Abstract done with alcohol inks

Sympathy cards are always difficult. Making a card to send to a man can make this more of a challenge. The recipient of this card does a bit of painting and creates with mosaics. When I think of him, I think of abstracts, hence this card. The paper is black Yupo paper, the alcohol pearl inks are from Ranger. I cut out the image with a die from Ellen Hutson's Essential Rectangles that cuts both a rectangle and a very thin frame at the same time. I used the die a second time with green cardstock to create the green frame, then used the green with a script die cut greeting inside that read "with sympathy" before a handwritten message.

Playing with alchohol.....inks, not drinks!

I have an assortment of alcohol inks that haven't been used since a Christmas ornament project a few years ago. After some Pinterest and blog cruising, I was inspired to buy some Yupo (a synthetic paper that is good for this technique) and play.

I began by dropping three colors onto dry paper.

Next, I dropped Blending Solution (alcohol) onto some areas to get the large, light rings that you see here. I had rubbing alcohol in a small spritzer and lightly added that from a distance above the paper. I liked that effect.

Barely visible is my attempt to add silver leaf to some of the areas where the ink was thicker and still damp. That didn't work well for me but I really liked the bold colors and decided to try a variation.

For this one, I used the same colors but dampened the Yupo by spritzing it rather heavily before applying the alcohol inks.

I added red ink and used a drinking straw to blow some of the puddles around. This made me think of Chihuly's glass at the Bellagio in Las Vegas (photo at end of post)

I liked the effect left by the sprtizer so I did that again on top of the colors.

I wasn't working on large areas and I am mainly a card maker these days. Were these going to be too busy to use as backgrounds? Maybe. I could always use them to cut flowers from dies and make some interesting embellishments.  I cut each piece down to work on a standard card and have saved the leftovers for more experiments.

The die used to create this flower within a square opening is Cosmo Flower Frame by Simon Says Stamp. My plan was to emboss the birthday greeting on the black card in white. You know what happens with intentions, right? I didn't grab the white embossing powder, I picked up the glow in the dark powder and applied it before I realized my mistake. The pennant greeting will have to do.

I haven't decided if black or white looks best over these bold colors. They are prettier in person as the background has a sheen to it. They are very vibrant.

For those not familiar with the work of Dale Chihuly, here is an example of his wonderfully colored glass. I believe this still hangs in the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas.