Inkjet Art

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This article is written by Francesca Albini

When my inkjet printer tells me that my cartridges are empty, what it really means is that it’s time to buy new cartridges, although there is still a lot of ink in the “empty” ones. My first attempt at recycling the ink for my art was unsuccessful: I tried to open them. I don’t suggest you go down that route, unless you know what you are doing (please let me know if you do). What I do now is I rub a cotton bud over the spongy bit, where the ink normally comes out. If I want to use the ink in a painterly way, I then rub the inky cotton bud over an old CD jewel case and then I pick up the ink with a wet brush, as I would with normal ink or watercolour. If I have more than one cartridge, then I can mix the colours on the jewel case as I would on a palette. (I use the jewel case technique also to paint with any kind of water based markers – just rub the tips on it.) For a grungier effect, I can draw directly with the inky cotton bud.

Mixed media artist Francesca Albini

In the first two works, I was also experimenting with backgrounds for this inkjet art. I love testing pens and trying different marks. The result is usually a quite colourful scrap of paper that sadly gets thrown away. So I wanted to see if I could rescue it, by perhaps scanning and manipulating it with a photo editing programme. The result I liked the most came out looking like some kind of camouflage design, and that prompted the idea of adding a soldier, painted with magenta and black inkjet cartridges (that’s all I had).

I continued experimenting with more manipulation of the pen testing paper, using a pattern-making plug-in. This second background reminded me of vegetation, perhaps a dark, lush jungle, so I added some flowers, using gesso for the petals and inkjet inks, applied both with a cotton bud and an old dry felt-tip pen. I found the felt-tip pen a bit tricky.

Mixed media artist Francesca Albini

The last piece of the series of inkjet art is just one of my doodles done with a cotton bud. As the character looked a bit old-fashioned, I decided to give him a vintage background. I happened to find a 45 vinyl record on the stairs (yes we live like this in this household!), scanned it, copied it on different layers using different blending modes, and that completed the scene with the right atmosphere for this funny looking guy.

Francesca Albini Mixed media artist

Next time you have to change a cartridge, try one of these techniques or discover your own. Inkjet inks and art are wonderfully bright and vivid.

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Francesca is a visual artist using pretty much everything she finds around her to record and relive feelings and memories of places and emotions. She collages, paints, draws, photographs. Francesca loves mixing modern technology, such as mobile phone apps, with the simplest of tools such as glitter glue, crayons and other children’s art supplies. Read her blog at http://franjournal.blogspot.com/

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Filed Under: Mixed Media Art Techniques Tagged With: , ,

Create Your Own Original Backgrounds While You Play

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This article is written by Linda Giese

For the past year I’ve been putting papers over my plastic covered workspace. It began when I found a roll of thermofax for a dollar at a thrift store.  I put it on my workspace and soon it filled up with random stamps, paint splatters, doodles and notes.  I tore off another sheet and saved the first for collage fodder. I progressed to large sheets of newsprint that came as packing material in boxes.  A friend even gave me old architectural plans she was going to throw away.

making backgrounds while you play

This is an easy way of making original collage papers to make your art unlike anyone else, and it won’t even take extra time!  Now I glory in messing up my surface papers with ideas and oversprays.  Since I teach at my dining room table, there are class notes and ideas for what my students want to learn next.  I test out new stamps and “stamp off” ones I’m using.  There are scribbles trying to get a pen to write or see what color it is.  Sometimes there is even a random fruit label!

making backgrounds while you play

I’m not likely to run out of clean papers to mess up, but thought of an idea if I did.  I’d take sheets of junk mail with clean backs and tape them together.  Or as I’ve done, use sheets of scrapbook paper I don’t like that perhaps came in a stack of paper.  If you take a class, perhaps you can mess up newspapers under your work there too!  Good luck and happy splatters!making backgrounds while you play

Materials I used for my canvas:
Underpainting is blended background of Americana orchid, butter and baby blue
I applied the torn collage papers with Americana DecouPage as well as the Dover clip art woman image
I used the above paints plus Americana cad red, bright yellow(to make the flesh color) and true blue for shading

making backgrounds to add to your mixed media art collage

use backgrounds to create layers to mixed media art

using backgrounds to create layers in mixed media art

 

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Linda Giese encourages comments, questions, and sharing your art journey at linda.giese@yahoo.com

She teaches classes privately and at a local scrapbook store, The Stamp Addict

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Filed Under: Mixed Media Techniques Tagged With: , ,

Super-quick Background Resistance Technique

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This mixed media technique for creating a resistance image with white crayon is a simple method to make backgrounds, that is super-quick to complete and ideal for making many sheets for a large project.

