"Painting" embossed images with condensed milk

Those look really great but will they not eventually go off & begin to smell or grow mold?

Do you use the condensed milk straight from the can or do you water it down a little?

Liz

Since the heat cooks it real good, I think it's now essentially like an enamel of sorts. It's pretty dry, and molds like moisture. All I know is the card featured in Rubber Stamper must've lasted at least a couple of months, from the submitter to the magazine which photographed it. Guess we'll let you know :-)

We used it straight from the can. In fact, when I started to open the can, enough leaked out onto the lid that we were able to just dip the brush in the bit on the lid without even fully opening the can. As I said, it really only takes a very thin layer. I'll have to use the rest of the milk for brownies or something :-)

Barbara

Thanks. Next time I make caramel shortbread I'll clean out the can with a paintbrush. My kids will think have I really lost it! :) Liz

I think the sugar acts as a natural preservative.

That technique is gorgeous, thanks for sharing. I wonder what would happen if you put food coloring in the condensed milk. I may have to try that soon. If I do, I'll post here. I'm brand new to this group, and I'm really glad that I came when the group is having a huge upswing. :)

Kristina

Oh my god! condensed milk, I have never heard of this before! please explain the technique plus any other unusual ones you may have. I'd like to ask about stamping with bleach. Does this ruin your stamps & must I use special coloured paper / card or will any quality do? Many thanks,,,, M

=^..^= meow!

First the condensed milk, then I'll answer your bleach question:

Here in the U.S., it's called "sweetened condensed milk." The 'sweetened' is important because the sugar carmelizes to give you the effect. Info on the product:

an image and emboss it. Then use a paintbrush to paint the inside of the image with condensed milk. Finally, heat the milk until it starts to carmelize. Tips we learned:

1) Paint a thin layer. If it's too thick, it just bubbles really thick like the butterfly in the upper left corner of the picture on the above web page. The "thick" effect might be good for certain uses or backgrounds, but we didn't like it so much inside the image. All detail was lost. 2) Let the milk dry a little before applying heat. 3) Heat slowly. As soon as the milk starts to bubble up, pull away the heat and let the bubbles settle back down. Then heat again. Pull away. Repeat until you get the desired level of browning. 4) Directed heat can be used for a shading effect, such as the row of pumpkins seen on our picture, where I made the top half of the image darker than the bottom.

Stamping with bleach - I've never actually used the bleach on a stamp. What I have done is stamp an image, emboss it, and then use a watercolor brush to paint the image (the embossing helps you "stay inside the lines"), using the bleach as "paint." Other effects can be created by spritzing bleach onto a colored image or paper and then letting it dry (great for creating cool backgrounds).

Hope this helps, Barbara

I've stamped directly with bleach, using a folded paper towel as an "ink pad". I rinse my stamps thoroughly the instant I'm done stamping, and they've shown no ill effects.

Bleach is most impressive on dark, non-glossy paper. What's interesting to me is the way different black papers take the bleach; depending on how they're made, the image comes out anything from pure white to reddish to greenish.

Because bleach is very liquid, it will pool and puddle a bit, so fine detail stamps don't work with this technique. Blocky ones do, and produce an effect that reminds me of batik.

I've sometimes used my liquid dishwasher detergent (I use Cascade) instead of bleach. Since it's thicker it's easier to keep on a stamp. The detergent has a lot of bleach in it, and creates an interesting effect. I also immediately clean off my stamps.