Wednesday 13 June 2012

Altered Book Lesson 9

Hello everyone,

the lovely Elizabeth over at Altered Book Lover  asked us all to experiment with background techniques for this lesson. I have to admit to not having a lot of the products that Elizabeth showcased for her amazing technique tutorials but I didn't let this stop me from playing ha ha.
I decided to pick out a few products from my stash and also raided my kitchen tee hee, hence followed some improvisation and severe plumbing of the depths of my memory!!. The results were varied to say the least........

The first sheet was created using a base watercolour wash, I then scrunched up some newspaper and ragged on some acrylic paint to create some texture, subtle maybe but I really liked the result -


The second sheet was created by saturating the paper with water and dripping on some distress re-inker and some acrylic ink, not too happy with this one but am sure I can do something with it in my book somewhere!!!!!!!! I did love the way the acrylic ink spread though........



For the third sheet I decided to stick with the acrylic ink but wanted to see how it would behave on top of another watercolour wash, I really liked how this one turned out........


Tee hee, most people choose to blot their soggy pages with kitchen roll before they start to dry them but a lot of the time I prefer not to do this and I end up spending ages chasing drips around my page with the heat-gun, I love doing this as you never really know how it's going to turn out until you've stopped chasing the drips and taken a step back.  I love the way you end up with streaks and gradients of the same colour (lol, I hope that makes sense??)

My fourth page was done on a larger sheet of watercolour paper. I saturated it with water again and used the same approach as sheet three but this time I wanted to try using some salt (ha ha, this is where my brain started hurting after the plumbing of the memory!!!) to see if it would draw the colour as I have read that it should?? The result was 'different' to say the least and I have to admit that I have no understanding of what or why!! Any ideas peeps??............


Admittedly I lost patience a little and started using the heat-gun to dry the sheet, this is probably why the salt was not entirely successful? Ha ha ha, when I looked at it sideways all I could see were the makings of 2 strange space alien thingys that I could bring to life with lots of doodling, lol my mind works in strange ways but I'm probably going to give it a go at some point!!!

My final sheet started as a test of a new spray ink I had indulged in!! This is also not really to Elizabeth's brief  but I am hoping to incorporate it into my book somehow.  I think this could be classed as a 'work in progress' as I think it could still do with a little more oomph!!
I started by masking off a grid and spraying Memories orange juice mist, this was then masked and the remaining white space was sprayed with an acrylic ink wash I made up myself. I then decided to let rip with some Stampotique, Acey Deucy, My Minds Eye, Papermania and various other stamps to build up layers. The DI's came out too and were used through and over various masks and sequin waste. Lots of doodling followed and here you go........


Blimey, my apologies for the length of the post but I had so much fun playing that I wanted to share it all.
Did you make it through without dozing off tee hee????????
If you did, thank-you so so much for visiting, I really appreciate everyone's time and thoughts.

Hugs from Thundery Cornwall
xx

7 comments:

Karen said...

hahaha I am so like you with patience!!! I love that when you dry a salted page with a heatgun the salt sort of welds itself to create a fantastic knobbly texture! These are fabulous pages and I can see that you had so much fun. Did you just drop a small blob of acrylic on the wet paper for it to spread like that or did you make up an acrylic spray? Fantastic work all round sweetheart xxx

BJ said...

Adore your final page. I didn't experiment much this week but looks like you certainly did. BJ

SandeeNC said...

First, Yes, I got your e-mail about using your quote, thank you! I really did like it and will use it one day! Second, I would love a scan of the mermaid stamps, thank you!! Third, but not least, is I love the back ground you created, my favorite one is the one you described doodling aliens on, lol, it looks like the ocean to me! waving hi from the hills of North Carolina :)

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

I made it completely through the entire post. Now my question is, what are ACRYLIC INKS? I know what India Ink is, what DI is, and what dye or pigment ink is. I even know about reinkers, but I've never heard of acrylic inks. I sure like the outcome you got, though. You never get that same "spread" from other ink.

I also chase my ink, or I allow it to dry on its own. It also blends and bleeds without the added "air" of the heat tool.

These are all so lovely. I am in true awe. Of course, I liked the salt experiment, but I really DID see the aliens when I turned my head sideways.

elle said...

Luved your process. The pages are great and the first is delicious! Yes, what are acrylic inks. Inks challenge me but you did great.

Susan said...

I really like all of your backgrounds! Your results came out really well, and I like the way the salt one turned out.

BJ said...

Oh bother just wrote you a long reply and it all disappeared!!! Don't know what I pressed to cause it. Synopsis - grid page brilliant
acetate butterflies were hand made acetate/alcohol inks
BJ