The Nail Stamping Thread

[Beadshopgirl]

I thought it would be fun to have a thread dedicated to nail stamping. Are you a veteran stamper, or just wanting to get started? Let's share our love of stamped manicures! Post your stamping plate collections, your stamping successes and failures, and favourite polishes to stamp with. 

[RGbrown]

@Beadshopgirl thanks!

I scraped top to bottom, bottom to top, left to right, right to left, and then tried corner to corner too. Then I rotated the plate 180° and tried again 😄 It's a bit of a grumpy design, and I admit I have very little patience when things get rough. I'd just as soon skip the hard ones and keep it easy...I am at heart a slacker bum after all 😀

[Beadshopgirl]

Lol! Fair enough @RGbrown! Sounds like you did everything you could. Sometimes a plate has an etching issue, but sometimes you can make it work using a hard rubber stamper, like the Konad one. I usually stay away from the images that give me trouble too.

[Beadshopgirl]

My 1st Halloween mani of the season. 

[PrettyPaint]

@Beadshopgirl That is so awesome!!

[Beadshopgirl]

Thank you @PrettyPaint!

[Anonymous]

O.M.G. @Beadshopgirl !

By the way, you have absolutely perfect hands. And what are you holding?

[Beadshopgirl]

Lol @Anonymous! Thank you, but I used the blur filter because my hands were looking so dry and chapped! I'm holding a cuticle oil from the brand Nfu-Oh. The bottles are so beautiful!

[Anonymous]

Oh @Beadshopgirl I don't even know how to use a filter. I have a cell phone and it's a pretty good one, I think, so if that's a cell phone thing, I probably have it. I gave up trying to keep up years ago! I was very immersed in writing some web programming and the world went on without me.

If I manage to do this, can you picture a dark purple image with a silver overlay? What color would you use as a base? (Something like a purple rose, with the silver lines as accent, is what I'm trying to think of...)

[Beadshopgirl]

@Anonymous A pale mint green would look lovely with a silver and purple rose!

[Anonymous]

@Beadshopgirl

That would really be lovely! It's quite far out of my comfort zone, but looking at the pictures of what I like, I realize my comfort zone doesn't work for this! I usually stick to pale pinks and beige/sand colors. Wow, that's boring just reading it, isn't it?

So I'm probably going to have to look at colors that aren't in the bargain bin! Maybe Zoya? What's reasonable without being boring? (I only have one expensive polish and that's Dior Nail Glow, which I couldn't resist - and is totally unsuitable for this!) Maybe Essie, she has a really wide range of colors?

My plan for today - a new manicure, since mine is totally ruined now, and look for cards, maybe file the CJS card (should I even bother with it?)

[Beadshopgirl]

@Anonymous I googled some photos that you might enjoy as inspiration. They're not my work. 

[Anonymous]

Wow! @Beadshopgirl that is wonderful inspiration! 

I have a silly question, are some of them fake nails? Could you make a set of fake nails, all stamped and everything, and put them on if you needed an emergency manicure?

I have one bottle of China Glaze, it's Fast Track but I can't find it on their site, probably discontinued. It's in the beige-brown range with gold shimmer/fine glitter. It's a thin polish so should make a good base. Then I could try black stamping on top. Maybe.

[Beadshopgirl]

@Anonymous You could certainly stamp on fake nails if you wish. 

[Anonymous]

@Beadshopgirl

It was just a silly thought. Some of the pictures really look too perfect to be real!

Do you buy China Glaze at places other than their website? The site doesn't have any prices?

I'm trying to figure out how to rehydrate my fingers. I'm going to cover them in cuticle oil for awhile! I was much too hard on them yesterday.

[Beadshopgirl]

@Anonymous I've purchased China Glaze in store at Winners and Chatters hair salon, and online at Nail Polish Canada. 

[Anonymous]

@Beadshopgirl

I need to get to know Nail Polish Canada. I bookmarked it but that's all. How long have you been doing this, if you don't mind me asking? If you do mind, just ignore me.

[Beadshopgirl]

I've been into stamped nail art for a little over 4 years. @Anonymous

[Anonymous]

@Beadshopgirl

I Googled of course. It was invented in 2002 but it didn't take off right away, from what I see (which may or may not be true, because that is also the time when the internet got a lot more commercial and social media took over the world). So I think you were actually an "early adopter"! And I am very happy that you were, without you sharing your knowledge, I would have given up by now.

Time for a little filing...

[Anonymous]

@Beadshopgirl

My report, in case you're wondering how it turned out...

The China Glaze polish went on beautifully! It's a totally different color from what I usually wear and I really liked it, I'll definitely look for some more of that brand.

Then I tried to buff the Jelly. I used the 3rd buffer and ended up with a cloudy spot and it wouldn't pick up at all. I tried cleaning the buffer with the lint roller and buffed the Jelly with the 2nd buffer. The Jelly got more cloudy and picked up a little. I was trying to pick up snowflakes, it couldn't get the little details. So I buffed the Jelly with the 1st (coarsest) buffer. It still couldn't pick up the little details so I got an old Revlon glass file, washed it, and used that on the Jelly. Still no details. So I got a different plate, one with large open leaves. It picked up two of them and I was so excited, I put them on my nails. They looked awful (matte black blobs on glittery gold polish), I ruined those nails trying to get them off.

I also used my assortment of cards, the credit card type seemed best at getting the polish into the design and off the background.

The Jelly now has the transparency of the obscure windows you'd put in a bathroom. Light goes through but you really can't see anything!

I have a headache that's heading to a migraine.

I think it's the plates, the Jelly, and the scraper! And I'm cursed, I'm the only person on the planet who can't do this at all! I ordered a Young Nails kit (like @RGbrown used), maybe I'll try that! Or maybe not!!

[Beadshopgirl]

I'm sorry you're having such a hard time @Anonymous! I don't know what to tell you. 🤔

Maybe take a look at this video for some more ideas. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idmPsZuXJVQ&sns=em

[Anonymous]

@Beadshopgirl

I didn't see the video yesterday, I think I was just too burned out. I watched the one you posted and then I watched the one that came up right after it, I think it was EliteNails. In that second video, I got a good look at the scraper, she used the scraper from CJS. Mine isn't anything like what she had, mine is way thicker (more than double), less flexible (not at all), and had a very, very rough edge on all sides. She must have changed suppliers or just got a bad one and I got it!

Since everything that Debbie told me was about the Jelly, I was focussing on that, and had never seen any of this stuff before (except what I saw in videos and I hadn't seen a video about the Big Bling until now). So by the time @RGbrown told me that my scraper was all wrong, I had pretty much ruined the Jelly. Then I completely ruined it!

I ordered two polishes from CJS - purple and silver - so I'll get the second Jelly (that was left out of the kit) with those. In these videos, they didn't do any preparation to the Jelly, no washing, no priming, nothing! So when I get the new one, that's what I'll do. No ruining the Jelly, use a scraper that doesn't gouge all the polish out, and use a gentle touch. And go fast.

And it should work just like it does in the videos, right? LOL!!! Oh, in the videos, they have these nail shaped things, attached to plastic holders - are those something available somewhere? That would be great for me, to practice on something that was not my own nail, until I was sure I knew how to do it!

Thanks for all your help, next time I'm going to get this right!