Technique of the Week: Yupo, Alcohol Inks and Earth Arts

This week’s Technique of the Week features one of my favorite products from this year’s CHA – Yupo paper. Yupo has been around for a long time but Ranger now packages 10 pieces of 5”x7” sheets for $10.25 which is much more affordable than the pads of paper that sell for about $25. Yupo is actually a synthetic paper made from plastic; it’s very smooth, and it’s a great medium for watercolor. In the Tim Holtz video here you will see how great Yupo works with alcohol inks as well. They also blend beautifully WITHOUT the blending solution.  

Inspired by the video and wanting to create a card with another fabulous Earth Arts stamp, I decided to try out the alcohol inks and Yupo paper. For this card I used blue shades of Stream, Pool and Cloudy Blue alcohol inks, Pearl Mixative, Yupo Paper, Earth Arts Crane stamp, Black Archival Ink, We R Memory Keepers Woven Embossing Folder and So Silk Black paper, an alcohol ink applicator and felt blending pad and a piece of fun foam.

 Cut the 5”x7” Yupo paper in half so that it measures 3 ½”x5” and lay it on the craft sheet. One of the nice features of Yupo paper is that it stays flat and doesn’t warp. Attach the felt blending pad to the alcohol ink applicator.  Put one generous drop (about the size of the top of a pencil eraser) of each blue ink on the applicator pad. Note, you do not need to use blending solution for this technique.

Begin pouncing the color all over your piece of Yupo paper. I started in one corner and worked my way over the entire piece. If your applicator pads starts running out of ink, just add a bit more of each color to the pad and continue pouncing it on your paper. Continue applying ink until you are satisfied with the color. You will notice that the ink dries quickly but additional ink can be layered on top and both layers will blend together automatically.

Next I used the MISTI to stamp the Earth Arts Crane stamp. I’ll just have to say another great thing about the MISTI. Using my MISTI I stamped the crane and the first time I didn’t get enough ink on the center design of the stamp. I simply reinked the stamp and stamped again. The re-stamping produced a very dark, crisp image. If you haven’t seen this tool at work, please stop in the store for a demo.

I stamped the crane again on a piece of masking paper, cut it out and then put the mask over the stamped image on the Yupo paper. 

I added several small drops of Pearl Mixative to my felt applicator (the same one that I used to apply the color) and a small drop of each of the blue alcohol inks. I pounced the color all over the piece, stopping when I was happy with the appearance. 

The mask protected the stamped image. As you are working, you can add additional Pearl Mixative to your applicator, just be sure to use small drops so you don’t end up with large spots of the mixative on your card. 

To assemble the card, I cut a piece of silver metallic cardstock to 4”x5¼” and attached it to an A2 size white card. I cut a piece of black So Silk slightly larger than the Yupo paper and embossed it using the "Woven" We R Memory Keeper Next Level Embossing Folder. I applied adhesive to the back and attached it to the silver paper. I cut a piece of Fun Foam slightly smaller than the piece of Yupo and attached it to the back of the finished image. I attached the image to the black So Silk.

Although there are several steps to this technique, it was actually quick and easy. Yupo paper comes in both white and translucent and we’ll be experimenting with it more in the coming weeks. Stay posted for more technique ideas. Please share your experiments with us, too!