The first thing that we will do is prepare our wooden blocks by painting them in white acrylic paint on all sides.
Place the 16 blocks together and secure with a rubber band. We are going to stamp a scene on each side of the blocks, then flip the blocks in the same direction until all the blocks are white and stamp another scene.
Keep in mind that to make the puzzle easier to put together you’ll want to stamp on two or more blocks any time you can.
Once all the scenes are completed we will paint all sides with Mod Podge. We will be using Archival Ink as it will not smear or run when we apply Mod Podge. The only other ink that I would recommend is Staz-On. Since the blocks are likely to get knocked around I would suggested sealing them, but if you don’t want to then you should be able to use other inks. Be sure anytime you’re stamping and it’s a bit uneven to rock the stamp slightly and also to press firmly when using an unmounted stamp.
Here are the scenes and how to create them:
African Safari Scene
Place the Hillside Stencil so that the bottom of the project can be colored. Using a black blending brush, brush on Jet Black Archival ink.
With a circle die, cut out a piece of Masking Magic for the sun and apply it toward the top left of the project. Brush on Tiger Lily ink at the top of the project covering some of the sun. Next brush on Fossilized Amber ink. Remove the mask and dab a little bit of yellow through the center of the sun. Stamp the Acacia Tree (from Trees Unmounted Set) on the top of the hill in Jet Black ink – we will peg stamp everything in this scene in Jet Black Archival ink. Fill in any bare areas where the stamp didn’t take with a Sharpie Marker.
Stamp the Zebra on the right of the project on the hill. Then stamp the Mini Elephant and Tiny Elephant on the left of the project. Stamp the Tiny Monkey in the top of the tree. Stamp the Giraffe under and toward the right of the tree.
Using a ruler and a Sharpie Marker color a thin border on the left, top, and right of the project. This will make it easier to put the puzzle together later as there is so much sky of the same color.