Clearsnap Style Stones

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Reported by Sara McKenzie

I've been playing with Style Stones by Clearsnap for a number of years now. So it was fun to pull them out again and take a really critical look, and try some new things with them.

Style Stones are a man-made stone material. They have a very smooth surface and require no additional preparation before you use them. And they are pre-drilled for use on jewelry, lanyards, or to hang from other pieces of work.

Below is a package of the "Small Shapes" package in the plain ivory-colored finish. They are intended for stamping images directly on the stone. Four to six stones come in a package for about $4.00.

In addition to the small assorted shapes shown above, the smooth surface stones come in a package of 4 larger assorted geometrics, a package of rectangular stones (all the same size- perfect for bracelelets!), stars and shells, tags, and oval cameos.

The package below is the "Leaves" set. These are natural finish stones that are engraved, and lend themselves to the use of contrasting colors.

The maple leaf, below, shows up-close-and-personal, the detail in the engraved sets.

There are loads of images in the engraved sets: celestial, quilt tiles, bugs, Celtic designs, Asian images, fruit, Geishas, flowers, chickens(!), snowmen, angels, Christmas trees, faces, and Aztec designs. And these are just the square shaped tiles. They also make Style Stones in shapes: hearts, star, triangles, dominoes, hands, flowers, faces, and the list goes on. Many of the designs also come in bulk packaging: 24 stones for $11.95.

In addition, there are engraved tiles (no holes are drilled in these), and frames.

For my projects, the first, easy step was to compare craft ink versus dye ink on the flat, ivory style stones. The picture below shows a cameo stone (1" long and 3/4" wide) in the center, and a triangle stone (a 1" equilateral triangle) on the right. The stone on the far left shows the natural, unfinished color. The middle stone was colored with Stampin' Up! "Taken with Teal" Craft ink, and the stone on the right with "Taken with Teal" dye ink. This very clearly shows how much more opaque the Craft ink is, versus the dye ink. The same color has a completely different look: deep and rich versus pale bright and transparent.

After heat setting (and you MUST heat set! no matter what ink you use!), I added a second coat of ink to each stone. You can see below how the color becomes more even with the additional coat.

The messiest part is coloring the edges- but I suppose you could wear gloves and avoid the inky fingers!

On to the engraved stones. I had never tried acrylic paint on these stones before, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity. Below is one of the Leaf stones, on which I painted a copper metallic acrylic paint. No sweat. Coverage was perfect, and took only one coat. And it doesn't require heat setting. You can see where I painted a little bit outside the lines; that was cleaned up easily by a light sanding with one of my craft sanding blocks.

I then held the stone by the edges, and tap, tap, tapped the surface against my ink pads. Again, I compared the same color dye ink and craft ink, because I wanted to see them contrasted against the metallic paint. The dye ink is on the left and the craft ink on the right. I like them both- but I really like how luminescent the dye ink looks- almost like it is lit from behind.

Clearsnap also provides an inking brush for working with the engraved styles stones. They are packaged in a set of 3 with slightly different sizes, or you can buy them singly.

They are really nothing more than small stippling brushes, so you might be able to find them at an art store or your local big-box craft retailer. But if not, they are the perfect size for working on the engraved Style Stones. AND, they are double-ended. One end is short and stiff and good for getting in the small crevices (below, right) and the other end is a bit longer and good for filling in larger areas.

In the photo below, I am touching up the blue portion of the design. The green was applied first, with the inking brush. I wanted the surface color to be more even, so I used the brush for that as well.

So, what did I do with these interesting little embellishments?

First, I used them like tiles. I finished 8 of the leaf stones as shown above, and plan to use them on the top of a wooden box that I had finished earlier. The top has an inset, and it is just crying out for something special. I am a little embarassed to say that I have hit a bit of a roadblock: how best to mount the tiles? I've thought about using copper foil tape and soldering them, as if they were stained glass. And I've thought about using grout, just like regular tiles. But I haven't been able to decide. So, the pictures below are still showing an unfinished top. (If you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them!!)

Above: Painted wooden box with inset lid.

Decorated Style Stones just waiting to be set in place!

Above: Close up of finished Styles Stones. I used dye ink for the surface-

I like the slightly mottled look. Wondering how to mount them....

Then, I decorated a tag Style Stone. I inked with bright green, heat set, and then stamped a pattern on top with turquoise ink, and heat set again. I added some small rhinestones, a brass dragonfly charm, a glass leaf charm, and glass beads. I finished it with some ribbon and cotton crochet floss. I plan to give this to a teenage friend so she can hang if off of her backpack.

Above: Decorated Tag shape.

Above: Detail of decorated Tag Style Stone.

And finally, I made a necklace using the triangular Style Stone that I coated with Taken with Teal dye ink (above). I over-stamped an image in White Craft ink, and then embossed it with white embossing powder. It is edged with my favorite gold leafing pen from Krylon. I covered the design with Crystal Effects, and added a tiny clear rhinestone in the center.

Style Stone necklace strung on ribbon and fiber,

which I knotted at regular intervals.

Close-up of Style Stone necklace.

Pros:

• Fantastic surface to work on - smooth, even, takes ink and paint beautifully.


• So many choices!! Both plain shapes for your own designs, or engraved images to elaborate.


• Pre-drilled holes. Hooray!


• Not too heavy- you can wear them comfortably as earrings.


• Not too light- necklaces will hang properly.


• Great size for all kinds of uses: jewelry, decorating other items, scrapbook pages, cards.

Cons:

• This is not so much a con as it is a caution: when you heat set the ink, the stones get REALLY hot, and take a few minutes to cool down. I usually work on two or three stones at once, so I can work on one while another one is cooling off.


• Apparently you can't buy them directly from Clearsnap (see below), but they are available at many other stores online.


• I've never seen them at the big box craft stores, but I have seen them at occasional independent craft stores.


• They are a bit expensive when bought in packs of 4 ($1 each), but are a better value when bought in bulk (50 cents each).

I am pleased to see that Clearsnap updated their website- it is a little more user friendly than it used to be. On the other hand, I was surprised to see that Style Stones do not show up on their product list! Fortunately, they are still there- just do a quick search and you will find all of them. The unfortunate aspect of their website design, at least as far as this article is concerned, is that I cannot create links to every specific product window. You'll have to do the work on this part: go to the Style Stones page, and then click on the various images to see the different styles. And, you apparently can no longer buy from them on-line- even though a catalog is in the navigation bar, it is not a live link to anything. Nor are there any prices listed. Hmmm.....

But overall, here is my impression of Style Stones: Love them!!

So, let me know if you have any ideas for me on how to mount my tiles in the top of my box! And share your experience with using Style Stones, too!