PLASTIC PARCHMENT BACKGROUND

This background technique is made using the humble white plastic shopping bag!  Layers and layers (about 12!) of white plastic bag is ironed together to create a beautifully textured background that is further enhanced by adding paints, wiping off, adding more paints, wiping off again, then metallic paints, wiping off.... well, you get the picture.  You must remember to protect your iron from the plastic with either baking paper or brown paper or you 'll have a huge mess!  Of course these samples on the computer do this background absolutely no justice at all, they are really beautifully textured in real life.  I used a combination of Jo Sonja Paints, Golden Paints, Ranger Distress Paints, Plaid Metallic Paints.

 

"Seed Fairy"... (colours for this one are:

Paynes Grey, Celadon, Silver & Micaceous Iron Oxide)

"One-way ticket"...(colours are:

Paynes Grey, Indian Red Oxide and Copper)

 

"Collect Moments"... (colours are:

Burnt Umber, Burnt Sienna and Silver)

 

"Thousand times"... (colours are:

Peeled Paint, Rusty Hinge and Copper)

 

This sample below is unadorned so you can see a little of the gorgeous texture that you get.  Colours used were:  Paynes Grey, Turquoise Phthalo and Copper.

SPRAYED REVERSE SOOT

Soot technique has always been one of my favourites, it never fails to impress people who have never seen it done before.  When I originally did the soot technique in my classes years ago, we did it on plain white gloss card, then when some of the newer girls wanted to repeat the class, as usual I had to try and put a spin on the original so the girls who had done it before, learnt something new.  Well, it's time to re-visit soot again and once again, there's a spin on it!  This time it's called Sprayed Reverse Soot.  For the girls who haven't done soot at all before, I'll be showing them how to do the original way and then this new way which is the reverse soot using a Versamark Ink Pad (clear embossing ink pad) to stamp your image first onto a coloured (sprayed) background, then applying the soot and wiping gently off with a cotton wool ball.  The Versamark holds the soot onto the stamped image!

 

"Joy"... (reverse soot stamping - Broken China spray

and Cracked Pistachio)

"Extremes"... (reverse soot stamping - Pumice Stone

spray & Iced Spruce)

 

"Kinky"... (original way of doing soot stamping)

 

"Wild Life"... (reverse soot stamping onto

plain white card)

 

"Without the dark"... (original soot stamping on sprayed

background using Fired Brick and Fossilised Amber)

 

"Salvage"... (original soot stamping on sprayed

background using Broken China and Cracked Pistachio)

Finally, here is the last of the Bokeh Technique atc's.

 

"Live Well"...

BOKEH TECHNIQUE

Bokeh Technique is a photography term and basically translates to a sharp focal point in front but with the light points behind blurry so as to make them round discs of light.  Hope I don't offend any photography buffs with my inelegant explanation but it's an easy way to understand for stampers to create a similar technique.  There are lots of examples of this technique both in photography and in stamping on the web. 

 

I have used watercolour paper (smooth) with dye re-inkers with a little water mixed in for the backgrounds, then a rectangular shape of either cardstock or acetate with various sized circles die-cut out of it and applied white pigment ink, getting darker with the white as the circles get smaller.  Remember these are atc sized which is about 6.4cm x 8.8cm (or 2.5" x 3.5")so pretty small for this particular effect.  I've also included a couple of atc sized ones unadorned down the bottom so you can see the effect without all the stamping on top.

 

"Single Step"...

 

"Freak Show"...

 

"Sparkle Today"...

 

"Beyond Normal"...

 

Sample 1 Plain Background...

Sample 2 Plain Background...