Infusions Mini-Album–Miscellaneous Techniques

Over the past couple of days I have discovered some further techniques you can do with Infusions.

Kissing

This name always amuses me! It refers to applying a medium on one surface and then pressing another surface onto it while still wet, and then pulling it off so you get a mirror image mono print. Not only is it fun, but it saves on paint etc. too! Here it is with Infusions.

The colours I used were Royal Blood and Golden Sands from set 1, and Olive Tree from set 2, sprinkled onto the card and then spritzed with water.

Dripping

Self-explanatory.

I used Are You Cerise from set 1 as a background, sprinkling the Infusions onto the card and then spritzing it with water fairly liberally to get full coverage, and then heat set it. Then I applied plenty of water along the top edge with a brush, and sprinkled on Black Knight, also from set 1, and held the card vertically so that it ran down. To encourage it to drip where I wanted, I touched the wet edge with the brush. The drips will otherwise tend to follow the course of previous ones and you need to break the surface tension of the water in different places to make new drips flow. Working with the brush, you get more control. I kept applying more water along the top edge with the brush, and tapped the card’s bottom edge on my work surface, which encouraged it to continue flowing.

Infusions with Glimmer Mist

I haven’t used my glimmer mists for ages. When I first started, I made up some home-made ones with distress ink re-inkers and Perfect Pearls in little spray bottles, and was pleased to find that they still worked and hadn’t dried up.

I sprinkled the Infusions onto dry paper as normal – in this case Lemoncello from set 1, and the instead of spritzing with plain water to activate them, I used my spray bottle with a mixture of water, Chipped Sapphire re-inker and Perfect Pearls (the “Perfect Pearl” colour which is a silvery-pearl). I sprayed it on fairly liberally and the blue has mixed with the yellow of the Infusions to create a soft green colour.

Here’s a detail shot in an attempt to show the shimmeriness of this effect.

Painting as watercolours

I tapped out a little of the Infusions on my non-stick craft sheet and made a puddle with water, using a fine brush, and then painted with this onto a stamped image.

I used a couple of stamps from the StampAttack “Fanciful Fans” set using black archival ink. The Infusions I used were Violet Storms, Lemoncello and Emerald Isle from set 1, and Rusty Car and Violetta from set 2. When I had finished, the images looked rather stark against the white card, so I used an Inkylicious Ink Duster to apply Fossilised Amber distress ink around the edges of the card, blending the ink towards the middle.

Infusions on wet paper

Applying the Infusions to wet paper, rather than to dry and then spritzing with water, gives a different effect.

For this sample, I made the paper good and wet and sprinkled on Royal Blood from set 1 and Green Man from set 2. I heat set this and then decided it needed a bit more colour, so I added a small amount of A Bit Jaded from set 1. This method is a lot more difficult to control. You get a wonderful burst of colour but on the wet card this soon disperses and you have to dry it fairly rapidly to keep the radiating pattern. I have been using my old heat gun lately, as it dries things a lot faster than the Tim Holtz Heat Tool, but in this case it would probably be better to use the latter because the blast of hot air is much more gentle and doesn’t move the wet colour around so much.

Brayered Gesso

For my final sample today, I combined Infusions with gesso applied with a brayer.

I used Rusty Car and Slime from set 2, sprinkling the Infusions onto dry card. I put some gesso onto my non-stick craft sheet with a palette knife and spread it out a bit, and then ran my brayer through it so that the roller was covered, and then I rolled it over the Infusions on the card. I spritzed it with water and watched the Infusions begin to activate.

The effect is quite subtle and chalky, with a slight grain to it, indicating the direction of the brayer.

I have a couple more miscellaneous techniques to cover but at this point I ran out of energy and had to stop! I will do these at the beginning of the next session, in which I shall be concentrating on the effect you can get combining Infusions with acrylic paint.

A Seahorse for Marlene

Great news, folks! Mr. Mojo and Mrs. Muse have returned at last from their extended holiday/absence without leave! Since my cancer diagnosis in mid-January, I have been so preoccupied and unsettled, and with my mind so full of it all, that I have not been able to focus on anything creative. Today I am really feeling a lot better – it is now over 6 weeks since my surgery, and although I still tire more easily than in my normal M.E. state, I do feel more myself. I am about to embark on six months of intensive chemotherapy and am determined to take advantage of those periods when I am feeling better in between.

Recently a friend of mine contacted me to say that she was exploring the idea of ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) and asked if we could swap. I was thinking perhaps I had an ATC in my stash that I could send her, but there was nothing suitable. She said she had done a seahorse one so I decided to do the same.

Her ATC arrived yesterday and I love the colour, and the addition of a little bling, which I am pleased to see how well the camera picked this up for once – it is usually really hard to capture sparkly surfaces!

I decided to do another of my signature teabag stain ATCs. I’m afraid I didn’t remember to photograph the stain before I drew on it, but it was one on a sheet of watercolour paper that I used to dry teabags on – they leave such lovely marks.

I used a fine Faber Castell sepia pen to do the drawing, and added some Zentangles around the edge, and after completing the drawing, I cut it out around the outline.

I shaded the drawing with a brown pastel pencil and blended it with a paper stump.

I took one of my ATC blanks and inked the edges with Tea Dye distress ink.

I used Scotch Quick Dry adhesive to stick the drawing onto the back piece, and added a little more drawing around the edge.

I wrapped the ATC in a scrap of tissue paper which I stamped with some of my seashell stamps, using sepia archival ink, and repeated this motif, adding a little seahorse, on the small cream envelope I chose to send Marlene her ATC in.

I included one of my little fans in with the ATC – I made a whole lot of these to go with ATCs for the last ATC swap I took part in. These were stamped with Versamark onto black card using one of my favourite fan stamps, and then brushed with dry Perfect Pearls, adding a little tie of ribbon on the handle.

I tied up the little parcel with some co-ordinating fancy yarn. I hope Marlene enjoys her ATC.

OK, so it’s a small start, but the creative block is down, and I am excited about getting back into my ARTHaven again. Watch this space – I hope it isn’t just a flash in the pan!

Blog Candy on Jozarty’s Blog

Jo (one of our WOYWW members) is having a special blog candy giveaway on her blog – go here to see how to join in. It’s really fun – read the comments to see the fun names everyone has chosen for themselves! (For the record, I am Fluffy Dingwall lol!)

She asks that we post a photo of the blog candy on our blogs, so here goes:

Looks like some fun stuff, doesn’t it.

While you are there, have a good look round Jo’s blog. She is one of the most creative people I know, and makes the most wonderful things – she’s also great fun. I nearly got to meet her once but unfortunately it didn’t come off, but we did have a nice long chat on the phone!

I recently discovered that she designed my favourite fan stamp:

Gorgeous, isn’t it. Being used here to create little fan tags with Perfect Pearls, to go with the recent WOYWW ATC swap.

I don’t anticipate winning anything because I never do, but I’m always ready to join in and have some fun. Have a go – you may win something, but if not, you’ll have some fun anyway!