Technique of the Week: Distress Oxide "Smooshing" by Dianne Johnson

You may have heard me say that I don't think you can do anything wrong with Distress Oxide inks. Honestly, I like everything I have done with these inks, and I have actually tried to mess it up (such a putting orange onto purple, or yellow onto blue); but nope! Still like what I have gotten. And they are SO MUCH FUN to play with! Oxide inks are a fusion of dye ink and pigment ink. The dye ink soaks into your paper and the pigment ink sits on top. This combination gives your finished product a matte, almost chalky look that is soft and beautiful. Blending Oxide inks is a dream, and they react with water even more interestingly than regular dye based Distress inks.

I have been playing a lot with blending Oxide inks, but I wanted to try smooshing with them. There are different types of what I would call "smooshing", which I would describe as getting wet ink onto your paper in a somewhat messy, unpredictable way. You could put the ink onto acetate or a piece of saran, and apply said inked plastic to your paper...

OR you could put ink on your work surface or craft mat, spray it with water to wet it and drag your paper into it. This second type is what I did for this card.

I assembled some oxide inks to apply to my craft mat: Wilted Violet, Broken China (my current favorite combo); then also Cracked Pistachio and, just to be a rebel, Fossilized Amber.

I started with Wilted Violet and Broken China, and rubbed them firmly onto my craft mat. I spritzed each one with pearly water (mix 2 oz water with 1/4 tsp Perfect Pearls powder).  I love how these inks look when you spray them. They bead up and look opaque. That's because of the pigment in them.

I used a piece of 5.5" x 4.25" Tim Holtz watercolor cardstock for this project, and placed it onto the ink on my mat and picked it up. Beautiful colors! I kept "smooshing" the color from my mat onto the watercolor cardstock, and I just love the combination of these colors.

I then dried the panel and cleaned my craft mat and added the Cracked Pistachio and then the Fossilized Amber colors and sprayed them. I placed my panel into the new colors and "smooshed" it around. The colors beneath did re-activate somewhat, even though I had dried them. The result was that I got a little muddiness, but I actually really liked the effect.

I spritzed some water drops onto the panel and picked up some more of the ink from my mat. I was super happy with the colors on my panel, so I decided to make it into a card.

I cut my panel to 3.75" x 5" using the largest die from the Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle Stackables die LF768. I chose my Zen Dragonfly from Magenta (44.018.K - and yes, all Magenta stamps come in cling, so just put a "C" in front of the number for cling). I chose the "Have a Beautiful Day" sentiment stamp that I also designed for Magenta (07.969.F). I stamped both of these stamps with Versamark ink, using the MISTI stamping tool.

I embossed the stampings with White Diamond embossing powder from JudiKins. The panel was mounted onto a piece of So Silk Fair Blue cardstock and onto a base card of 110# Neenah Solar White cardstock. I added a few sequins and it was all done.

This was a VERY fast card to make, and you could use this background for almost any kind of card. We have the Zen Dragonfly and the "Have a Beautiful Day" stamps in stock at Art 'n Soul right now; and we will be ordering more of the fabulous Oxide inks very soon. Ranger has been super behind on orders for these inks, but they have really ramped up their production, so we are going to try again to get some in for you.

Thanks for hanging in there with me this far! If you want to see some more step by step photos, please visit my Backporch blog here.

If you have not seen this week's Newsletter, you can link to the latest one here. You can also see our store Calendar here.

Please take the time to scroll through the classes. There is a description and photo with each class. We have some fabulous teachers and classes coming up, including:
Linda Presley from Rosie's Roadshow this weekend!
Helene from Magenta May 21st and 22nd
Sally Penley May 27th
Terry Medaris June 10th (Including trunk show)
Linda Malcom from Lost Coast June 24th
Kae Pea from Rubbermoon July 31st and August 1st
This is a fabulous lineup, and we are working on even more! Please scroll through the class information, or better yet, come into the shop and look at the samples that we have.

If you are interested in taking a class, you can come by, or you can sign up by phone with your credit card. Just call us! Our contact information is at the top of this blog.

