EMBOSSED LEAFING FLAKE

 Black gloss card can be used for various techniques and it works really well for this particular one, along with the addition of leafing flakes.  There are a few colours available of leafing flake (also called gilding flakes) and of course, you can mix 2 or 3 colours together to create your own colour combo's.  I used a Zig glue pen to go over the raised (or recessed) embossed design on the black gloss card which means you can choose which areas to highlight and which ones to leave black.  Apologies for the variations in the black gloss card.  It can be really difficult to capture the depth of the black background compared to the shine of the leafing flakes.  Try this technique out for yourself to see how great it looks in real life.  It'd make a great card background!

"Oxygen"

"Journey"


"Anty bodies"
(I've been wanting to use this
quote for ages.  😏)

"Ginfinity"

"Key"

"Warrior"

Mercury Glass

 I have always loved the look of Mercury Glass and this particular technique was inspired by both Seth Apter (an amazing mixed media artist that is renowned for his backgrounds) as well as a couple of other Youtube video's and also home decor blogs.  With this technique, you need to be careful about how busy the background is as a busy background will fight with the mercury glass images so they need to be fairly neutral or you can create the whole background as mercury glass and then add to that.  There are a few steps to create this and I have played around with various products to get these effects so I'd suggest checking with Google for your chosen method if you want to replicate it. 

"Focus"
(The seed pods and strip down the bottom
have been cut from the mercury glass technique)

"Under Water"
(The fish skeleton and light bulbs are
from the mercury glass.  I love how dimensional
Ranger Liquid Pearls are for creating the light
bulb cords and the edging around the words.)

"Too many tabs"
(The whole background is the mercury glass.
The little dots are made with the Molotow
Chrome Pen.)

"Chaos"
(Nuts and bolts etc are die-cut from the
mercury glass.)

"Take flight" close-up
(Showing the depth of the mountains which
is created by using layers of foam tape.)

"Take flight"

"Wings"
(The mercury glass was applied to a thin piece
of card stock and then used to create the
faceted heart die by Tim Holtz.)
"

EGGSHELL MOSAIC #2

Eggshell mosaic is another of those techniques that have been around it seems like forever, it is such a great technique with the addition of alcohol inks and a glossy top coat.  As white eggshells are notoriously difficult to get hold of, your normal run-of-the-mill brown eggs will do but they will just need a quick coat of gesso to allow the alcohol inks to stand out in their true colours.  Just remember to keep wiping off your hands as it can get a bit messy sticking the little bits of shell down into the glue.

"#44"
(This is a simple rectangular frame
that is covered with the eggshell)

"Without Limits"
(Just the bottom part of this background
is covered with eggshell.  The top part
is gesso with alcohol inks)

"Appreciate everything"
(Another framed piece with eggshell)

"De-coffin-ated"
(Ghost die-cut covered with eggshell)

"Strangeness"

"Find your wings"
(This entire background is egg-shell and
has metallic waxes rubbed over the top
of the glossy top-coat)

GLUE FOILED BACKGROUNDS

 This is a simple but effective background technique that utilises the raised areas of embossed pieces of card stock to create random shiny areas by using glue sticks and foil sheets.  I prefer to use permanent glue sticks as I found they worked better than the normal kids' school glue sticks.  By varying the amount of glue you put down, you can create a subtle or very blingy background.  I have used both shiny and matte foils on my samples so it doesn't need to be over-the-top with shine if you prefer a more grungy look.

"Where's the food"


"Silver wings"
(This background is plain white embossed card
with only silver foil added to it.)


"Jump in"
(Two different colours of foil used on this one,
silver and blue.)


"Feeling"

"A good day"
(The silver on this background is matte foil.)

"Windshield"

WAVES & HILLS STENCIL BACKGROUND

A few classes ago we used a cloud stencil to create backgrounds so I thought we'd revisit using a stencil to create another background.  This time it is a soft, wavy stencil that can create either waves or hills.  I used Distress Oxide Ink Pads on a make-up style soft brush to apply the ink and then completed the atc's with a focal image, embellishments and words.

"Sea whore"
(The sand on the seafloor was created with the stencil
and then outlined in Ranger Pearls for a little
extra dimension)
 

"Strong as a weed"

"No refunds"

"Flamingos"

"Bugs & Kisses"

"Dead of night"
(Once again the hills were created using the
stencil and outlined in various shades of 
grey marker)

GLITTER & METALLIC ALCOHOL INK DIE-CUTS

Several alcohol ink companies have been bringing out various glitter/metallic alcohol inks and though they work beautifully with normal alcohol inks on non-porous surfaces (Yupo etc), they also are absolutely gorgeous when used on black gloss card.  I also found whilst playing around with this technique that silver mirror card also works well with the glitter and metallic alcohol inks, though the glitter colours show up much more on black gloss card than the silver.  It's still worth a play on silver.  The die-cut shapes in the samples below have had either metallic alcohol ink or glitter alcohol ink dropped on them.

"Tiny miracles"
(This bee has a silver base)

"Seas the day"
(All 3 shapes are cut from black gloss card)

"People"
(Dragonfly cut from black gloss card)

"Nocturnal"
(Owl cut from black gloss card)

"Insect puns"
(Bee cut from black gloss card)

"Doing nothing"
(Beetle cut from black gloss card & 
metallic inks only)

MICA FLAKES & SHEETS

I love the effect of Mica Sheets and Mica Flakes and the different looks you can create by using them in various ways.  The first two pics below are the cover of my Technique Book and the mica on that one is on the atc on the front cover where I've attached it on the top right and bottom left so it looks like a shattered window.  The mica flake generally comes in a whitish colour but can easily be coloured by putting a little into a snap-lock bag, add a few drops of alcohol ink in your chosen colour, smoosh it around and it is ready to use.  I attach mine with a clear-drying glue (Art Glitter Glue).  When I attach mica sheets over an image, I always use Glossy Accents as this dries crystal clear so you can't see it.  You can also attach the mica sheets with brads or staples!  I have also used a circle die with some mica sheet to create the circular shape on "tendril" below.

 

"Technique Book #25 cover"

(20cm x 15cm)

Close up of the atc on the front cover.

"Shiitake"
(Mica sheet over the words and coloured flake at 
the bottom of the mushrooms)


"Study Observe"
(clear mica flake on parts of branches
and on the grass at the bottom)

"Tendril"
(mica sheet, circle die-cut from centre and
attached with staples)

"Vulnerable"
(shaker card with mica flake trapped under acetate front)

"Dearly departed"
(coffin shape is also a shaker with mica sheet

over wording at the bottom right)

"Escape the ordinary"
(mica sheet glued down over image)

 "Collection"
(thin piece of torn mica stapled over the mushrooms)