Rethinking Re-inkers
Good day, fellow crafters. One of the many things I enjoy about the crafting experience is learning how to use different materials in new and unique ways. My project for today was to experiment with reinkers and I am excited to show you the end results. I hope you enjoy.
As I mentioned above, today I am working with re-inkers, in particular, the Altenew brand ones featured on the left in the colors Aqualicisous, Deep Iris, and Persian Blue. The technique that I am using is very much like the smoosh method I employ in my watercoloring projects but the results are much more intense. Let me walk you through the steps.
In order to make this project work the best, I recommend utilizing a glass mat or a silicon mat. Either will work, though, in my opinion, the glass mat would be my first choice for the best results. Next, you will also need a brayer, a spray bottle filled with water that is capable of a fine mist, and some white cardstock. Now just like the smoosh method I put droplets of my color directly onto my glass mat, then spritzed with a bit of water. I then used my brayer to gently dab at the inks and move them around gently in an area just slightly larger than my cardstock. Once I was happy with the color and coverage I set the brayer aside and placed my cardstock down on top of the watered-down inks. Then without moving anything, I pressed down on the paper so that the whole piece touched the inked area. I then carefully lifted the paper up and revealed my new background panel. I set it aside to dry but instead of wasting any leftover inks I used another sheet to soak up what was left that way, in this way, I could use that for a later background or element.
The next step, upon drying completion, was to embellish the background panel. For this step, I turned to the Altenew Antique Blossoms die set, featured above right, and the Altenew Fancy Thanks die set for the sentiment. Both of these dies I used with black cardstock to provide visual interest without taking away from the beautiful background that the re-inkers had created. I surface-mounted all the pieces with liquid glue to the background panel.
Lastly, I moved on and assembled the card. To do this I started by using a stitched slim line die from my collection with which I trimmed the background panel to its final size. I then used another slim line die to cut a black mat to size which I adhered to the background panel with double-sided tape to enhance the visual appeal even more. I then adhered the composite to a blue slim-line card base and called the card complete.
This technique was really easy and really fun to do. I enjoyed playing with the ways the inks interacted with the water and with each other. I would highly recommend that if you haven’t given this method or tried the smooshed ink pad technique you give them a try, I think you will be impressed with the results.