Journal Club meets today, May 12th, from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.  This club meets the second Friday of every month and is open to all skill levels.  If you have been thinking about starting a journal or just want to learn more about this art form, stop in to check it out.  This is a great group where you can relax and work on a project while learning from others.   Even better, it's free!

Technique of the Week: "Smooshing" Revisited

Please be sure to scroll all the way down for some new class descriptions for classes just opened. We are thrilled to welcome Lynell Harlow, founding member of Dreamweaver Stencils to Art 'n Soul in April

I have shown you "smooshing" before, but this time I'm taking it up a notch.

Made with Nuance by Magenta:
Raspberry, Cerulean blue, Aquamarine

Smooshing is applying ink onto your panel using a piece of acetate. It creates very interesting backgrounds on which you can stamp. The piece of acetate I used was cut from some packaging.

Made with Distress ink:
Wilted Violet, Blueprint Sketch, Cracked Pistachio

This time, instead of applying color to a blank panel, I stamped and embossed an image first, using White Diamond embossing powder by JudiKins. My main image is Magenta's beautiful Three Flowers 14.639.P.

My panel was cut from Tim Holtz watercolor cardstock, using the largest die in the set LF768, Lawn Fawn Small Stitched Rectangle Stackables. This die gives a stitched edge around a panel 3.75" x 5". If you don't have this die, you can just cut your panel to this size with a paper cutter. this is the perfect size to be able to mat with a colored piece of cardstock before you mount it to an A2 size card.

Also of note is that I like the Tim Holtz watercolor cardstock because it's white. When I mount it onto my base card, which is also white, it coordinates well.

MISTI Creative Corner in the mini MISTI

When stamping my images, I used one of the new MISTI Creative Corners. I LOVE these! This way if I'm using a large stamp, and it comes close to the edge of my panel, I can set it away from the ruler edge of the MISTI. I don't seem to get a good image when my stamp is close to that edge. This corner is being used in the mini MISTI by the way, and works just fine.

I also decided to try Smooshing using Distress ink on one panel and Nuance on a second panel with the same stamp. I used Distress first.

Another difference this time is I applied the ink to my craft mat and sprayed it with Pearly Water (1/4 tsp Perfect Pearls Powder mixed with 2 oz water). Last time I applied the ink directly to the acetate and sprayed it there. I think this new way I can get better control over which color I'm using at any given time.

After picking up the ink with the acetate, I dabbed it around on the panel, taking care to apply it to the embossed areas. I continued to pick up additional colors with the acetate and dab ink around the embossed image.

As the ink was added, the image popped out of the layers of color. I noticed that the Distress ink has a transparent look to it so that you can see layers through layers.

Next I decided to try Nuance, used the same way. I chose Raspberry, Cerulean Blue, and Aquamarine. I tapped the powders onto my craft mat and sprayed with Pearly Water.

The first thing I noticed is that the colors are darker and more vibrant. You can probably get lighter colors if you spray the powder with more water. In order to get the colors to spread out onto the embossed areas, I occasionally scraped the puddles of water with the edge of the acetate.

As I continued to apply the different colors. I noticed that the Nuance seems more opaque than the Distress ink. I love the vibrancy of the Nuance.

At the end, I used a paintbrush just a bit on both the Distress and Nuance panels to be sure color got where I wanted it around the embossing.

I added the sentiments last, using Magenta stamp 07.954.G Think about you often (one of my favorite sentiments). On the Nuance panel, I stamped with Nuance and embossed with JudiKins White Diamond embossing powder, just as I had for the main image. This step could easily have been done when I stamped the flowers. 

On the Distress card, I decided to stamp the sentiment with Wilted Violet Distress ink to match the main image. One of the many things I love about the MISTI tool is that now we can actually stamp with Distress and not worry that it will be too faint or blotchy. You just keep inking and stamping until you are happy with the color. 

Here again I used one of the MISTI Creative Corners (in the mini MISTI). This sets the panel away from the hard side and bottom of the MISTI and allowed for a better stamping.

I hope you try this smooshing technique to color your stamped and embossed images. It's easy and it's fun, and you can probably use things you already have around.

For more step by step photos, and a complete list of products used, please go to my Backporch blog post here.

Lynell Harlow, founding member of Dreamweaver Stencils is coming to teach at Art 'n Soul!

