How to stamp:
1) Paint a base polish on your nails. You nails must be completely dry. If they are not dry stamping on it may spoil your base. I would recommend applying a top coat on your base polish. The top coat will be very helpful when you accidentally make a mistake when stamping. Simply get a cotton ball with nail polish remover and gently remove the stamped design. This will not ruin your nail polish.
2)Clean the surface of image plate, stamping pad and scraper with cotton dipped in acetone and wipe it dry. (This has to be repeated after every nail, If you are using a plastic card you may need to clean after a few swipes but the plate and stamper have to be cleaned after each nail).
3) Apply polish on your stamping plate.
Make sure you are using a high quality nail polish that is opaque in a single swipe. Try darker shades over light polish. Most of the polishes available
4) ) Now scrape the plate with our scraper. One swipe at 45° angle scraper should scrape of all excess polish. Support the image plate with your other hand. The only polish left must be exactly in the design
5) Take the stamper and lightly roll over the image. Note: Most people face an issue here. They don’t pick up the image on the stamp or pick it partially. A few tricks to help:
- Always make sure you have cleaned and dried the surface of plate and stamper before hand.
- If you are sitting under a fan, try working without the fan. I find the fan and climate in India tends to dry the polish on image plate faster.
- Be quick..yes real quick. Like you can’t do anything else when stamping nails. Also remember to keep your stamper in front of you..you can’t go searching for it after you apply the polish on the image plate.
- Roll ok...The keyword here is “RrrrOLL” the stamp. Touch one end of the rubber pad at the edge of the design and roll over till the other edge has touched and lift. Make sure you roll over the whole design..not just the upper edge or middle. See pic (above) to better understand how to Rrrroll. After you master the art of picking up the image, you could “stamp” on the image in actual sense of stamp and pick up..but until then Rrrrolll and lightly and quickly. Dont press the stamper hard on the image plate..it tends to not pick up polish if you press really hard.
- If an image doesn’t transfer: try to alter the way of scraping. You might be scraping too hard or too lightly. Sometimes an image maybe be etched too deep or too lightly, scrape lightly with quick fluid movements. Also try to alter the way you stamp to pick up the image. Roll with a light hand/ roll with slight pressure/ stamp with slight pressure. I suggest you try a few combinations of pressure and rolling/stamping till you figure out what suits you best. Sometimes newer stamps have a slight protective coating on it..Use a nail filer or buffer on the stamping pad and file it a bit. You see’ll a few bits coming off it. Please don’t file it down..ok? just say 5-7 swipes in one direction, will make the surface rough enough for polish to cling to it.
DON'T:
- Dont go searching. Gather all materials before you start stamping. My stamper keeps rolling away and after I scrape polish and I have to dart about things in a flurry to search it. Keep all things where you can see them.
- Try using acetone or polish remover that does not contain essential oils or nail conditioner. Acetone helps remove the left over polish effectively without leaving any residue.
- Do not press stamper too hard on your nail because chances are, the design will smudge.
- Dont use a regular top coat after stamping. Most top coats will bleed the stamped design. There are special quick drying polishes available to use over stamped nails. The trick is to not brush the same area more than once and do so lightly. Letting the nail polish brush go over the same area more than once can smudge your design if it is not yet completely dry.
DO:
- Clean the image plate and stamper after every nail is stamped. Both surfaces must be dry before you start again. If you find cotton fibres sticking to your plate, scraper etc.. try using a cotton ear bud/Q tip/ or Lint free cotton pads. I find cotton gauze also works well. Just cut them in small pieces beforehand.
