Another journal page using my new wooden block stamps – they work so well with the Dylusions paint. It’s just the right consistency to cover the stamp, stick to the page, and not squidge everywhere. Unfortunately it wasn’t quite the same when I used rubber stamps, which squeezed the paint away giving me the tramline outline that I then had to fill in with a paintbrush.

A couple of technique tips for this page too… Shading on the block border was done with water-soluble graphite and a brush. I wanted a little more control on the lettering, so I used an Ice Grey 5 ProMarker, and in doing so, reminding myself that alcohol breaks acrylic down. What was an annoyance (as I had to keep unclogging the nib), then became a simply marvellous idea – why not use the blender pen to lift the acrylic paint for the highlights? And it worked. I also stopped using a piece of kitchen roll to wipe the nib on, instead running out the acrylic by scribbling on my non-stick craft sheet (thank you Tim Holtz for that pearl of wisdom when using a waterbrush – it doesn’t dry the nib out like the absorbent tissue does). The same effect could be achieved with a cut-n-dry nib with isopropyl alcohol on it, or even a Ranger Alcohol Ink pen with just the blending solution in it (though that does leave a sticky residue).

All but the word ‘marvellous’ were stamped – foam stamps really do behave much better with acrylic paint as the ink. I dared myself to use a flat brush on the oblique to paint the last word – on the one hand, I’d like to have chosen a narrower brush, but on the other, I like the bold Gothic effect squeezing the letters in has achieved.