Lynell will be coming to teach 4 classes (3 different classes and one repeat) on April 21st, 22nd, and 23rd. If you have taken classes with Lynell before, you know how fabulous they are. If you have not, you will want to sign up for at least one, if not all 3 of her classes. So many of you tell us that you don't know what to do with stencils. You will learn amazing and fun techniques in Lynell's classes.

We will have more photos of class samples for you next week.

Friday April 21, 2017, 10:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.  “MIXED MEDIA PAPER QUILTS” – Lynell Harlow $35

Come Zen-Stencil with Lynell Harlow. The founder of Dreamweaver Stencils is back to present a multi-technique, mixed media class using a metal grid stencil, bleeding watercolor paper, colored pencils, markers, embossing powders and the list goes on. Intrigued? Yes, there will be lots of demonstrations and fun as you create background papers for these unique paper quilts and then move on to the finishing details of tangling your quilt. Although fabric and threads are not used, your sewing or quilting friends will love getting one of these beautifully tangled quilts. No stenciling or tangling experience is needed just the desire to have a couple of hours of creative learning. Bring your basic kit plus an 01 technical pen like a Micron by Sakura. If you have a favorite marker set or colored pencil set feel free to bring them. Lynell will provide a kit with photos of the sample cards, instructions.

Saturday April 22, 10:30 a.m. - 1:00 a.m. “CRACKED GLASS USING METAL STENCILS” – Lynell Harlow $35

This class is also being offered again on Sunday, April 23, 1:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.

This effective technique has its origins in the Faux Cloisonné technique….but in actuality it’s even simpler to achieve. Lynell Harlow is back to teach this step by step layering technique using the Dreamweaver Embossing Paste, embossing powders and inks. So that you can spend more time on the fun part of adding color she has even prepped some of the embossing paste work for you. Be sure to bring an old cotton kitchen towel (not a terry towel texture) or cut up a soft t-shirt (used for cleaning and drying metal stencils) and soft tipped stencil brushes.  The Dreamweaver Stencils brushes are recommended: two large 3/4” or 1/2” brushes and two or three gold handle 1/4” brushes. Bring your basic kit. Lynell will provide a kit with photos of the sample cards, instructions and finishing papers for you to take home and build your cards.

Saturday April 22, 2:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. “EMBOSSING, STENCILING AND LAYERING TECHNIQUES”– Lynell Harlow $35

Everyone loves embossing techniques and Lynell will demonstrate easy methods using metal stencils and an embossing machine to achieve quick results, if you have a big shot bring it with you…not necessary but it will cut down on the wait time to use the machine. Lynell will take you on a unique technique journey of using inks and metal stencils. A special faux linen weave technique using a variety of inks will make you look at your reinkers in a totally different way. Bring two large stencil brushes 1/2 or 3/4 inch the soft tipped Dreamweaver Stencil brushes are recommended and two small gold handle Dreamweaver Stencil brushes or soft tipped 1/4” brushes. Lynell will gift you a soft tipped stencil brush for this class. Be sure to bring an old cotton kitchen towel or cut up soft t-shirt  (used for cleaning and drying metal stencils). Bring your basic kit. Lynell will provide a kit with photos of the sample cards, instructions, and finishing papers for you to take home and build your cards.

Sunday April 23, 1:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. “CRACKED GLASS USING METAL STENCILS” – Lynell Harlow $35
This is a second offering of this class in case this date and time works better for your schedule than the Saturday class.

This effective technique has its origins in the Faux Cloisonné technique….but in actuality it’s even simpler to achieve. Lynell Harlow is back to teach this step by step layering technique using the Dreamweaver Embossing Paste, embossing powders and inks. So that you can spend more time on the fun part of adding color she has even prepped some of the embossing paste work for you. Be sure to bring an old cotton kitchen towel (not a terry towel texture) or cut up a soft t-shirt (will be used for cleaning and drying metal stencils) and soft tipped stencil brushes.  The Dreamweaver Stencils brushes are recommended: two large 3/4” or 1/2” brushes and two or three gold handle 1/4” brushes. Bring your basic kit. Lynell will provide a kit with photos of the sample cards, instructions and finishing papers for you to take home and build your cards.