* Press Sample
I looooove clear stampers. When they became a "thing" a while ago I was over the moon because I was terrible at lining up my images with a regular stamper. I now own not one but two clear stampers from Born Pretty Store, and I'm here to share one with you today along with a quick stamping tutorial!
Clear stamping heads are nice because they let you see the image before you decide to position it on the nail. This makes doing detailed nail art a breeze because it means if you want an identical image on each nail you can do that very easily. It used to be in my day that you had to line up or mark spots up along your nail edge or cuticle to make sure images were aligned, or take numerous attempts to make it look perfect. Now we have clear stampers! Nail bloggers sure do have it easy these days.... ;)
Anyway! BPS has this listed as a marshmallow stamper but while I would say it's definitely squishy I wouldn't go as far as saying it's a marshmallow stamper. To me marshmallow stampers are a lot softer and squishier than this. That being said this is still a fabulous stamper and is definitely nicer to use than my old BPS clear stamper (which was just hollow with an open end to let you see through).
This stamper comes with three parts: The actual stamper, a cover that clips on over the stamping head to keep it clean, and a clear scraper. Now let's take a look at a quick tutorial about how to use it!
Tutorial: How to Use a Clear Stamper
Preparation: First off you want to make sure you have all your products gathered, as stamping is a time-sensitive process. As well paint your base coat and let it dry completely before you start so you don't have any issues. I have my clear stamper and scraper (available here), my stamping polish (Born Pretty Stamping Polish in Black), my plate (BP-28) and a cleanable backdrop (I am using a non-stick cutting board but I use paper towel sometimes under my stamping plate instead).
If you're using a new stamper make sure you prep the head first. Do not use a file on a clear stamper or you will ruin it. Instead gently wash it with dish soap. This one did need to be prepped so I cleaned it with a bit of soap before I started.
As you can see the clear stamper lets you see your design through the back perfectly! Awesome!
Step 1: Apply your polish to the plate. You don't need to cover the whole image as you'll scrape the polish along the rest in the next step.
Step 2: Scrape your polish off the plate moving firmly with your scraper tilted at an angle.If you have to scrape over a few times go for it, just make sure you don't scrape all the polish out of your etching.
Step 3: Firmly press your stamper over the image you want to pick up. I found for this stamper I could press straight down to pick up the image - firmer stampers you need to roll your stamper to pick up the image.
Step 4: Take a look to make sure your entire image picked up cleanly. Don't look too long though or the polish will dry!
Step 5: Look at where you want to place the image on your nail and press firmly so the stamper covers the entire nail.
And that's it! Clean up (or use some liquid latex from the start to make clean up even easier) and you're good to go! Also you'll want to make sure you are cleaning your stamping head between nails... I use a piece of tape on the stamper head (or you can use rubbing alcohol - never use acetone on a clear stamping head or you will ruin it) and I use pure acetone to clean my plate and scraper.
And here's a look at the final nail art, with some gems added for visual interest. My base is Ceramic Glaze Heavenly. :)
Gorgeous! I also got the gems from BPS though I can't find the link so you'll have to search yourself. :)
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