Stamping Frustration–Help!

Ok well if you’ve been reading up until now you’ve probably heard me complain about stamping more than once.  I have the Essence stampy set and image plates and my problem has been that for some reason I’ve always been able to get the smaller designs done just fine, like in this photo:
pinkfrench2
Ok, whatever.. no problem. I got the flower on there pretty well.
So where is my problem?  The full nail designs.  For the life of me I could NOT get them to work.  I went through two entire bottles of the stampy polish and almost an entire bottle of remover just trying again and again and again and aagggaaaain, to no avail.  I couldn’t get the stamp to pick up the polish, it just wouldn’t work!
I Googled, I YouTubed, I Screamed, I may have even cried a little…
Then I figured it out, I wasn’t pressing lightly enough.  I knew it said LIGHTLY but I didn’t know lightly meant “barely touch it”!  It turns out I was pressing too hard the whole time.  So I did manage to get the stamp to pick up the polish… look:
stamp2
Ok, it’s not pretty BUT it’s on there. I successfully (I use that term very loosely, mind you) managed to transfer the stamp from the plate to my nail… but what a mess! 
Firstly, I am yet to get the hang of how you get the entire design on the stamp. If you just press it straight down you only get the middle. If you roll from one side to the next, you only get a small strip.  I’ve tried various techniques of rolling the stamp over the design to try to pick it up but well, this is the result. It’s patchy. 
Getting it on my nail is an entirely different story, clearly you can see I need a lot of practice with that!
It seems like between getting the design on the stamp fully, and then actually getting it on my nail… well, it seems so much more difficult than everyone makes it look!  I wonder are other plates easier to work with, like Konad or Bundle Monster.  Is it the Essence plates that suck or is it me?!
stamp3
This was my next attempt.  Ok, it’s a bit of an improvement but there were still a lot of spots that were missing, smudged, crooked, etc.  I also was irritated with myself that I forgot the 2nd coat on my index finger so this is another one that hasn’t left the house and was promptly removed.
I’m wondering, has everyone had this problem when they started with stamping or am I just stamping impaired?!  Please, I will take any tips you can give me!  I don’t get a lot of replies usually but I could really use some on this one, I’m about to whiff all my stamping stuff out the window and call it a day! *sigh*


6 comments:

intootje May 1, 2011 at 3:10 PM  

I am not really good at stamping either. So then why on earth did I order the new set of Bundle Monster plates? I have no clue.

Breigh May 1, 2011 at 3:32 PM  

I guess we are both gluttons for punishment!

Recalcitrant Nails May 1, 2011 at 4:42 PM  

The essence plates I have are okay - however, I don't have any full nail designs on them.

I do have the bundle monster ones and I think they work awesome - I do roll the stamper in a catty-whompus direction to get the full design on the stamper and then on the nail. - AND...I was told (even though I cannot afford them yet) the new bundle monster plates that were just released have an even bigger area for full nail design. A lot of people feel that the older ones are too small (I have small nail beds so it doesn't phase me much) however I do stamp my toes a lot and I always need to stamp the design twice on my big toe (so it overlaps a bit). Whew, sorry that was so long. Good luck!

Shadow May 1, 2011 at 6:04 PM  

I think its the polish your using because I press hard or light and it picks up every time. I the Konad polish is gonna make a big difference. Have you tried roughing up your stamper before you stamp by filing it. Sometimes the stamper is too smooth to pick up the whole design. Dont worry your stanping problems will soon be fixed!

Breigh May 1, 2011 at 6:21 PM  

Yeah I tried filing it and everything. The only way it picks up the paint is if I BARELY touch it and even then it's not always even. I also wonder if the Essence plates maybe aren't etched as well or something. I'll be curious to see what your experience is with them when you get it. I'll get you the Essence stampy polish too so you have all the stuff I do for your experiment!

Breigh May 1, 2011 at 6:22 PM  

LW - I also have small nail beds so that's not the issue. My problem is the curve of the stamper, you have to like roll it to get the whole design on there, you can't just sort of press it or even just roll it in one direction once. You gotta come up with some weird circle technique or something. Oh man, I'm about to lose it if I don't figure this out! :P

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