BURNING LANDSCAPES YUPO

While we have our soldering irons out (or wood burning tools), this is another way to utilise this particular tool with alcohol inked backgrounds on Yupo.  Unfortunately, you can't see the depth in these through a computer monitor or phone.  They are very 3-dimensional, similar to the last class where we layered the pieces of holey Yupo using little pieces of dimensional foam tape.  This time I have used larger sheets of craft foam to layer the top pieces to create depth.  So you have the background, then a piece raised on 1 piece of craft foam, then a front layer also raised on another piece of craft foam.  It looks wonderful in the flesh!  Not as fiddly as the last class but still takes a little more time than just doing a normal alcohol ink background.  Because these are so spectacular in themselves, they really don't need a lot of embellishments, hence the use of a clear sticky word on each of them.  Apart from the second one, "earth", which has some Jac paper (double-sided adhesive) cloud shapes applied and then brushed with Perfect Pearls.

"Dreamscape"...

"Earth"...

"Eclipse"...

"Dramatic"...

"Picturesque"...

"Traverse"...

BURNING YUPO

Yupo is a synthetic substrate that artists have been using alcohol ink on for several years now, and as it is plastic, some bright spark worked out that you could burn it with a soldering iron or wood burning tool.  These are my samples.  All of the layers are created using 2-3mm foam squares to create the dimension.  To call this a fiddly process, would be the understatement of the year!  

A word of caution.... heating/melting/burning plastic is toxic and should always be done outdoors in moderation.  This is not something I plan on doing every single day so a respirator is unnecessary.  If you were considering doing this technique more frequently, look after your health and use a respirator.  I have burnt the holes/shapes beforehand and then inked on some, but have also done the burning when the Yupo was already inked and dry.  The final one, Traverse, is slightly different but the top of the hills are still burnt/melted with the soldering iron to create the shape.  You don't want to cover these up too much, hence the need for minimal decorating.  

"Firecracker"...

"Elemental"..

"Nocturnal"...

"Mushroom"...

"Traverse"...