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"...

BAKED TEXTURE EMBOSSING & BRUSHO'S

I've always loved embossing powders and ever since Seth Apter's Baked Texture Embossing Powders hit the market I've really enjoyed the beautiful colours and texture these embossing powders give.  For this technique, I've combined tissue paper crinkled background with Brusho's (& Cosmic Pixie Powders and Tonic Shimmer Powders as you can never have enough shimmer in your life), plus the addition of a swipe of a clear embossing ink pad to hit the high spots of the tissue paper, then the addition of the Baked Texture Embossing Powders.  These products combined create an amazing background that you just know,  just by looking at it, it's going to feel lumpy, bumpy but also kind of smooth (that's the embossing powder part).

"Carrion"...

Here's a side shot so you can see the depth in this one.

"Sparkle"...

"Fragility"...

(More of a mixed media feel to this one, chipboard heart painted to look rusty,

metal dragonfly that's coated in a couple of colours of embossing powders, then

clear coated with UTEE - Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel, book paper lightly painted

with Ken Oliver's Copper Liquid Metals which was also dripped down a couple

of the sides.  The dragonfly is attached using copper coloured thread.  Lastly a couple

of gunmetal coloured stud embellishments on the book paper.  The colour of the

Embossing Powder on the aqua background is the Emerald Creek Fractured Ice.  

Beautiful embossing powder that one!  Check it out.

 "Hashtags"...

(The little weird guy is an Octopode stamp on shrink plastic, coloured and

shrunk.  The heart has a real shimmer to it as it's chipboard, painted black,

then Angelina Film glued on, trimmed around the edges and heated which

gives it the multi-toned coppery effect.)

MINERAL PAPER & ALCOHOL INKS

Yupo paper has been the usual substrate for using alcohol inks for a few years now as it has more flow and movement than just using gloss card stock.  Yupo is a synthetic paper made from polypropylene (plastic) so withstands the alcohol ink and subsequent application of 91% or 99% alcohol to make the inks spread further and dilute them (or you can use blending solution).  Mineral paper is made from rocks so it is different in that it gives a more matte finish than Yupo, but the inks do react differently on it.  They don't tend to spread as easily without the application of the alcohol and if you apply Snow Cap (white alcohol ink) mixed with some 91% or 99% alcohol, this will make the surface shinier.  It is still a wonderful substrate to try out if you can get hold of some.

"Life update"...

"New beginning"...

"Owl sings"...

"Keep friends close"...

"Ugly"...

DISTRESS OXIDE WRINKLE

Our last class of the year, is, as usual, a Christmas themed class.  This is a particularly easy background technique using the Distress Oxide Ink Pads and Glad Wrap (plastic wrap) to create the subtle wrinkle background that shows just how amazing the Distress Oxide colours are.  I applied the Distress Oxide (usually 2 colours only per gloss card), either by brayer or direct from the pad, then spritz a piece of Glad Wrap and lay down over the card, smooshing with your fingers to create the wrinkles.  You need to let it dry but as you don't use very much water, it dries pretty quickly.  Peel off the Glad Wrap and it reveals a gorgeous soft background.  I had a lot of fun looking for pictures and sayings for these Christmas themed atc's and have made up a Christmas sheet for the girls in class so they too can have Jason Momoa as a very non-Christmas Santa.  🤤🤤🤤

"Prosec-ho ho ho"...

"Ignore you"...

"Your soul"...

"Over-eating"...

"Shark!"...

(love this one)

"Not Santa"...

(& yep, this one as well)

ALCOHOL INK LIFT OFF TECHNIQUE

I have had my Ranger Alcohol Ink Lift Off Pad for a while now but have only just got around to having a play and it is SO addictive!  There are plenty of YouTube video's on how to use it so I won't go into that here but I will say that your stamps need to be squeaky clean before you use this ink pad.  I generally wipe my stamps over with a baby wipe after stamping with them but they need more intense cleaning than just that.  If you have a stamp cleaner, use it to get your stamps as clean as possible.  My poor Lift Off Pad now has some darker marks on it from a stamp that had been used with Stazon.  Even though you think it's clean, this ink pad will cause the Stazon to reactivate a bit so you'll get some transfer to the pad.   Clean your stamps!

I have included a couple of the stamped images that were done on the plain white cardstock after lifting off the alcohol ink from the alcohol inked Yupo surface.  Make sure your alcohol ink on the Yupo is dry too before doing this technique.  Hope you enjoy the samples as much as I enjoyed making them.  Couldn't seem to stop.....  😉

"Boo"...

 "Boo 2"...

(See that white stuff?  That's stretchy cobweb from a 

Halloween pack!)

"Music speaks"...

"Solstice"...

"Hum of bees"...

"Scarlet Tree"...

(Stamped images from the Solstice card above)

The stamped image from Hum of bees above.

Stamped image from Music speaks above.

Below are the last 2 samples from the previous Brick Wall Background from last fortnight. 

Do you love my ants?  

"Uninvited guest"...

"Shhhh"...

BRICK WALL BACKGROUNDS

The class for this fortnight is a very textured, dimensional background using glue, chipboard, tissue paper and paints.  It's a pain cutting all the little bricks out but so worth it in the end when you see the wonderful result!

"Keep Out"...

(the skull is a die-cut that I coated with

several layers and colours of the Seth Apter

Baked Texture Embossing Powder range)

"Don't grow up"...

Too glam"...

"Whimsical"...

This is what the background looks like before anything has been added.  As you can see there is loads of texture and various colours to make this particular background look like aged bricks. 

A side view so you can see there is quite a bit of depth to this.

On a personal note, I missed last fortnight's class as I had a tragic and mind-numbing event happen to our family.  My youngest brother passed away from a massive heart attack.  At the end of September, my brother Tony celebrated his 54th birthday and just 3 short month's ago married his partner Bill, of more than 20 years, when same-sex marriage was finally legalised in Australia.  He was the fittest member of our family so this came totally out of the blue with no warning signs at all.  It has left a huge hole in our large, close-knit family but his death has also affected many others as he was also a skating coach/dancer/choreographer/costume designer and was well known in Perth entertainment circles for his various productions that he staged.  He was also the jokester of the family, always quick with a funny story or meme that made us all smile.  He was also a baby brother, a son, a brother-in-law, an uncle and a great-uncle.  Tony will be missed by all whose paths he crossed.

CRAFT FOAM WITH FOIL

This technique has chewed up a huge amount of time trying to get it to the point where it's easy enough for the girls to do in class.... and leave some of their hair intact!!!

The very first time I did this technique, easy peasy, worked very well and no messing about.  Now when I want to teach it as a class..... well, that's a different story.  Finally got the recipe of 1mm craft foam and using the packing stuff that comes with some stuff through the mail, and it worked well enough to consider it for a class.  I did work out though that the more solid the shape, the better things went.  Anyway, I went a bit overboard on my Zombies because, how could you not, love the Zombies.  💜💀

"Biggest fear"...

"Cawed"...

"Brains"...

"Shittake"...

(This one doesn't have the foil on the black mushrooms,

it's just the black craft foam with adhesive on the back, with

a little antique copper paint rubbed on to it)

 "Uninvited"...

"Saltwater"...

"A poem"...