With the Autumn Leaves in Ink workshop coming up, I've been creating lots of leaf ink drawings to show as examples and to test out different colour combinations of ink. While doing this, it occurred to me that these leaves would make lovely handmade greetings cards. As I had some card making supplies already, I thought I'd test this out and share the results with you. Remember, if you'd like to have a go at the technique yourself and share the wonder of using water-soluble inks, please join myself and Tracey at our workshop on the 22nd. Details below and on Facebook.
I started by choosing a card base. I have lots of card to make my own, but today I chose a Papermania 5" x 7" pre-made blank card.
As I know that inks work well on the Daler-Rowney Optima mixed media paper, I opted to use that to draw on and cut a piece down so it would fit on the card base, leaving a 1cm gap on each side. I then found some patterned paper to use as a mat layer behind the drawing. The paper I used is from the Lawn Fawn 'Perfectly Plaid: Chill' paper pack, which is full of green, orange and blue patterns that are really suited to cards for the colder months.
I then lightly sketched the outline of two leaves on the paper with pencil, using my previous drawings as a guide, but not worrying too much about accuracy. I was more worried about composition and so drew the central vein first to make sure I had the position and the sweep of each leaf in the right place. I've found the leaves are from a species of tree called the red oak (Quercus rubra), and so found some reference photos of the acorns from this species and added them to the drawing.
I stamped the 'Birthday Wishes' sentiment in the space that I'd left using Versafine 'Onyx Black' ink, as this almost always gives a lovely clear stamp on the first go (although by using the stamping platform, reinking and restamping are no problem).
Now it was time to do the really fun stuff and start to draw with ink. I used a glass dip pen and the Ochre and Rustic Brown Diamine inks, with the Gelly Roll white gel pen to give highlights. You can see the process in the video below:
Once the leaf drawing had dried, I stuck all the elements of the card together using my Cosmic Shimmer acrylic glue. This sticks firmly but gives a little time for repositioning, which is very welcome when trying to line up the different layers.
I've included a few photos and descriptions of the equipment I used when making the card, in case anyone is interested.
The Tim Holtz stamping platform takes much of the stress out of stamping and can fit both clear and rubber stamps. The clear stamping lid easily lifts out of the hinge so that you can turn it over, each side giving a different space under the lid when it's closed. In this way both the thinner clear stamps and thicker rubber stamps can be accommodated. It's very similar to the rival brand Misti, but I have always got on well with the Tim Holtz one and have never felt the need to buy the rival. The grid that is on the lid makes lining up the stamp much easier and the magnets (shown here covered in green washi tape to make them easier to lift) anchor down the paper so it doesn't get lifted during stamping. In the photos, you can see I have a tracing paper guide stuck to the base of the stamping platform. I made this to help me position card correctly when stamping wreaths and this is not needed for stamping this card.
I wrote about the glass dip pens, water brushes and white gel pen in last week's blog post. In the photo above, they can be seen with the lovely Ochre and Rustic Brown colours of ink that ended up on the kitchen paper as I used it to clean the dip pen. Always keep kitchen paper or an old, clean cloth nearby when you're working with a dip pen and ink. You never know when you're going to need to dab excess ink or water from your drawing, deal with a spill or remove excess ink from the dip pen nib. It's also needed when cleaning ink from your dip pen as you change colours or finish your drawing, so it'll never be wasted.
The Mama Elephant Scripty BDay set is by far my most used sentiment set. They all seem to work beautifully on the outside and the inside of cards and are of just the right size for most cards. They're good quality and although I've had them for many years, they still stamp perfectly with Versafine Ink.
If you'd like to have a go at using a dip pen, brush and water to create beautiful leaf drawings, then come along to my workshop on Tuesday. There are still some places available as I write this, but places are limited so make sure to book soon. All materials are included and it's suitable for beginners or those wishing to try out a new technique.
Commentaires