Hi everyone. Happy New Year!!
Welcome back to a new year of fun techniques and products to explore. Our wonderful group is having lots of fun getting inky and sharing their experiences with you. Thank you to all that visit us, leave comments, and a special shoutout to those that play along and add their cards on this blog.
We appreciate you all!!
Today we are excited to share our cards that combine two mixed media products (alcohol inks / gilding flakes) to create beautiful backgrounds or die-cuts. We hope you'll give it a try!
Videos:
Alcohol Inks + Gilding Flakes by Neat and Tangled (11:03)
Whispy Alcohol Inks Effects and Gilding Flakes by Tiffany Solorio (18:48)
Supplies:
- Alcohol Inks (2-3 colours works best)
- Rubbing Alcohol or Blending Solution
- Yupo (worked best for all members of the Group) or Glossy card stock
- Puffer Tool, Canned Air, Hair Dryer, Heat tool ... to move the ink/blending solution around
- Gilding Flakes
- Fine-tip glue bottle
- Gloves (recommended)
- Optional: large piece of stiff cardboard or heavy card stock to hold your AI panel as you tilt to move the colours around
Technique Instructions:
Following the video above ...
- Cut paper larger than your finished card
- If possible, place your paper onto a large piece of heavy card stock or stiff cardboard so you can move it around easily without having to touch your inked paper
- Add rubbing alcohol (or blending solution) over your paper
- Add drops of alcohol inks (2 or 3 colours that work together)
- Move the inks around using a puffer tool, canned air , hair dryer, or heat tool.
- Continue to move inks around adding more rubbing alcohol (or blending solution) until you are happy with the look
- Make sure the main part of your alcohol inks are dry, but you still have stickiness where the colours have pooled. If the ink isn't sticky anywhere (or if you want more areas for gilding flakes), use a fine-tip glue applicator to add more lines.
- Add gilding flakes over sticky areas and press down lightly; leave the glue to dry
- Burnish your gilding flakes and remove any excess that doesn't stick to your paper
Group's advice (consensus):
- It was hit and miss for the Group as to whether the gilding flakes would stick to the alcohol inks. You need to add layers of ink and blending solution and move each one around to create the thicker lines of alcohol inks (that are sticky).
- It is easier to add glue using a very fine-tip glue applicator. Even using the fine-tip, you'll sometimes end up with thick lines of glue. When adding the gilding flakes, it's best to just lightly pat them over the glue, but don't press too hard, because that pressure spreads the glue and that's how you end up with thicker lines. Let the glue dry and then burnish to remove excess flakes.
- One other thing, if you end up with stickiness on your panel, but not sticky enough for the gilding flakes to adhere, one of our team sprinkled baby powder over the area then used a dry cloth to wipe overtop. This removes any unwanted stickiness. :)
These instructions are listed on the sidebar by technique for easy access.
It's a great reference for all of us! :)
Alcohol Inks with Gilding Flakes Card Samples
with another technique and sample cards.
See you then!
