Blank Page Muse Blog: Reverse Silhouette Stamping

Wednesday, March 25, 2026

Reverse Silhouette Stamping

Hello! Welcome back to the BPM blog. I am finishing up this month of featuring the BPM Wildflower Silhouette Border Style Red Rubber Stamp with this card. If you have missed the previous two posts in which I explored different uses of this stamp, below are the links to the posts:

For today, I am doing a reverse stamping technique in using this silhoutte stamp. Instead of the silhouette stamp being the last element to be added to a panel, I stamped this first. I heat embossed the image to the panel so I can do an ink resist technique. I used Distress Oxide inks on this card.

I prepped a Bristol paper cut at 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" panel with an anti-static powder tool. This is my paper of choice when I do ink blending. The powder tool helps in controlling the embossing powder from being attracted to other areas of the panel other than the sticky ink.

I adhered the rubber stamp to my stamping panel using a washable glue ink. I inked the stamp with an embossing ink and pressed this to the paper.

I used a stamping tool which helps in transferring the sticky ink.

I poured embossing powder to the sticky ink. I tapped the excess to a scrap paper so I can return this back to the container.

I usually start on the back when I melt the embossing powder. This prevents the powder from flying off the panel and all over the place.

Once I see some of the powder melting, I move the heat gun to the front of the panel and continue heating the panel until the powder is all melted. I made sure to move the heat tool while melting the powder to avoid flattening the already embossed powder.

I have a spot that did not have enough embossing powder on it. I'll show later on this post how to fix this.

I chose two colors to blend on the background of the panel. I used a sticky mat which I temporarily adhere the paper to. It keeps the paper in place while blending. I also used a rotating platform. Instead of lifting the paper and/or the sticky mat so I can blend the ink on another area of the panel, I just rotate the platform.

After picking up the ink from the pad, I pounce the ink blending tool to a scrap paper before applying the ink to the panel. I always try to do the blending with a light hand to avoid any harsh lines.

I started with one color on the top corner then used the other color on the bottom corner. I inked away until the whole panel is covered with ink.

This is a close up of the blended panel. In here you will also see the imperfectly embossed flower.

This is when things just spontaneously happened while creating this card.

I placed the Butterfly Trails Circles Patterns Mixed Media Stencil over the inked panel. I blended the same colored inks over the stencil matching the color I am blending with the one on the panel.

I somehow lost this detail when I blended the left over ink on the blender tool over the panel. I should have dried the circles first with a heat gun before blending another layer of ink over it.

I tapped water from the sprayer tip to the inked panel to lift some of the ink off the paper. I patted a paper towel over the panel to pick up the excess water droplets.

My disorganization on this project did not end with the stenciling. I decided to stamp on the panel using the BPM Handwritten Note Art Rubber Stamp. I spritz some water on the stamp.

I tapped off the excess water from the stamp.

I pressed the stamp to the inked background. The oxide ink reacted with the water. The ink that had contact with the wet rubber stamp got lifted off the background. You will notice that I just used my hand to press the stamp to the panel. This is another way of stamping with red rubber stamps if you are going for an organic look and not crisp lines.

I was hoping the rubber stamp picked up the ink lifted from the panel so I can stamp back to the panel. Since it did not, I inked the stamp with the green oxide ink.