Daubers

Written and Created by PaperCraftCentral Susan

Have you ever used ink daubers?

"I don't paint things.
I only paint the difference between things".
~Henri Matisse

Stampin' Up! Daubers

Sponge daubers are a very useful tool in the paper crafters stash.

You can tap them on ink pads and transfer colour to cardstock to make all sorts of nice effects.

Stampin' Up! makes the little guys pictured above. Coincidentally (lol) you can see them and buy some in my online store if you are located in Australia.

They are easy to use and really extend your cardmaking and scrapbooking techniques!

Things to Try with Daubers and Ink

Here are some things to try with your sponge daubers. You might want to get out your ink pads and ink refills too. These things go together like peas and carrots (in the words of Forrest Gump!)

• Ink up your dauber in an ink pad and gently run it along the edges of a cardstock piece. You can create the illusion of depth by adding a little border to a piece like this.
• Ink up your dauber and, starting on a scrap piece of paper, brush colour onto cardstock in a wider band. Starting to brush with the dauber off the cardstock will help you avoid making ring marks with the dauber.
•  An inked up dauber can make polka dots on your cardstock. Just use the dauber a bit like a stamp, but use a slight twisting motion to make polka dots.

• Use several daubers with several colours of ink to create a rainbow of brushed colour on cardstock
• Softly colour stamped images with them. Gently tap colour into the desired area. You won't stay in the lines too well but it creates a softer. less precise look. I find it great to do this with stamped flowers and leaves.
•  Create an ombre look by brushing a single layer of colour onto cardstock, then building up the same colour by adding layers of ink to one end of the piece. You leave the other end with just one layer of ink and keep colouring till you get the depth of colour where you want it.

• If you want a shimmery effect, add it to your daubered piece with a little misting bottle containing rubbing alcohol and a few drops of Stampin' Up! Shimmer paint.
  
• Use the daubers to ink up an embossing folder. Then run the folder through your machine with some cardstock in there. You can ink up both sides of the folder or just one. Try it with both sides first and see which side of your finished piece of cardstock you like the best.
• Ink up your stamps with them - use different colours of ink for different parts of the stamp, if you like
  
• Ink up little die cuts with them
  
• Did you know? These little sponges can fit on your fingertips! They protect your hands from getting inky and give you the control you would have if you inked up your finger.

In case you would like to see exactly how to use daubers, here is a little video showing just that! The crafter uses daubers to select images to ink up from a mask.

(If you want to, you can watch it on Youtube).