This was for my friend Emma, as part of a package of crafting materials I sent her. I have held of posting it til I know she got the package, but now I can put the card up 🙂
Emma is a card maker and mixed media artist too, so I wanted to play around with some of my techniques and make a special card for her.
The PSX Renaissance Iris image has been stamped onto a cracked paper that was prepared in advance, and then coloured with twinkling H20 iridescent watercolours. This was sponged with Tea Dye distress ink to create an aged look, and the same ink was used around the edges of each later of paper (gold metallic, floral Brenda Walton for K& Co paper).
The background was done in this way: A4 cardstock was painted with gold acrylic paint. Once dry, this was painted with clear Jo Sonja crackle medium, and then titanium white acrylic paint was added over the top. This causes the titanium white to crack as it dries, showing the gold paint underneath. The number and size of cracks can be varied by the thickness of the decor crackle and the titanium white paint, and brushing in different directions gives a crazy pattern effect.
The class I learned this technique in taught us to rub some burnt sienna oil paint into the cracks, then use linseed oil to lighten the colour. While this does look fantastic, it is very messy and takes ages to dry – plus the oil can ruin papers if you aren’t careful. So for the first time I experimented with the distress inks instead. The effect is different, but I was still very happy with the aging effect (plus it was far less hassle to do).
It is absolutely gorgeous, especially the use of the Twinkling H2Os. It is so stylish and refined.