OXIDES & PHOTO PAPER TECHNIQUES

 Photo paper is such a versatile product and depending on what other items you are using, both sides of the photo paper have specific properties that will work for various techniques. For this particular one, we'll be using the shiny side of the glossy photo paper.
When Oxide Inks come into contact with the gloss side of the photo paper they absorb immediately into the coating on the paper and when the ink has dried after a few seconds, you can usually see the chalky residue of the Oxide ink sitting on top of the photo paper. You can use a damp paper towel or a baby wipe and remove this chalkiness revealing a much deeper colour, and often a surprisingly different colour, has adhered to the emulsion on the photo paper. For some of my samples, I used a stencil to apply the first layer of Oxide ink, then applied another layer of a different colour over the top of the stencilled section. When you remove it, the first stencilled layer remains vibrant and if you've used a contrasting colour, it can look really amazing.
You can also use a white crayon to scribble first on the photo paper to create a resist effect before applying the Oxide ink. This leaves the white of the photo paper showing through after removing the chalky residue as before.

"Wild mind"
(The blue leaf is an actual leaf that was left over
from a previous Gelli printing class that I coated
with a matte medium before attaching it to the 
background. The blue colour of the leaf is from
the paint that was used on the Gelli plate. I 
loved the colour and the residual brown on it
just worked so well with the background.)

"Life is short"
(I used a die-cut to cut the jagged rectangular
section and raised it with foam tape before
slightly off-setting it back into position to
create a nice focal position for the vase &

floral arrangement.)


"Old"
(The white lines are the white crayon that was
drawn onto the photo paper before colouring
with the Distress Oxide which creates this
resist effect.)

"Make it work"
(I've used a scoreboard to mark the back of the
photo paper after colouring to create the 
scorelines, then swiped over some metallic
wax to show them up even more.)

"Light is fleeting"
(Vellum is notoriously difficult to stick down
without the adhesive showing but these ghosts
have had double-sided adhesive paper stuck to
the vellum before die-cutting.Consequently, the
whole of the ghost has adhesive on it so
doesn't stand out like it would if it was just a
a couple of bits of adhesive tape.)

"A busy life"
(A honeycomb stencil was used with Rusty Hinge
Oxide Ink before going over the whole background

with Fossilized Amber Oxide Ink. The bees were
stamped with Black Stazon Ink as that sticks
really well on the photo paper with no smudging).