Saturday, February 2, 2019

Saturday Showcase - Painting with Distress Inks on Different Papers

It is Cec here and I am presenting the Saturday Showcase this week.  I thought I might show you the result of painting with Distress Inks on different papers.


To make this a true test, I had to make sure I did each one in exactly the same manner.  I cut each piece of paper 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" and used a stamp platform and Jet Black Archival Ink (Ranger) to stamp a bouquet of flowers from the Illustrated Garden set (Tim Holtz).


The Pantone Color for 2019 is called Living Coral so I immediately knew I was going to use Abandoned Coral Distress Ink (Tim Holtz) for the flowers.  Peeled Paint Distress Ink (Tim Holtz) was chosen for the leaves and branches.  All the painting was done with a Water Brush (Tim Holtz) and a #4 round brush.

I started with the water brush first transferring colour directly from the pad to the flowers and gave everything one coat and then used the paint brush with just a bit of water on it to move the colour around.  I went back in and added the shading with the water brush and then used the paint brush again to blend everything to try to eliminate any harsh lines.  It is important not to let either brush get too wet.  If the water brush seems too dry, squeeze it a bit over a piece of scrap card stock to get it flowing and wipe it off a few times to knock back some of the excess water.  The same process was repeated to colour the leaves and branches.

Here are the different papers and the results - I sure hope my photos show the differences since we had a dark snowy day when I was taking them but you can click on the photos to bring up a larger view..


This is Specialty Stamping Paper (Ranger) and gave me a clean, sharp image in one stamping.  Painting was really easy and gave a lovely light colour finish.  I think this is my favourite of all the samples.


This is 110 lb. Card Stock (Staples and gave a really good image in one stamping but the colouring is darker and you have to be careful to ensure you don't saturate the paper because it is not coated and more porous.


This one is 140 Lb, Cold Press Water Colour Card (Canson) and needed to be stamped twice to give a good stamping.  The stamping was done on the rougher side (the side with tooth).  The depth of colour is about the same as the second version on card stock.  Note:  I will link other water colour card options carried by The Funkie Junkie Boutique.


Here is one stamped on old book paper that was glued to a piece of card stock.  I love how the inks are translucent and the text shows through but I find the colour a bit dark for my liking.


I made a card with my final sample, which was stamped on the smooth side of 96 lb. Bristol (Canson).  The stamping is nice and clean and the colouring is only slightly darker than the sample on Specialty Stamping Paper so I vote for this option as my second choice.

To make the card I distressed a piece of patterned paper from the Garden Goddess pad (Graphic 45) and added it to a 5" x 7" cream card blank.


Next I ran some scraps of a coordinating plain paper from the same pad through a Bubbles Texture Fade (Tim Holtz) that I have had for eons.  Then I mixed some Perfect Pearls Perfect Pearl (say that twice fast - lol) powder with some Gum Arabic and sponged it over the top trying to keep it on the raised areas as much as possible.  It sure gave a lot of shimmer as you can see in the card photo.

The edges were distressed and they were added to the first panel but since I had used off cuts and they did not meet in the middle, two strips of venise lace were added back to back in the middle of the card and then a small strip of the background panel was distressed and added to bridge the gap.

An oval die was used to cut the image and then it was distressed and the edges were inked with some Abandoned Coral DI before it was added to the card with dimensional foam.


I altered a crystal spray with some Salmon Alcohol Ink (Tim Holtz) and added it to the card.  A white feather cut from a dollar store boa was added on top of the spray stem.  I dyed some seam binding with the Abandoned Coral DI, created a loopy bow and added it on top of the feather to finish off the card.

It was fun to play and I have come to the conclusion that while you will achieve different results with different papers and the same inks all of them are pretty.  Depending on your painting style, you could even get different results than I did.  The hardest part of this exercise is deciding what kind of look you are going for and would be happy with.



6 comments:

  1. Thanks for a wonderful and helpful tutorial on the card stock ! xx

    ReplyDelete
  2. Beautiful results and awesome tutorial! Loved learning about the effect on different paper types!

    ReplyDelete
  3. WOWZERS! This is GORGEOUS! I love all the layers and texture!

    ReplyDelete
  4. So interesting to see the different results that each of these papers gave Cec and I love the finished card you created with your favourite.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Cec, this was an interesting experiment (something I love to do!) and each of your results came out beautiful. I love that stamp design and your colors. I have to agree that the one painted on Specialty Stamping paper is my favorite, although I love the interest and the translucency of the paint created by the book page. Your resulting card is soooo pretty! Well done! Question: did you apply clear gesso to the book page?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No. I just glued the book page to a piece of card stock to give it some strength. I did not add anything to the top surface before I stamped and coloured since that was the way I did the other samples and wanted to ensure I followed the same routine with all of them.

      Delete