I is for

This month's alphabet for our A-Z techniques on the ArtVentures group is I. I could not think of anything so just got some supplies out and played around. I am calling this technique, Irridescent interference.

I started with watercolour paper and and stamped a Hero Arts stamp with Versamark. I coloured the image with Perfect Pearls. I then painted the piece with Dr. PH Martin’s Radiant watercolor inks, and heat set it.

When it was dry I stamped the image again with Tsukineko Opalite ink and applied interference Pearl-ex over the image.

To complete the ATC I added a flower and a leaf which I die cut, embossed with pigment inks and embossing powders, then stamped onto it while still hot to make a pattern.

Because I was experimenting, I made several different cards. For each one I started with the same colour family of Perfect Pearls and watercolor ink, then the same palette of Opalite ink and tried to used the same interference Pearl-ex, however with that I only had red, green, blue an violet.

The interference background is hard to see in the pictures, but it is really nice when held up to the light and the original Perfect Pearls also shows up through the inked background.

Mini Memory for Vickie

Vickie is the person chosen for May's Mini Memory on DCI. Her theme is Wings and colours are Purple and Lime Green.

I started with a back cover of an old book and removed the paper from it. I painted it with gesso then added dimension with a stencil and molding paste. I painted over it with green and purple acrylic paints and added iridescent violet over the purple section.

I found the little arch thing at the dollar store and since it was silver, I coloured it with Pinata` ink in a purple colour.  I did the same thing with the scabble pieces to spell out FLY.

I took some purple prima flowers and added brads with green dots on them to the centres, twirled some wire to simulate vines and glued them to the board. I had some left over paper which was a piece of a magazine column that I had stamped on with Versamark, gessoed, dried,  then coloured using a Colorbox stylus and purple stamp pad. I put this behind  the little arch piece then glued it to the board.

The little bird is from Magenta and it is painted with purple acrylic, crackle medium and lime acrylic paint. The final touch was a little gem for the eye.

Book Study - Cosmos Paper

This is the third technique that Carol has introduced in our book study of Julia Andrus' book Paper Transformed.

Julia states that this technique is best done with areas smaller than 4"x4". She uses either illustration board or 3 - 5 layers of card stock glued together. You can colour the substrate with inks, markers, watercolours or coloured pencil. If you choose anything other than pigment ink, you need to apply Perfect Medium, VersaMark or clear embossing ink to the surface, then generally cover with UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel) over the surface and melt. 

I did the base of mine using various inks and 130LB cardstock cut to ATC size (3½” X 2½”); you can also use chipboard as your base.  

I used Versamark to add the UTEE on all but the one that were covered with pigment ink and heat embossed them, then repeated this same technique twice. 

When cool I tapped them with Perfect Medium and brushed Perfect Pearls over the surface, covered them with UTEE and heated them. In this step the UTEE likely won't stick to the surface because of adding the PP's (Perfect Pearls). so if you use a heat gun to emboss, start by heating it well away from the surface to prevent the embossing powder from flying away, then slowly move in to melt it completely. (Carol used an old frying pan to melt hers then applied the heat gun.)  On a couple of the pieces I got a bit too thick a coating of the Perfect Pearls, but this just gives it a different look.

These are the colours and inks I used on my pieces:

Top Row: 

(L)-Mint & Sky Blue Pigment Inks/Forever Blue & Forever Green PP's

Middle- Canary & Pink pigment ink/Lemon Sparkle PP and Carnation Pink Pearlex

(R)- Apricot & Peony pigment ink/Heirloom Gold & Raspberry Sparkle PP's 

Middle Row: 

(L)Rose Mauder & Vermillion Lacquer Nick Bantock dye inks/Heirloom Gold & Rust PP's 

(R) Green, Sky Blue and Spring Green Vivid Inks/Kiwi & Blue Smoke, heated cooled then added some Kiwi PP and UTEE and heated again.

Bottom Row: 

(L)-Tangerine Colorbox Fluid Chalks, smear of Mica Magic red; Green Patina, Forever Red PP's, heated cooled then added some Fuschia Pearlex and UTEE and heated again.

(R)Tsukineko Brilliance  Lavander and Purple overstamped with Brilliance gold/Forever Purple & Pewter PP's.

One tip I have when using cardstock is to apply double-sided foam tape such as Mactac carpet tape to the back before embossing with the UTEE as this prevents the cardstock from buckling. 


If you wish, you can also stamp into the piece by heating it again then stamping into it with a stamp covered with clear embossing, coloured craft or Brilliance inks. Be sure to let it cool before removing the stamp.