A Copic Technique - 'bleach stamping'

I taught this technique at Little Bits a few weeks ago, and I didn't have a name for it.  The ladies in my class settled on Copic bleach stamping, so I guess that's fine with me :) Just as long as there's no actual bleach around - me and my dark clothes don't get along well with bleach. Alcohol is another matter altogether.

Traditionally with bleach stamping, you'd make a little 'ink' pad - paper towel or felt soaked in bleach, but because alcohol is so volatile (ie it evaporates quickly), this wouldn't work for very long.  My solution is to spray the alcohol onto the rubber, just before stamping.  Here's what I do:

Start by colouring an area with a dark colour (something ending in a '9' works best.  I've used B29 here).  Using a spritzer filled with alcohol (eg rubbing alcohol, or methylated spirits), lightly spray the surface of a stamp.  I say lightly because if there are droplets running off the rubber, all the detail of the image will be lost. Then simply stamp onto the area you've just coloured.  Here's my sample:

I'm amazed at the level of detail that can be achieved when the spray is not overdone - this is quite an intricate background stamp.

So - what about an application for this technique?  Well - check out this dress:

You just need to remember to colour in the area you want to 'bleach out' first, before you colour all of the other areas like skin and hair, or those areas will have their colour messed with too.

Hope you find this useful!