Heads up! Mixed Media Material Sale on Aisle 3!!

Heads up! Mixed Media Material Sale on Aisle 3!!

Hi there

Thanks for popping in. It’s a sunny Sunday morning here in East Sussex, and there’s a pretty keen sale on the Claritycrafts website (until midnight tomorrow). In the run up to GRAY FRIDAY, we’ve been shining a light on various aisles at Clarity Towers, and this weekend we’re taking a look down Aisle 3 – The Mixed Media section. This is where we store paints, pastes, inks, brushes, canvas boards – and all those wonderful craft products which sing to the likes of me!

My interest at the moment is the alcohol ink section. We have lots of Ranger ink, which I consider to be the best. Not only are the prices very keen right now, but when you add your Clarity Club discount of 10 or 15%, and free postage on orders over £30, it gets even better.

Here’s a little screen grab of the alcohol ink stock

Next weekend, when we hit the GRAY FRIDAY SALE button, prices on the vast majority of the things we actually MAKE and MANUFACTURE at Clarity will be greatly reduced. These mixed media products are the things we source and buy in from other companies, to make our Stamps, Stencils, Dies and Groovi system sing.

Anyway, back to the Alcohol ink…I showed you an abstract piece I did a while ago where I’d been playing, and several of you were enquiring how it was done.

Here’s a simple step up with my findings. I played on a smaller piece of Yupo first, to make sure the colours were what I wanted, and to check the amounts and drying times. Heavy Yupo stock or Light Yupo stock works fine. The packs of 3 ink colours are certainly put together cleverly.

Right. Conclusion after the first run:

  • Heat gun too savage.
  • Use less ink on the smaller paper.
  • Use more Isopropyl.
  • Take your time and move the ink one section at a time.

Once I had decided the colours were lovely, I went again, this time:

  • on large, thinner paper.
  • I dried the ink on the paper with a hair dryer – BEFORE I started manipulating it
  • I centred the ink, to give it room to spread.
  • I tackled each colour splat one at a time, squirting Isopropyl around it, as you can see in the 3rd pic.
  • I used a hair-dryer set to cold to move the fluid ink.

And then I slowly moved the ink around on the plastic paper. Got absorbed, and forgot to take pictures – until it was done…

No two are ever the same. I love the colour combinations that Ranger prescribe too. They aren’t necessarily what I would pick, so that’s refeshing, to venture into another colour palette. And the small piece willchop up beautifully into gift tags.

If you’re thinking you might like to have a go, stock up on ink today! Honestly, the price of these little bottles is on the up, and the cost of importing them is becoming prohibitively expensive. I am just glad we had a healthy stock before it all kicked off. But when these are gone, they’re gone – at least for a while, until things settle down. We have to focus on the home front, and importing will go on the back burner in 2023.

But it’s SUnday today! And apart from a visit to Dad later, the only thing I have to decide now is which door to open:

Do I go upstairs to my artroom above the garage, and make a couple more of these, for Christmas presents?

Or do I tog up warmly, and go downstairs into my pottery studio, and throw some bowls, for Christmas presents?

Eeny meeny miny moe….what a lucky girl I am. Sunshine, a day off, some bottled ink and a load of mud!

How about you? How are you going to spend your day? Whatever you do, MAKE SOMETHING!!

To visit our Mixed Media Sale CLICK HERE

Love and Hugs

Barb xxx

10 thoughts on “Heads up! Mixed Media Material Sale on Aisle 3!!

  1. Hi lovely artwork, what is Isopropyl and do you sell it? Is it crucial to producing this type of artwork? Oh so many questions, sorry. xxx

  2. Oh Barb
    Thanks for the instruction to make something, I have been sitting around having an attack of doing nothing. So I will try and have a go at something (Hmmmm..brushos?)
    How’s Erik?
    Love
    Maggie (Bendy Yorkite)

  3. Already been to the mixed media sale and put an order in. My husband said “just order whatever you want and I’ll wrap it up!” Not very romantic but hey, who cares?! Well I was watching an old shac shac this morning and you mentioned a film that I had never heard of….so I’ve just spent a couple of hours enjoying “Sixty six”. What a lovely film. I too remember 1966 very well (I am the same age as you) and it brought about a lot of memories. I laughed out loud at some bits….and I might have shed a tear at others ;-). Thanks for the recommendation xx

  4. I have been making my first EVER #Groovi card! Checking, checking, word Groovi uppermost, paper on top, right tool, trial run. …Omg, it does not come naturally to me! The good thing is the needle tools, which I always used to use a lot, are now bigger, thicker needles and better handles so you can see ahead, so to speak. So much easier on the eyes. I took bits from various plates, picot cut the outline…..not perfect but all will be revealed!

  5. Thank you for the step by step.
    I think I’m being too heavy handed with the ink but love this technique will keep practicing. Need for blending solution!Hope you enjoyed whatever you decided on

  6. I already have a selection of alcohol inks, and enjoy having a play now and again. Have been colouring in gnomes today and looking for my ‘feel gud gnomes mini sentiment stamps’ which I’m sure I ordered when they came out, but can I find them, no! Not with my Christmas things, or words folders. Perhaps I have put them in that safe place, along with the two 2023 blank art calendars that I bought earlier this year, and also seem to have disappeared!!

  7. Although I have some inks I don’t get them out to play nearly enough as I never know what to do with them once I’ve finished.

  8. Hello Barb, what beautiful colours in this step by step. I have to try it. When I get time I love playing with alcohol inks. I did get some stuff from the mixed media sale, so looking forward to playing. Take care and stay warm everyone. Bx

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