spray or brush on the sealant, leave to dry, preferably overnight then put a tiny bit of Diamond Glaze onto the center of the circle and press the glass on firmly. Once in place leave to dry then use for jewelry making or paper crafts.

Digital Craft Circles / Cup Cake Toppers / Bottle Tops

Creating a Photoshop Brush from your Digi Stamp

Today I thought I would have a go at coloring in my digital fairy stamp in Photoshop CS4 but first I wanted to turn it into a Photoshop brush.

To create a brush, click Edit > Define Brush Set and give it a name. If the Define Brush Set is greyed out, it's probably because your image is too large. The maximum size for a brush is 2500px x 2500px. I recommend using the largest size possible when creating brushes as you can't enlarge them when using them without pixelating the image.

The instructions below will ensure you get your image to the correct size:

How to Color in a Fairy Digi Stamp Photoshop Tutorial Step 2

1. Create a new blank canvas 2500px x 2500px. Leave the background color white.
2. Click File > Place then navigate to the file which you want to open. Click Place. If your image is larger than 2500px it will resize it within the limit. You'll then need to click the tick at the top of the screen (Commit transform (Return) or simply press Return.



3. Create the brush by clicking Edit > Define > Brush Preset then give it a name. I called this one Fairy Digi Stamp. Click OK. If you click on the paintbrush in the tool bar and then the brush Preset Picker, you will see that it has appended the image to the brush set.
   
   
   
   
   
   

You can now use your fairy brush and experiment with different colors and effects. These I will go through in my next post.

This is a gallery of some of my digital downloads which I am selling in my Etsy shop. Just a quick post today but I will be experimenting with my fairy digi stamp later and then I will share the outcome with you.

Digital Faery: Creating Digital Stamps

Digital Faery: Creating Digital Stamps: In this post I am going to run through the process of how I prepare my own digital stamps from a scanned image in Photoshop CS4. The image...

Creating Digital Stamps

In this post I am going to run through the process of how I prepare my own digital stamps from a scanned image in Photoshop CS4.

The images which I use are always in the public domain and scanned from my own collection of antique children's books. The one which I am going to run through today is an image from "Password to Fairyland" by Elizabeth Southwart and illustrated by Florence Mary Anderson.

This process can be applied to any scanned black and white image of which you own the rights to.

The images below are not shown at full size.

Step 1:

Scan the original image at a minimum of 300dpi. For this image, I also enlarged it by making the scan at 150%.

Original Scan of a Fairy in Password to Fairyland

As you can see, it came out very grey and in the wrong alignment.

Step 2:

Rotate the image 90 degrees clockwise. To do this click Image > Image Rotation > 90°

Step 3:

Use the crop tool to get rid of the title or any other surrounding bits which you don't want.

Cropped fairy for adjusting

As you can see from the image above, I was left with a few flowers at the top. These are easy to get rid of with the eraser tool. I used a hard brush. The size will depend on your own image. Use one where you can comfortably cover the bits you don't want without erasing the image you want to keep.

Fairy image after using the eraser tool in Photoshop CS4

Step 4:

Make sure everything is deselected by clicking Select > Deselect from the menu then click Select > Color Range. Use the default settings and place the dropper onto the background area. This will select all of the color which you don't want. Use the delete key to get rid of it. If your num lock is on, you'll have to press Shift Del. You should be left with something similar to the image below.

Step 5:

The final step is to make the image stand out more. Some of the lines are a bit pale. To do this, click Image > Adjustments. This brings up the screen shown below.

Final step in using the adjustment curves tool

Move the black arrow to the right until the strokes of the image become clear. The further to the right, the darker the black areas of the image.

You should then have a clear image which can be saved as a jpg, or bmp etc. For printing you need to make sure the image is saved at a minimum of 300dpi.

My next post will be on ideas where you can use your digital stamp.  The stamp which I used for this example can be purchased on my Etsy shop.

Digital Stamps - Pros and Cons

This post is all about digital stamps and comparing them to physical, rubber stamps.

The pros of digital stamps are:

1. They are much cheaper than physical stamps 
2. They take up less space as they are stored on your PC or any other device you want 
3. You don't have to wait for them to arrive in the post. 
4. Unlike a rubber stamp, you can resize them and flip them in image editing programs. Something you can't do with a rubber stamp. 

The cons (there aren't many):

1. They can't be stamped onto heavily textured surfaces, however, there is a way round this which I will show you later on. 
2. They aren't always very good with water colour, although, if you have an inkjet printer where you can opt to have waterproof ink, there shouldn't be a problem. You can also use a black and white laser printer which again, is suitable for water colour.

 
 Do I prefer digital stamps over rubber stamps? Not really, I like them both. I like the fact that a rubber stamp has a really nice feel to it and it can be quite nice opening that parcel when it arrives but sometimes, when I'm eager to try out a new project, it's nice to just pay and download quickly.

My recommendation is a collection of both. One thing I will say, is, if printing out a digital stamp, choose a good paper and the best quality ink you can. Just because you have an inkjet, doesn't mean you can't print out on good quality artist paper. If your printer allows thick paper (and some do) you can even print out on 300gsm water colour paper.

In my next post I will be showing you how I create my own digital stamps from scans from old books where they copyright has expired. I also sell them in my Etsy shop, Digital Faery.