Alcohol Pearl Inks - A Contrast in Backgrounds

I got a few of the Tim Holtz Ranger Ink Alcohol Pearl colors to experiment with and create some samples for the Ranger booth at Creativation 2019. The four colors were Envy (green), Intrigue (pink), Spendor (orange), and Celestial (blue). Along with the Alcohol Pearls I got some of the new Alcohol Ink Surfaces. I found the Black Matte Cardstock to be really fascinating. 

Let me preface this post by saying I'm not an Alcohol Ink artist and am pretty mixed media challenged, so my applications are all really basic. But basic or not, it was a lot of fun to experiment!

I made two cards exactly the same except for the background paper so I could see how the Alcohol Pearls reacted on the different backgrounds.

For this get well card I used the Black Matte Cardstock for everything but the card base. For the large background, I put all four Pearl colors on a piece of felt on a blending tool and then I applied it to the black cardstock with the pouncing method. It's the basic alcohol ink application method most of us have used for years.

 

Here is a close up of what the background looked like on the black cardstock with all four colors. The pearl in the ink allows it to show up without needing to use any of the Snowcap Alcohol Ink. It's beautiful and shimmery.

For the focal piece, I cut a mat out of the black cardstock and then on a smaller piece of the black cardstock, I stamped one of the floral pieces from the Illustrated Garden CMS295 stamp set with Distress Embossing Ink and then embossed it with Black Superfine Embossing Powder.

I then colored the background in with just the Splendor and Celestial Alcohol Pearls.

Since I was experimenting, here is where I tell you that this didn't turn out the way I was expecting. LOL! I thought the embossed image would stay black, but the pearl covered it and it just looked like a raised image in the same color as the background.  Even when I ran over it with a felt piece with Alcohol Blending Solution, it didn't remove the pearl. So, I improvised.

I put a couple of drops of each of the Envy, Intrigue, and Splendor Alcohol Pearls on my Glass Media Mat and then used the thinnest brush to paint the leaves and flowers with the inks.  I know it wasn't what I planned but I did end up really liking it!

I finished the card off by cutting the sentiment from a piece of the black cardstock using the Sizzix Occasions Thin Word Die set and attaching four of the new Hardware Heads from Tim Holtz Ideaology. I love them!!

 

The second card was made exactly the same way, but on the white Alcohol Ink Cardstock. The background is colored with all four Alcohol Pearls that I pounced onto the cardstock using a felt covered blending tool.

Here you can see how differently the colors look on the lighter background. Although they still have the pearl sheen to them, the colors are more vibrant than on the dark cardstock.

The focal stamped panel was also made the same way with the same colors, except for the stamped embossing was done with White Superfine Embossing Powder. As with the dark embossing, the Pearl covered the white and didn't come off with Blending solution or Lift Ink. I expected it this time and did the same technique of painting the Alcohol Pearl onto the image with the fine Alcohol Paint Brush.
I finished the card with a sentiment cut from the Occasions Word Die Set and four Ideaology Hardware Heads.

 

These images allow you to see how the background paper really changes the look of the inks. 

The Black Matte Cardstock is REALLY cool! I love it! There are many more things you can do with it other than the Alcohol Pearls or Alcohol Inks with Snow Cap. I'm working on a posts to show some more uses. My favorite part of it is how cool it feels. Kind of like suede.

 

Thanks for stopping by to check out my experimental Alcohol Pearl Cards. I enjoyed just trying things out and hope you learned something from the things I discovered while making them.

Tami

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