How to Use Digital Stamps

How are Digital Stamps or Digi Stamps Used?

Once they have been printed out, digital stamps are used in much the same way as traditional stamps. This means that they can be colored and embellished. The finished images can be cut out and incorporated into handmade cards, gift tags, scrapbooks and a whole wide range of other papercraft projects. One of the key issues about digital stamps or digi stamps, is that they generally need to be cut from the paper or cardstock that they have been printed on before they are used. This is because it is generally easiest to compile the different elements of a project when they have been printed. Experienced digital artists, however, will be able to produce wonderful works of art completely on the computer.

Coloring Digital Stamped Images

When digital stamps or digi stamps have been printed from a computer they can be colored in the same way as traditional stamped images. One limitation is that the images will be printed using normal printer ink and not a specialist rubber stamping ink. Therefore there may be issues with the ink running if a wet coloring method is used. It is possible to heat set printer ink using a heat tool to reduce the likelihood of this happening. Pens, pencils and paints are all suitable for using with printed digital stamps.

Special Effects

Because digital stamps are printed from a printer and not stamped with rubber stamping inks, special effects that are achieved by using these inks are difficult to achieve. Techniques such as heat embossing or other techniques that require materials to be applied to the ink are difficult to achieve. This does not mean that they are impossible, however, as the outline of an image can be traced using an embossing ink pen and the image finished as normal. See How to Emboss Digital Images and Emboss Digital Images with an Embossing Pen for more information.
While many techniques are possible, or can be recreated using a little ingenuity, others remain impossible. Using the three dimensional nature of traditional stamps is impossible to achieve with digital stamps. This includes any techniques that impress an image into a surface such as stamping into clay, velvet or other materials.

Limitations of Digital Stamps

In addition to the limitations already identified, the other main limitations of digital stamps is that they are only suitable for projects where printed images can be used. This means that using digital stamp images on surfaces that cannot be run through a printer is difficult. Therefore it will be difficult to use digital stamps on fabric, very thick or very thin paper and cardstock, large pieces of paper, pre-formed boxes and many other items. Again, this does not necessarily mean that it is impossible and work-arounds can be found. This is likely, however, to involve some compromises.
Although purists will question the name 'stamp', the fact that many of the features of digital stamps are shared with traditional stamps makes them yet another addition to the ever expanding stamping family.