Make Your Own Printed Cotton Ribbon

For a while I've been looking at the natural printed cotton ribbons but cannot justify spending the amount of money they cost.  Lots of them originate from Japan and cost silly money.  I saw some cream cotton twill in Fabricland yesterday and decided to have a go at making some myself.  I think the twill cost around 26p a metre for 15mm thickness.

I took an acrylic block and stuck a couple of tiny clear stamps onto it - make sure the stamps fit the width of tape you are using.

I then used Archival Black Ink and Memento Rich Cocoa to see which looked best.  Both are fade resistant and waterproof when dried.

I inked up the first stamp, taking care not to over ink it and positioned it over the tape and stamped.
I then repeated this in a line.  If I was doing this again I would measure and mark the tape to make each stamped image equal - OCD overdrive maybe!!!!   Anyway - I prefered the results using the Memento Cocoa ink as it looked good against the cream.  I was pretty pleased with how it turned out and will now try it with some other stamps.

Much cheaper than buying the ready stamped cotton ribbons - I know they are nice but too expensive to use on cards etc!!!  

I don't know if the image would stay on the tape if it was washed but I don't think it will be a problem if you are using it on cards or papercrafted items.

Have a go at stamping on tape and let me know how you get on!