Hello there! On Wednesday’s blog, we look at something new. 

So how about a rare sight?

Inky fingers? Me? Every so often, I get covered. But I had fun, and Imperial Leather gets this off easily.

If you were watching the Clarity Show on TV on Sunday, you will have noticed me using some little bottled inks. Basically, they are Adirondack ink pads in bottles. Ranger used to sell them as Inkabilities, but for some strange reason discontinued them. At which point I went all out and cleared their warehouse, because they really are fab. You may have seen them; they come with a large, hard compressed sponge. 

Earthtones

Floral Brights. Here you can see the sponge.

Anyway, a few people have asked me about them, so I decided to show you a few tricks today.

I used

Floral Brights

A6 Claritycard (coated stock)

You use the edge of the sponge. I used the narrow edge here.

Add a couple of drops of a few colours along the edge.

Drag the edge of the sponge along the glossy card. If you stop, you can make a line.

If you change direction, you can make it look like a fold.

Brilliant, innit!

The ink doesn’t bleed; it blends. So if you cross colours, you suddenly get new blends! 

Like here, where blue and yellow crossed, you create green. 

Pink over blue yields purple.

Tartans ahoy!

You hold the sponge like a big fat pen, at a 45º angle, and drag slowly. It is as simple as that.

You can control how much of a border you want to make, too. 

Here, I have put a sheet of copy paper underneath, 

and most of the sponge is dragging on the copy paper, 

so I can add a yellow line along the edge.

If your sponge starts to dry out a little, spritz with a little water.

Ready for a workout?

Twist – and make some bows.

Cut across the corners and make frames.

Criss-cross for chopsticks.

These are my favourites: Fans. If you do these with really watered down ink, they make beautiful backgrounds. 

Judder along the edge for a cool border.

Feathers are also delightful.

Touch the edge of the sponge on the card, and flick away.

Or flick into the card and make tassel edges. 

Jo Rice will like that!

Chevrons now. 

like a single chopstick, add a shaft…

and a spearhead

just like this. With the tip of the inky corner…

and hey presto! Arrows! Great for a man’s card!

If you use your imagination, you could even make a dartboard!

Or maybe a sunrise sounds more appealing…

So yes, that’s how I got covered in ink! I just got so caught up in loading the different sides of the sponge, I forgot that the other ink was still wet! Never mind. Very enjoyable exercise.

There is an hour of this on my old DVD No. 2.

We still have a stash of these 2 colourways left, because I moved very quickly! But when they’re gone, they really are gone.

Sometimes, fabulous things get discontinued, and skills lie dormant, too.

So I am glad to have rekindled this. I had forgotten how good it is. 

I bet these inks would be brilliant for marbling. May have to give that a go soon… 

They are perfect mixed with a little water in a Spritzer bottle, too…. 

There’s nothing like a good old creative workout for clearing the head.

much love,

Barb

xx