The Digit-al Dozen Does Stamping - Gradient Stamping

Hey there!  It's Day 2 of the Digit-al Dozen's stamping week.  The technique I picked for today is a super easy one...yet it took me two tries to get the mani I pictured in my head.  Here I used gradient stamping for both the base AND the image, both on the same plate...how handy!.  I knew I wanted a whole rainbow of color but for the first try (which you can see at the end of this post) I used holo stamping polish and all that sparkle hid the color differences.  So I did it again the next time and ended up with exactly what I wanted.

The plate I used here is FUN24 from Fab Ur Nails.  I think they were one of the first brands to make the blank stamping image for doing gradients without a sponge.  As much of a stamper as I am, I think I still prefer the sponge method .  To stamp a gradient, you need to scrape with a really light hand, which I don't always have, and I often end up with blank spots on my stamper.  Fortunately, this one worked pretty easily.  I first used a white base then did the gradient with Hit The Bottle Cactus Juice, Sparkling Cyan-ide and Purple Dragon.  

I wanted a shadow to the swirly stamping so I first stamped it with Hit The Bottle As Black As Night all on its own.  Then I did the gradient stamping with Psycho Pink, Let's Go To The Peach and To Have and To Gold.  

To finish these I used Glisten & Glow matte top coat.  It looks so good with these metallic stamping polishes!  

And finally, as promised, here was my first attempt.  For the first gradient I used A Bolt from the Blue, Peacock Shimmer and Sparkling Cyan-nide but it really only looks like two colors since there's not enough contrast.  Then I stamped the swirls with As Black As Night then Holo There Beautiful, A Glint of Gold, Under the Strobeberry Lights.  The moral of the story is, if you want to show lots of colors, make sure they contrast enough!  

Hopefully you have time to swing by the rest of the ladies' blogs to see what they're doing for stamping week.  I loved the manis yesterday so I'm sure I'll love today's too.  

'Til next time...

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