Alcohol Inks for a Colour Challenge

ALCOHOL INKS FOR A COLOUR CHALLENGE

It’s Wednesday – that means it’s time time for you to join in with the Paper Craft Crew for a new challenge! This week is a colour challenge, so get your artist hat on, and get ready to get creative. I chose to use alcohol inks for this colour challenge, but you can use whatever you like.

PCC334 COLOUR CHALLENGE

Here is your challenge, should you chose to accept it! You’ve been given three colours – Lemon Lime, Coastal Cabana, and Poppy Parade. You can also choose a Mystery Colour – but in creating your project, you can only use any 3 of the 4 colours! Neutrals are ‘free’ to use as needed, and not included in the colour choices. So, are you ready? Let’s go!

ALCOHOL INKS ON WATERCOLOUR PAPER

Wait – alcohol inks on watercolour paper?! That’s right – watercolour paper! I know, it goes against everything we’ve been told about using alcohol inks; they dry too fast, only use slick surfaces….well, once you know the rules, you’re free to break them!

I bet that’s not what you expected! Let me tell you how to create this gorgeous look – read on!

CARD FRONT DETAILS

This is actually a resist technique, done with white embossing powder, alcohol inks and watercolour paper. First, choose your images – the more ‘white space’ they cover, the better. Stamp the images onto the panel of watercolour paper in Versamark ink. Cover the images with white embossing powder, and set with the heat tool. I used images from the Stampin’ Up! Dragonfly Dreams and Timeless Textures stamp sets. My colours are Limeade, Turquoise and Mystery colour – Gold!

Place an alcohol ink blending pad onto your blending tool. It’s important to use the correct kind of pad – don’t use one that’s for regular or distress inks. Next, apply your ink directly onto the ink pad; I used Limeade and Turquoise alcohol inks. For my card, I only added these 2 colours at once; my Mystery Colour is gold, which I added after the other colours.

With your 2 ink colours on the pad, apply the ink to the watercolour paper. You can use either a pouncing motion, or swipe from side to side. I used more of a pouncing motion with the Limeade and Turquoise. Add more ink to your blending pad as needed, to cover your panel. If you want your ink to go a bit further, as in not use so much ink, add some Alcohol Blending Solution to the ink on the pad.

Now, add your Gold Mixative onto your alcohol blending pad, with a bit of Alcohol Blending Solution. Swipe the blending tool from side to side, to get the streaks of gold in certain areas of the panel. I wanted the gold to be a  highlight, so I didn’t want it totally mixed in with the colours. Also, because the gold is a mixative, it tends to ‘sit’ more on the watercolour paper, without blending as much. It’s fun to experiment, to decide which look you like the best!

FINISH OFF THE CARD

While your panel is drying – it doesn’t take long at all – stamp the sentiment in Versamark ink onto a strip of black cardstock. Cover with white embossing powder, and heat set it. Attach the sentiment with foam tape to the front panel, and then attach the panel to a cardstock layer; I chose a dark gold colour. Finally, attach it all to a dark green card base. This ties all of the colours together, that you used on your front panel.

The alcohol ink has soaked into the watercolour cardstock, giving it a matte look, as opposed to the glossy look when used on Yupo or glossy cardstock. Yet you can still see the shine of the gold! I was pretty pleased with how it turned out, and I know I’ll be experimenting some more with this technique. I hope you’ll give it a try, too!

JOIN THE CHALLENGE!

Whatever colours and mediums you choose, I’m looking forward to seeing what you create for the challenge! For more inspiration, head over to the Paper Craft Crew page, and see what the rest of the Design Team have created. You can also grab the link there, to add your project.

NEED SUPPLIES?

I’ve attached links to some of the supplies I’ve used, in case you need some to try out this technique. Have fun!

Compensated affiliate links are provided where available, at no cost to you. Your purchase through these links provides me with a small percentage, which helps keep my blog going, and purchasing new supplies, to share with you! Thank you in advance!