Smooshed Backgrounds
This Alcohol ink technique is heaps of fun, you get to smoosh colours around and be surprised by the results!
Materials:
- Adirondack Alcohol Inks
- Black Oil Based Ink Pad
- Adirondack Blending Solution
- ½ Piece of A5 Glossy Card
- Tape A5
- Coloured Card
- Glad Bake or other waxed food wrap
- Rubber Stamps Metallic Mixatives
Procedure:
- Lay the Glad Bake onto a flat work surface and attach with tape.
- Choose 2-3 colours of Adirondack Alcohol ink and one colour of Metallic Mixative.
- Sparingly squirt a little of the Mixative onto the glad bake (in the middle of the sheet).
- Then generously squirt the Alcohol Inks onto the Glad Bake – it’s easiest to sort of scribble the colour onto the Glad Bake, one colour at a time. Aim to make a scribble pattern roughly the size of the gloss card being used – but don’t cover the whole area with ink. Drip a bit of the Blending Solution onto the inks – this will help the card to slide.
- Put a piece of the Glossy Card onto the ink scribbles (glossy side down), make sure it has made contact with the ink by gently pressing down on the card. Then, twist the card in ONE direction and slide from the Glad Bake – check the colour and pattern and repeat previous steps if needed, to cover the card with ink.
- If the card is still not covered, add more inks, mixatives or solution to deepen/lighten the colour or add more metallic colour.
- A second lighter background can also be created by using the colour left on the Glad Bake – just add a little more Blender solution and repeat step 5. These second generation backgrounds will be far more subtle in colour and the metallic colours may changes significantly.
- Finally, stamp images using oil based pad onto Alcohol Ink Smooched background and mount on coloured card.
Hints and Tips:
- The Blending Solution can be used to clean the inks of hands, clothes or grubby work surfaces!
- If the background does not look acceptable, add more colour/ mixatives until it is more attractive.
- Let ink dry for 30 seconds to 1 minute between re-applying colour to avoid muddying the effect