Mixed Media Backgrounds - Part 1

Hello again ...

... two posts in one day - I'm excelling myself! Actually, it's been lovely finding time to mess about in the craft room. It feels like an indulgence to be able to experiment with paints and inks again, and the Stampendous Creative Palette I mentioned in an earlier post. Here's the results of my playtime.

As you can see I dug out the brayer ... I can't remember when that was last used too ... and for these background pieces I used a selection of ink refills - from Colorbox, Ranger's, Vivid and Rollagraph - all almost as old as Methuselah but still very usable! I tried placing a stencil (Clarity) over the wet inks with mixed success but scoring the inks with the Vicki Boutin Art Wedge, comb and bottle top was more successful.

Next, I tried out acrylic paints, Vicki Boutin (Blue Hawaiian), Maggie Holmes (mint and blue) and Heidi Swapp metallic texture paste (Hot Pink).Love this combination of colours.

For these backgrounds I added a base of some cheap white acrylic, Wilkinson's, which worked very well. As did the more pricey Daler & Rowney cream Simply acrylic. Vicki Boutin's Juicy Pear provided a great pop of bright citrus against the blues and pinks already mentioned.

Finally, the disaster! This is what happens when the phone rings and the card is left down on the painted surface too long. Patches of the card softened and stuck to the drying paint. It's quite textured and looks rather like flock wallpaper. I'm still debating with myself on whether it's at all usable or only fit for the bin.

Next, I plan to use the backgrounds for cards. Immediately!! Well, at least within the next few days. So much better than stashing them away in a box to be forgotten. So, part 2 should follow soon.

Hope you found this resurrection of old crafty tools of interest. It's my shame that they've been languishing in a drawer forgotten and neglected. They deserve better treatment!

Thanks for visiting.