Friday, March 16, 2012

Does this color make me look fat?


I had a little time to do a fun card (non design team) and I decided to try the bleach technique, which is also the challenge at Blockhead Stamps this month.  This is the first time I've tried this technique and I learned a few things, including that all black cardstock isn't created equally.  The first piece of black cardstock I tried was cheap and didn't bleach evenly.  As a result, the color was blotchy too.   I also discovered that embossing ink works much better than watermark ink (Versamark) because it holds more of the embossing powder and you get a sharper outline.   Lastly, you need to be patient.   After coloring the image, it didn't pop - at all!  It looked quite dull in fact.  I didn't have water based markers, so I tried pigment and dye ink markers (all waterproof), Smooch pearlized inks, and Distress Inks with a water brush.  All of them looked dull.

Since I wasn't getting anywhere, I walked away for a few hours.  When I came back to my craft room, the colors were much brighter.  And I was much happier.  Not only did I do the ladybugs, a rubber stamp from Unity Stamps, I also stamped and bleached one of the Unity butterflies (I'll didn't have time to create a card with this one, but I will soon because it's gorgeous!).  Out of all the different inks I tried, I liked the Marvy dye based markers and the Smooch pearlized inks the best, as these were the brightest.  I used both on this card.  I also used Smooch Spritz on my sentiment tab.

This was an interesting technique to try and I would like to do it again with water-based markers to see if there is a difference.  Have you tried this technique before?



6 comments:

Tammy said...

Sweet card Anne, love ladybugs! Thanks for the info on bleaching and dyeing, very informative.

Patricia St Martin said...

Anne, Your lady bugs are just so cute. The bleaching Technique is awesome if you have not done it. All the cards look wonderful. You did a amazing job bring out the colors I also love the smoochs they are so nice ans bright. I also like how you punched holds on your paper to look like they are buzzing nice look.
Hugs, Patricia

jimlynn said...

Great technique and a bright and fun card! Love it.
Lynn

Karen McAlpine said...

Sweet little lady bugs. Your bleaching turned out great. I found that almost every paper/cardstcok turned out differently. I used some mat board on my projects and really like the results with that. Thanks for taking the Blackheads Technique Challenge!!

Leslie said...

I love this! Great take on my bleach challenge! Love those good-luck lady bugs! Thanks for playing with us!
Hugs,
Leslie, DT
http://leslieturner58.blogspot.com

Chrissie said...

This is fabulous Anne, those colours really pop!
Great card.
Chrissie