Watery Inky Color Ways

With so many color products on the market its always fun to play and see what you can do with them, and sometimes keeping it simple can achieve great results.  The past few weeks I have been planning a collaboration art retreat for a small group of crafters with a friend.  Our theme is Exploring the Secrets of the Deep, as we are heading to the beach for a week of art and nurturing our souls, so with Mermaids in mind, I decided to create some watery backgrounds I can use in my journal.

I grabbed a variety of color products in watery tones that I know either react with water or are water soluble, such as my Radiant Neon Inks, Gelatos, Splash Inks and Dylusions Spray Inks.   You could also use really watered down Acrylic Paints, Pigment Based Ink Pads or even Markers.  Next I grabbed my non stick craft mat but if you don't have one of these you could simply use a piece of plastic such as a protector page.

By adding color to the craft matt, and then adding water with a spray bottle, you have a watery wash you can slide your background papers through and pick up color.  Smooch and smudge, twist and turn the paper as you go, add different colors together, different amounts of water and layer numerous times to get different effects.  Move the color around on your craft sheet with your fingers, a brayer, or try something else.

If you are feeling even more adventurous grab out some stamps (I had a couple I hand carved ages ago along with offcuts from stamps I had purchased that I simply stuck randomly to a acrylic block to create a random pattern) and see what happens when you stamp into the color before picking it up, swish the color around with your fingers if you don't mind them getting inky too.  Try layering wet on wet or new layers onto previous layers that are dry.

I also sprayed some ink onto my craft mat and soaked a piece of wool into it, which while wet I then pressed into my background to look like seaweed.

Further color and details can be added with stamping, or simply swiping or spraying color onto the background.

Different papers (ie.  thickness or type) will pick up the color differently too.

In no time at all you will have a number of backgrounds ready to use however you like.  As I mentioned mine will probably end up in my journal perhaps teamed with a Mermaid perhaps like the one you'll find in the Under the Sea Stamp Set which is available at Altered Pages and one I have used on many projects before.  Another great product to consider adding to these types of backgrounds and pages using them would be Mica.  Be sure to check out the Mica, Mica, Mica post here on the blog earlier this month which showcases the USA Art Quest Products to find out more about this great embellishing item. 

Here's also a  project that  shows a card with another watery background (which uses Markers) and the Mermaid Stamp from the Muse Under the Sea Stamp Set  I made a few years ago. 

I will try and remember to share some of these pages with you next time.

Danie xx