But first, let me ask you readers about a couple of techniques I tried and failed at:
Have any of you ever had any luck with stamping laundry bleach onto dark papers? My stamps dripped, which could be remedied, perhaps, with gel bleach. And regular bleach is so thin and runny that my "prints" were pretty bad. Maybe if I had some sponge stamps! Yeah, that's the ticket!Then I tried another idea, hot glue stamped with impressions. But the darn glob hardened too quickly, and my gadgets got stuck in the glue! I've had good results with drips that I then painted with metallic. But stamping a big glob was another fail for me.
NOW FOR THE TWO TECHNIQUES I LIKED...
Dry walnut ink crystals are soooo cool. I know you can get liquid walnut inks in sprays, too, but the crystals are so versatile. Sprinkle them randomly on damp paper, or sprinkle on dry paper and spatter them with water or thin paints. Then you can blot them or not, or tilt the paper for drips (or not).
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| I actually sprayed the crystals with Color Mists! Subtle but nice. |
For this example I held the paper up for a few runs in the effect.
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You might even use scrapings from chalk pastels.
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Actually, I like your two photos. The first one is quite striking. I've never worked with walnut ink crystals--looks like fun.
ReplyDeleteI googled bleach stamping and found this post at Hero Arts. Starting with Versamark ink sounds like a good idea.
http://www.heroarts.com/learning/technique.cfm?techID=26
I wonder how it would work on top of walnut inked paper?
PS: When I was saving a copy of the bleach stamping post above I realized I'd saved some other bleaching tips already. One woman used bleach on a foam stamp, a simple circle that she embellished with other stamped designs (also using Versamark ink). Another made a heat-embossed design on black paper, then used bleach on a paintbrush to take the color of the the area within the embossed design.
ReplyDeleteHere are two ideas that I think are really up your alley. Both are from Threads magazine and are techniques for bleaching designs onto cloth.
http://www.threadsmagazine.com/item/3720/dyeing-with-bleach/page/all
(remember to click on View All at the bottom to see all the pages)
http://www.threadsmagazine.com/item/3721/resist-and-spray-technique-for-dyeing-fabric
(another post with a similar technique, by the same author)
PPS: One more idea: an artist use used a q-tip dipped in bleach to create a mottled background for a stamped card
ReplyDelete(an idea from About dot com). I think I'd want to be trying these ideas outdoors so I'm not inhaling so much of the fumes from the bleach, and not worried about spilling.
Ohhh, Anon, you are the best of the best! Thanks for all the great input. And I should have said something myself about bleach fumes! But everyone, do beware of using a brush with natural bristles, cuz the bleach will eat them! Thanks again,
Deletefrom Paula