Altenew Academy AECP - Easy Ink Blending Techniques

Hello Friends and Happy Friday!  I'm back today with 2 projects for the Altenew Academy AECP Course: Easy Ink Blending Techniques.  This course teaches techniques for seamless ink blending with some added twists.  

I used to think ink blending was difficult and when I first tried a few years ago, I was rubbish at it.  I will be honest, the technique take a bit of practice and the right tools for a smooth blend.  Even though ink blending is not new to me, I gained knowledge from this course with techniques I never thought of trying. 

For my first project, I used the "traditional" ink blending technique taught in class.  I masked the center of the card panel and ink blended 4 shaded of blue inks, starting with the darkest on the edges and using lighter shades as I blended inward.  

I allowed the panel to dry completely before removing the mask.  I stamped the Tree and Sentiment, which are from the Altenew Festive Silhouettes Stamp Set, using Black Pigment Ink.  I replaced the mask and splattered the piece with Gloss White Acrylic Spray.  

For this technique, I used blending brushes, which I find give me a smoother blend than the foam pads.  To finish up this card, I matted the focal panel with black card, mounted on craft foam and adhered to a 110 lb. card base.

My next project features ink blending and a bit of water coloring with inks.  This was another technique taught in class that I've never thought of and I'm surprised because it's so obvious and easy to do.

To start, I ink blended on the right bottom half of the card panel using blending brushes and 4 colors of complimentary inks.  I used Canson Mixed Media Paper as I knew I would be using water on the piece.  After the ink dried, I stamped the Altenew Paint-A-Flower Clematis Josephine image over the ink blending.  

Next step was to use darker shades of the inks I used to blend, add water to the areas I wanted to appear darker and add the darker inks to the wet areas.  This technique leaves the ink blending fairly intact and allows for the "watercolor" look with added shading.  Once everything was dry, I splattered the piece with watered down Violet ink and Gloss White Acrylic Spray.

I did not have a snippet of card in the fuchsia/violet color so I ink blended the top and left side of the snippet, adhered the focal panel, matted with black card, mounted on craft foam and adhered to a 110 lb. card base.

To finish, I heat embossed the sentiment, from the same stamp set, on a snippet of black card, mounted on craft foam and adhered to the card base.  Lastly, added sequins for a bit of shine and interest.

I thoroughly enjoyed this course and was very pleased with the finished cards.  Most of all, I liked the idea of taking ordinary ink blending to new heights.  Thanks for visiting and reading through my post today.  I'll be back soon with another AECP project so until next time, Happy Crafting!

Donna

Products Used:

Altenew Festive Silhouettes Stamp Set

Altenew Paint-A-Flower Clematis Josephine Stamp Set

Catherine Pooler Inks

Neenah Classic Crest Solar White Card Stock (110 and 80 lb)

Blending Brushes from Amazon

Ranger Fine Detail White Embossing Powder

Recollections Black Cardstock 80 lb

Sequins - Unbranded

**Challenges Entered:

Holiday Card:

Crafty Catz

Outlawz Festive Fridays

Winter Wonderland

C.R.A.F.T Challenge

Cardz 4 Galz

Through the Purple Haze

Dragonfly Dreams

Use Your Stuff

A Place to Start

Shopping Our Stash

Clematis Josephine Card:

Cardz TV

Creative Fingers

Uniko

Ally's Angels

Crafter's Cafe

QKR Stampede

Chocolate Baroque

Crafter's Castle

Crafting Happiness

Avenue 613