Today’s Art Journaling Session at the Studio revisited working on aluminium foil. Last time, we used thinned acrylic paints to cover the foil with multilayer colour. This time, we played with alcohol inks. The inks are designed to stick to shiny surfaces and really pop against the reflective metallic background. There are various ways to add depth and texture, take ink off and add other inks on to make a very shiny and interesting collaged background for a suitable saying. I’ve included making notes below, along with a video of the techniques.
Making notes
I first used the ink-lift technique a long time ago for a Christmas card project, and once I had the idea for the session theme, the technique came back to me. I also dredged up from years past the use of Glossy Accents as a glue for non-porous surfaces, which came in handy. These stills are grabbed from my tutorial video below, so aren’t quite as crisp as I would like… but you’ll get the gist. A quick note on clean-ups: I am using a new silicone crafting mat, which cleans up nicely with isopropanol or alcohol-based hand sanitiser. These also work on various tools that the alcohol ink stuck to while it was tacky, and to a lesser extent on fingers and backs of hands…
Cut foil strips 3″/7.5cm wide – I used catering strength foil, but any will do (but probably not the textured stuff).
Choose your alcohol ink colour combos and apply them to the pad.
Suggested combos:
Watermelon / Poppyfield / Currant
Sunshine Yellow / Sunset Orange / Rust
Lettuce / Botanical / Citrus
Stonewashed / Sail Boat Blue / Indigo
Pink Sherbet / Raspberry / Wild Plum / Purple Twilight
It doesn’t really matter which side of the foil you ink up – why not try both ways!
Tap the ink onto the foil, lift, rotate the tool and then tap down again. Repeat across the strip, adding more ink if you need to.
Go back over the first layer to add more pattern and ink. Dot and dab until you’re happy with the finish.
It’ll be pretty much dry straight away, but I did find some colours ended up being a little tacky. If this is the case, leave out to harden/dry off. Don’t pile them up – they stick to each other (ask how I know…).
Cut the foil strips into squares. This makes them easier to work with later on and helps with the collaging.
I used a rotary cutter and a ruler to do this. It avoided creases and wrinkles that scissors or a knife can cause.
EMBOSSING TECHNIQUE 1
Press the foil into a stencil. It doesn’t matter which way up unless there is text. You can also flip the same piece over so that there are embossed and debossed areas on the same piece.
You may find it useful to press with a fluffy cloth to get into the ‘holes’. It’s better to stretch the foil in several goes than to try and get it to go first time (less risk of tearing).
EMBOSSING TECHNIQUE 2
Press the foil over found items or trinkets. Here I am using some cogs. Aim to use things that are the same overall height, such as washers. If you can keep the foil in place for the next step (inking with archival ink), so much the better.
EMBOSSING TECHNIQUE 3
Use an embossing folder to imprint a design. Don’t use the machine, just push the folder in place manually – again you’re wanting to stretch the foil bit by bit.
Whichever embossing technique you used, you’ll need to dab or swipe black archival ink over the raised areas of the foil. It helps to have a juicy pad, and mini-size can get to slightly less sticky out bits than a big pad will. Yes, some of the alcohol ink will contaminate the ink pad, but that’s why we’re using black and trying to dab rather than wipe.
Wipe the archival ink off . The alcohol ink should come off too, revealing the foil. If it doesn’t, then go back in with another application of archival ink and wipe again.
As this project is going to be in an art journal, the embossing was never going to survive without a lot of extra work to fill in the embossed areas at the back.
So, we’re intentionally squashing it flat with an acrylic block. It will keep the creases and the ink-free areas and actually ends up looking better than you’d expect.
[OPTIONAL]
Add a little more pattern/interest by removing some more alcohol ink. Choose your stamp and ink it up with Alcohol Lift-Ink. Stamp onto the foil, being careful not to slide it, lift and then stamp onto a piece of paper to transfer the alcohol ink. Polish off the lift-ink from the foil using a clean piece of kitchen paper to reveal the foil’s shiny surface.
[OPTIONAL]
You can also add ink – in this case, stamping with black StazOn ink. This is designed to stick to shiny surfaces too, but being alcohol-based can lift and move the coloured alcohol ink layer. Be careful not to smudge either ink!
I tried other colours of StazOn, but none behaved the same as the black. May be they were juicier or a subtly different formulation.
Audition your foil pieces in your journal and make note of where they end up! Try to vary the colour combos, textures, patterns and styles across your spread.
This is where the Glossy Accents (GA) come in. Because I didn’t want lumpy dried glue rippling the foil, I applied a generous gloop of GA and smeared it evenly across the back of the foil square before sticking it down.
Press the foil into place and smooth over with a folded piece of kitchen paper. Check the edges are secure and add more GA if required. The glue grabs and goes off quite quickly, so if you want more slippage time, add more at the start.
Once all the pieces are in place and the GA is set, trim off any overlapping foil with the rotary blade. Be careful not to jump across the cover of the journal – I found that quite easy to do and regretted not using a ruler…
Finally, you’ll need to seal your background. The alcohol ink can remain a bit tacky and will probably stick to the opposite side if you’ve done a double-spread. Varnishing will also help prevent scratching the ink off.
BEWARE! Not all varnishes are equal. Most will reactivate the alcohol ink and spoil your hard work. For instance, the matte Americana acrylic sealer splotched across the ink and would have spoilt the whole thing had I not tested first. However, the gloss version did fine, as did the Rustoleum Crystal Clear matte. I preferred the glossy finish for the shine, and the matte finish for seeing the colours.
I also prefer the spray varnishes for an even coat that is unlikely to smudge or move the alcohol ink. Brush-on varnishes may do both of these things and create problems.
I designed and drew out the text badge using my Silhouette (blade and pen) and glued it down using the GA technique once the varnish had completely set (overnight).
Your shiny distraction is complete.
The video
I’m a smidge out of practice with doing videos and I’m also trialling a new camera and recording set up, so apologies at the outset. Sorry there’s no spoken commentary – I’m not prepped for that at the moment. I’ve added written subtitles and you can at least watch what I’m doing. Most of the video is sped up to alleviate boredom, but the interesting bits are normal speed. And, of course, I had to make it difficult… shiny things are really tricky to capture!
An appeal…
If you have read this far, and possibly even watched the video, please leave me a comment! I’d love to have some feedback and particularly want to find out if it is worthwhile me spending a whole day and a half recording, editing, blogging and publishing the tutorial. Thanks 🙂
Oh, and if you’re in the area (Leicester, UK) and want to do the next session live with all the materials on hand (Monday, 8th July, 7:30-10pm), you’d be very welcome to join us… just let me know that you’d like to come.