Anything Goes Challenges
Working with Alchohol Ink Lifts - First Entry - The Postive
Good day, fellow crafters. Today I am embarking on using a newish product and technique, at least new to me, and I wanted to share the creation process of my card with you and explain the product and technique. Notably, this card is part of a larger crafting project, where several other blog posts detailing those cards will soon follow, each crafted using the same process. What adds to my enthusiasm is the opportunity to submit my creation to the Polkadoodle challenge, as well as one other challenge blog that is new to me: Crafty Catz. I am truly grateful for these platforms that provide us, fellow crafters, with a chance to showcase our talents and connect with like-minded individuals who share our passion for crafting. So, gather your supplies, unleash your imagination, and let's dive into these thrilling challenges! If you're feeling inspired by the vibrant colors and captivating effects of alcohol inks, don't hesitate to join in and share your own masterpiece with the crafting community on these challenges. I hope you enjoy it.
Before I begin, a word of CAUTION, especially if you're new to using this product. Alcohol inks possess a staining property, as is expected from inks, and it's crucial to be mindful of this characteristic. These inks can leave lasting marks on any porous materials they come into contact with, including hardened epoxy. To safeguard your work surfaces and prevent unwanted stains, I HIGHLY recommend taking the necessary precautions and protecting your workspace and the surrounding area.
To begin the creative process I cleared away any unnecessary items from my worksurfaces that could be damaged by spills, accidental drops, or splashes. Taking precautions, I then protected both the work surface and the floor by placing some 3mil plastic sheeting over them and to ensure its stability, I carefully taped down the edges.
Once my work area was prepped I got out my supplies for this project which included my collection of alcohol inks, Yupo paper, white, purple, and black cardstock, the Pretty Pink Posh (PPP) Scalloped die set, the Altenew Fancy Thanks die set, Little Thing flat-backed pearls in Soft Violet, the Momenta Leaves and Flowers A2 stamp (2236156) - I picked mine up from my local Hobby Lobby, and finally the star of the show and what makes this technique work, Tim Holtz Alcohol Lift-Ink from Ranger.
I began the creation of my background by choosing the colors of alcohol inks that I wanted for this project, and as I was desiring to create a feminine card I choose some light pinks and purples. I next added drops of the chosen inks onto my Yupo paper and utilized my Tim Holtz blower to move the ink around the paper until I was happy with the result. I then set it aside to dry.
In case you are unaware as to why you should use Yupo paper instead of cardstock for this step it is because Yupo paper is a non-absorbent synthetic paper made from polypropylene, which is a type of thermoplastic. This means that it does not absorb the ink as the cardstock paper would, which allows you to move it around until you are happy with the result. You can also use this technique on other non-porous materials, I have seen many jewelry pieces made with alcohol inks at various craft shows.
Our next step is to introduce the alcohol lift ink, which is a specialized type of ink that’s designed to interact with alcohol inks and has a lifting property. This means that when applied to the Yupo paper, the alcohol lift ink can lift layers of alcohol ink already applied, creating intriguing patterns, textures, and negative space depending on what you used to lift the ink off. In my case, I used the Leaves and Flowers stamp, which was carefully cleaned for any residual inks and then placed in my Misti stamping tool, carefully covered in the alcohol ink-lift, and then pressed slowly down onto the ink-covered Yupo paper in the area that had the colors I wanted to lift. Before you stamp be sure to look carefully at your stamp to see that all of the surface of the stamp has a shine to it. Since it isn’t a pigment ink the shine is how you will know it’s covered everywhere. Carefully lifting the stamp off I then transferred the stamp onto white cardstock, making sure to use even pressure everywhere prior to opening the Misti and removing the white cardstock. This left me with the beautiful image that makes up the background of this card.
As for the Yupo paper and the leftover alcohol inked background, I used them to create the card you will see in my next post, but as a preview of what is required to see the results of the lift on the Yupo paper you will want to use a lightly dampened paper towel to gently lift or remove the ink-lift, which will reveal the colors and patterns underneath. For this step, you want to gently dab at the image until it is no longer shiny where the lift had been applied. You then can wipe away the alcohol ink and expose the stamped image.
The next step in the process was to trim the background to its final size and to framed with a beautifully corresponding purple cardstock that I cut with the PPP Scallop dies, I love the stitched look on these dies as to me it gives a hand-sewn feel. The last step for the framed background was to mat it in black then adhered everything to a pre-cut A2 white card base.
The sentiment for this card was created from the Altenew Fancy Thanks die set in the same purple and black as the mat and frame. I double-stacked the cutouts and used a slight offset to get the shadowed look which made the sentiment really stand out prominently once it was surface mounted to the card background.
Lastly, I felt that this card needed a bit of extra dimension so I incorporated the Little Things flat-back pearls in a Soft Violet, which really matched effectively, and called this part of the project complete.
I hope you have enjoyed this walkthrough and are inspired to join me in submitting to any or all of the hosts I featured in the banners at the top of the post. If you have any questions or comments please be sure to leave them in the comment section below.
