Ask Karen - Pigments and Pearls

Hello Bloggers! Its been a couple of super busy weeks in the studio and at the Nottawasaga Retreat -- I know I said this earlier but .. WOW! Thanks for a great weekend girls!!

div>I did have a few inking questions come out of that retreat and a few people in the studio asking about different ways to use Perfect Pearls -- one of my favourite subjects as you know so... I thought I would oblige. *smile*

This is an inking technique to create fabulous inked backgrounds for your card making, journal and mixed media projects: its called Pigments and Pearls. The gals over on my Wendy Vecchi Yahoo group have been chatting about this a lot lately so they inspired me to share it here with you. Here we go! Enjoy!

We are using Ranger's Adirondack Pigment inks for this project, their Craft Sheet, Perfect Gold Perfect Pearls, a Mini Mister and a Heat Tool.

Pick out your favourite ink combination and dab it Light to Dark directly on your craft sheet. A good bet -- pick a light bright and earthtone of the same colour set to create depth - they are perfect together!! I used Terra Cotta, Peach Bellini and Sunset Orange

That's the pigment part... now for the pearl.
Mix your favourite perfect pearl with water in a Mini Mister. (fill mini mister with water to approximately the last R in Ranger and add a sm scoop of pearls to it and shake) Spritz the inked area of your craft sheet as shown until you get some good "puddling" happening.

Turn your paper face side down on top of the puddled ink and press down unto the back of the paper to pick up the ink. Do not drag it through the ink.

Lift and....

Dry with your Heat Tool.

Once your paper is dry, do back and "pick up" some of the inked water droplets left on the craft sheet.

Pick it up and dry again. Repeat this process until you're satisfied with the "effect".

Use your Blending Tool and your favourite coordinating ink (I used Terra Cotta) to ink the edges and finish it off. Now it's ready to embellish. And its oh so pearly and fun! :) Here is what I created with my background.

It is one of the cards for the upcoming April Card Workshop to be held Saturday April 24 (the weekend after Scrapfest) . I hope you can join us in the studio to play with the pigments and pearls! I KNOW you'll LOVE it!!