Monday, July 12, 2010

Poor Man's Spectrum Ink Pad

So not only was I able to combine the two Monday Splitcoast challenges (embossing on embossing for Try a New Technique and dry embossing for Clean and Simple) with this card, but I was also able to show off my new Poor Man's Spectrum Ink Pad technique that I've been trying to get to work over the weekend.  It all started with a sailboat stamp I bought on sale that would be perfect for a brayered sunset.  I only have ink spots, not full-size dye ink pads, so I was having a tough time inking up my brayer nicely, when I stumbled upon the idea of using an acetate sheet as an ink pad, and not only that, but as a spectrum ink pad. The sailboat never ended up working--I think my embossing buddy has been tainted, since I can't get a nice clean embossing (same issue with this card, but less noticeable).

Anyway, here is the poor man's spectrum ink pad I made for this card:
I simply inked old olive, cameo coral, ruby red, and not quite navy onto my acetate sheet and inked up my brayer, moving it back and forth just a little so the colors blended on the brayer (and on the acetate).  Here is the result of the first pass:
I had already stamped PTI TextStyles in Creamy Caramel, then the SU Botanical Blooms in Versafine Grey and clear embossed.  Then I colored in the flowers with a versamarker and clear embossed again.  I think I ended up loading up my acetate sheet and brayering a total of three times, and then once more with just the old olive and cameo coral to try to cover the text.

Then I embossed the image using the Sixxiz polka dot embossing folder, matted it with Not Quite Navy, added a kraft-colored ribbon, and adhered it to a kraft base.  The PTI Mega Mixed Messages sentiment is stamped in Not Quite Navy.

Has anyone seen this ink-up-the-acetate brayering before?  I looked around and hadn't seen it mentioned.  I feel I should mentioned that even though I inked the lighter colors first, my cameo coral ink spot did look a little dark on the edges, but I did try stamping a solid stamp with it and it came out fine.  Same with the summer sun ink pad when I did the sunset.  Speaking of which, here are some more examples that might inspire you to try it out:
You can see in the middle picture my embossing woes.  :(  The one on the right is Memento Angel Pink, Rose Bud, and Lady Bug I tried out on some scrap paper. 

Ugh--it's errand day today AND it just started raining.  How badly do we need food in the house, really?

11 comments:

Cheryl said...

Brilliant idea! I don't have any spectrum pads but occasionally I want to use one. I am going to try this.

I love the way your flower card turned out. The double embossing looks great.

Angela said...

You're such a resourceful chica! I love the way your finished product turned out.
Oh, and you probably don't need food that badly. Just apply that resourcefulness to the pantry :)

Maria@Crafty Cre8tions said...

Wow - pretty neat! I would of never thought to do what you did! I think it came out awesome!!!
Hope you got out to do your errands - or just order out and eat in!!!
Maria

MariLynn said...

Great idea. I have tried doing the same thing but used my large acrylic block to put the ink on.

Emily Keaton said...

Hi Meg! I just saw your challenge card for today and HAD to come see your Poor Man's spectrum pad. WOW!! Great thinking on that. The perfect solution for a lot of brayering issues, actually. I'm going to use this for sure! I unearthed a stack of unused overheads from grad school recently. Guess where I'm gonna stash them now?? Right next to my brayer!

Emily Leiphart said...

Smokin' gorgeousness is what your card is!! You make me want to play with my Botanical Blooms set which hasn't seen ink in a while. I don't have a brayer though... maybe it's time to get one. ;) Thanks for sharing your awesome tutorial!

Jess said...

Love the name - love the technique!! I've gotta try that! Thanks so much :D

C said...

Aren't you the clever girl? Awesome tech.

Anonymous said...

OH MY! That is SUCH a gorgeous card!!!! and thanks for the perfect tutorial! You are sooooooooooooo talented.

Bahb

Smilie girl said...

Super clever. Thanks for the extra tips and explanation. Might have to give that a try some time.

Emily Keaton said...

Hey, Meg! I hope your back-to-school week is going smoothly. I was so impressed by your Poor Man's Spectrum Pad technique, that I had to give it a try. Here's a link to my results:

http://mylittlesliceofbliss.blogspot.com/2010/08/day-3-mfp-blog-hop.html

I just love how it turned out!!!! Thanks for a great tip :)