Materials Needed for all 6 variations of the Spotlight Technique: Jumbo Dominoes Rubber Stamp by Stampers Anonymous white glossy cardstock Ancient Page coal black dye ink pad Sharpie markers (ultra fine point) heat tool crystal lacquer adhesive backed square page pebble flat-backed clear marble adhesive foam or pop dots scissors artist's workable fixative matte or gloss spray sealer

Hello Stampers,
Welcome to the debut of 'Leigh's Corner' featuring dominoes and other game piece art at The Stampers Mall Magazine!

The main theme for our October Newsletter is Techniques. I'm sure many of you are familiar with the 'Spotlight Technique'. But for those of you who are new to stamping the 'Spotlight Technique' is one of my favourites because it's easy to do and the results are quite effective! There are two standard methods for the technique that have been applied to card-making. The first is to stamp an image in black ink and to draw attention to the focal point by colouring in only that particular area. The second is to do the same as in method 1 but this time stamp the image twice, colour and cut-out the second image and layer it over the first, with a pop dot or mounting foam, creating a three dimensional spotlight.

I'm now going to take you on a journey and explore the possibilities of using the 'Spotlight Technique' on dominoes. There are numerous variations to this simple but effective technique and we're going to look at 6 of them. So let's get started :-)

NOTE: The photos don't do these projects justice I'm afraid, but I did my best to try and capture each effect.

	VARIATION #1: Variation #1 is the same as method #1 for paper - I'm showing this one for the benefit of our newbie stampers. STEP 1: Stamp a detailed collage image onto a jumbo domino with Ancient Page coal black ink and heat set the image. STEP 2: Select the focal point that you'd like to emphasize. There can be more than one area of the stamp that you'd like to draw attention too. In this case I'm spotlighting the square with the capital 'V' and eye and the word 'vision'. Colour in the spotlighted area with Sharpie markers. STEP 3: Spray the finished domino with 2 - 3 light mistings of an artist's workable fixative and once dry apply 2 - 3 light coats of either a matte or gloss sealer.
	VARIATION #2: STEP 1: Follow the same directions in Step 1 - 3 above. STEP 2: To spotlight even more, apply a layer of crystal lacquer to the coloured areas and let it dry. The crystal lacquer gives a glass-like surface to the spotlight. The crystal lacquer is great for an irregular edged spotlight and lets you choose which areas of the image you're going to draw attention to. In this case I included the circles on the sides in the spotlighted area.
	VARIATION #3: STEP 1: Follow the same directions in Step 1 - 3 of variation #1. STEP 2: For those of you who don't have crystal lacquer you can also spotlight the area with a clear square adhesive-backed page pebble. The page pebble gives a glass-like surface to the spotlight but with a more rigid or cleaner/sharper edge. Apply the crystal lacquer to the text so that it is also dimensional.