Thursday 5 July 2012

I’ve Been Norty…

…and indulged in a teeny weeny bit of online retail therapy! After months of turning a bright shade of green every time I saw what people were doing with the utterly mouthwatering Dylusions ink sprays (no, don’t worry, I haven’t been drinking them!) I have finally succumbed, and treated myself to the complete set of 12. They have all still got their seals on and I can’t wait to open them up and get started, but I’ve got things I’ve got to do this week (getting ready for our accountant’s appointment next week – I hadn’t even started till this afternoon… really, really boring stuff and I’d much rather be doing art!!) so they are going to have to wait a bit. Aren’t they just juicy-gorgeous?

When the parcel arrived, the inks were all taped together into a block, and wrapped with red tissue paper and tied with some gorgeous brown jute string (which of course I have kept!) and tied into the bow was this lovely little wooden heart charm! Such a nice touch.

I have also got a whole lot of new Perfect Pearls, including some of the Interference range. One slight problem is that the newer ones have the label on the top, whereas the older ones have it on the bottom. This means that every time I use them I’m going to have to look at them to make sure I don’t open them upside down… Perhaps the labels will be peelable and I can stick them all on the lids instead of the bottoms!

I had about 6 pots and have wanted to expand the range for a while now. What made me finally get down to it was this incredible tutorial from Christie – if you haven’t seen any of her work or tutorials, do visit her blog because it’s awesome.

I just had to get two of the Tim Holtz Ink Palettes to do this with – Christie has also done a palette with her alcohol inks, and I am going to do this too.

You then end up with a palette of colours which you can use like watercolours, with a wet brush (water for Perfect Pearls, alcohol blending solution for alcohol inks) and use both these materials with a lot more control, and no waste, and with a lot less effort too. I have often used Perfect Pearls as watercolours, dipping a wet brush into the pot and mixing the powder with water on my craft sheet, but sometimes you end up mixing up too much and wasting it, and it’s not always easy to get the consistency just right. With the palette, though, I think this is going to be a lot better. I think I may invest in the Adirondack Alcohol Ink Fillable Pen which might be easier to use and lose less blending solution through evaporation than just dipping a brush in. Much as I love the effect of alcohol inks on the applicator felt, I’ve often thought it would be nice to have a bit more control, and use them to paint with, and this seems to be the answer.

Since the craft show just over a week ago, I haven’t been able to find my Tim Holtz design ruler – for a whole week after the event I wasn’t doing anything in my ARTHaven anyway because I wasn’t well enough, but when I got back in there and was looking for it to trim off the edges of my ATCs, it seemed to have disappeared completely! I thought I might as well buy a new one rather than wasting any more time and energy searching… Anyway, I found “The Very Useful Ruler” by Woodware, which is going to be better because it’s 15 inches long instead of 12 (it’s difficult to cut a piece of 12 inch card with a ruler that’s exactly the same length) and it has centimetres as well as inches (not that I use metric that much). It has a steel edge like the Tim Holtz one, but it’s absolutely flat instead of being rounded, and I think this will make for more accurate cutting. It also has measuring from the centre outwards, to make centring stuff easier.

I haven’t tried it yet. No doubt now I’ve got this new ruler, my old one will turn up again!

I also treated myself to the Ranger nib holder to hold my recently acquired nibs – I’ve just started using these for drawing or writing with Distress Inks. In combination with my new palettes, I might use them for writing with Perfect Pearls and alcohol inks, too. I’ve got several clear plastic containers left over from camera films, and annoyingly, the nibs are just too long to fit in, so I’ve trimmed the back ends down so they now measure 1 3/4 inches instead of 2 inches – now I’ve got the holder, making them a little bit shorter doesn’t make that much difference, and they now fit perfectly in the little container. I’ve even kept the bits I cut off because I thought they might come in useful to add to a project sometime… (Never Throw Anything Away!!)

What fun I am going to have with all this new stash. Norty… but Oh So Nice!!!

8 comments:

  1. The other day at the store I noticed that Perfect Pearls had different colors than I had seen in a long time. I have the same original ones you do. I may have to check out what these other ones are. It has been so long since I've played with them. I've been eyeing different sprays as well because so many people are doing fun and exciting things with. I bought myself a second Tim ruler because that was the one item I always forgot to pack in my to-go craft kit. Now I have one that just lives in there. Your alternate ruler sounds just as good, and bonus that it is longer.

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  2. Shoshi, I am so jealous I have been watching Dyan Reaveley videos online over the past few days and toying with the idea of taking the plunge and investing in some Dylusion Ink Sprays myself. They do look gorgous. Have you seen her great idea of filling water brushes with the inks to paint with? I look forward to seeing what you do with them.

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  3. I am going to have to search for how to use these dylusion sprays. Severa; WOYWW people have them on their desks and my interest is piqued.
    I have the nibs you have and never knew you could get a holder...I need to get out more! teehee
    That's what I love about WOYWW...I always learn so much!

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  4. What a neat lot of info' here Shoshi! I too am awaiting your next experiments with these "Yummy" media!!
    I only started paper crafting this year, so I've a lot to learn. There are dozens and dozens of paper flower ideas out there.I am loving making flowers at the moment. Congrats on 100 followers.Anne is a sweet lady, and always has a positive word for other bloggers. \
    Judy x

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  5. I came here to look at your desk and then started reading about your supplies and adventures, I was hooked. Can I come to your place and play? you have some really fun toys. LOL Good on you for being naughty, you should do it more often.

    Eliza

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  6. Hi Shoshi, thanks for stopping by my desk this week. I seem to be in "catch-up" mode at the moment and had the day of all days yesterday! Thanks for your spray box info. I have had quite a few comments of what people put in the bottom of them, using a craft sheet is another excellent idea. Strangely enough I hadn't considered putting anything in the bottom and was looking forward to it becoming very coloutful in time! So you splashed out on the WHOLE set. I tossed and turned over it in the shop and only bought the one set to be going on with. I have taken the plastic seals off but not sprayed as yet. I have my bottles in a 15 size "mini-roll" box and think the other 6 will fit in nicely even with the 2 perfect pearl mists I bought aswell. I bought my first cosmic shimmer set and these are similar to perfect pearls (I have 5 PPs and all mine are bottom labeled which seems to be printed not stuck on!!) Thanks for the palette links they are great although I don't think I have enough colours - YET. BJ#18

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  7. Wow, what a wonderful set of goodies you've bought...look forward to seeing what you create with it all.
    Congrats on 100 followers as well.

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  8. Oh Shoshi, your goodies look fantastic - I love the idea of trying out Dylusion inks, there are so many fabulous things being done with them out there. I'm afraid I'm still a bit of an old-fashioned water-colour and acrylics girl - I occasionally use Moonshadow mists but I don't even know if they are still made - I've had them for years and years! Perhaps one day I'll re-stock - for now I'll just have to live with 'goodies envy'!!! I can't wait to see what you create with all your new stuff - happy zentangling!
    Diana xx

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