1. Gather materials; used on old conference paper text sheet (as available in the Ephemera kits), white crayon, brayer (like this Ranger Inky Roller Brayer, Medium 3-5/16-Inch) and Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pads in pine needles.

2. Use the white crayon to draw a pattern on the text sheet. I created swirls and squiggles. While it is hard to see where you have been, the light will just catch the crayon, so you get an indication of where you have already drawn. As I was going for a grunge look, I wasn’t too concerned.

3. Load the brayer up with ink and apply across text page, at varying angles. The white crayon will begin to appear. I tried the direct-to-paper method with the ink pad but it was too hard to get a thick enough layer for the crayon to show through. Also my brayer is small, so each ink application doesn’t go very far and a motley affect results. As I’m going for a grunge look, I wasn’t concerned. A bigger brayer will give a more even finish.

4. Continue to reload the ink onto the brayer and apply to the text sheet until it is completely covered to your satisfaction.

Now I have a background sheet ready to use in making my Christmas cards for this year. As I make about 50 cards each year, I need a design that will be easy to make many sheets and this background method suits that perfectly!

Happy creating!
(Hope that was quick enough for you!)

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Filed Under: Mixed Media Art Techniques Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Making LOTs of ATCs

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Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) are wonderful little pieces of art that are traded between crafters. For a crafting show, ATCs are often traded between other attendees as a memento of the occasion. Sometimes there may be a theme to guide the participants. The challenge of making lots of ATCs for these shows is to keep the design simple and one you can easily replicate many times.

What is an ATC?
Artist Trading Cards are small pieces of art made with the intent to be traded between fellow crafters. There are all manner of groups on the internet that have swaps and challenges based around these cards.

An ATC must be the set size of 2 1/2″ by 3 1/2″ . They are usually in portrait orientation but don’t have to be. Besides the size, there are no other rules to ATCs – you can make them from cardboard or fabric or any other thin material. And you can decorate them with paints or stamping or collage or quilting or any other craft you like.

The back of the ATC is to contain your details, like a business card would. Your name and e-mail address (or postal address, if you wish) is  a minimum. Sometimes the title of the ATC, or theme or occasion, and it’s number or edition is also included.

There is one other rule regarding ATCs – I have been always told that ATCs are only ever for trading and never to be bought or sold. Some crafters will create what are called ACEOs (Art Card, Editions and Originals), which are ATCs to sell. I believe that is against the spirit in which ATCs are created.

Key points to making lots of ATCs
– Start with large sheets of card (12″ x 12″ or A4) which can easily be decorated to make the background and then cut to size
– Stamping allows you to reproduce the same image many times
– Consider embellishments like punches or cutter dies that can create lots of the same in a short amount of time and for little cost
– They don’t all have to be exactly the same; if making cards to a theme, you can still alter the colour or type of some elements
– Instead of written your details on the back of many ATCs, use your computer to type out your main details (name and e-mail address) then cut and stick these to the back of your ATC. You can then sign it.

How I make lots of ATCs
1. Use walnut ink or tea or coffee stain to antique many sheets of card for the background. Use the same method to antique sheets of text from an old book or conference proceedings (if the sheets curl, place thereunder a heavy book to flatten, after they are dry)


2. Using a large background stamp, cover the background card (lots of small stamps will also create the same effect)

3. Cut background card into 2 1/2″ by 3 1/2″ piece

4. Cut the text pages into 3 1/2″ strips. Then tear them into smaller strips at about 1/3 of ATC width. Use a brown or sepia ink to sponge the torn edge of each piece.

5. Glue text strip to backgrounds using a glue stick

6. Add image or embellishments: I cut these T’s using  a puzzles cutter.

7. To finish the ATC, edge the entire card, using the inked directly onto the edges and stamp “time” using alphabet stamps in a lighter colour.

8. Don’t forget to add your details onto the back. This can be done my hand, using a ATC template stamp or using your computer.

The final part of ATCs is to go and swap them freely. I will always remember one of my first craft shows I ever attended and I didn’t know anything about this swapping thing. Many ladies were very generous and happy to give me an ATC when I had nothing to give in return. And this is the spirit in which I attend craft shows today.

If you are a little shy, place your ATCs in a plastic bag and use a safety pin to attach them to your carry bag or jacket, then anyone else who has ATCs can see you have some and you can start a conversation. Some craft shows will have a time and place that people can meet up to swap.

And remember the spirit of ATCs – if you are going to a show where you are going to meet people you know, you can make some special ATCs for those people, but keep them separate, so they are easy to find and you don’t accidentally hurt someone elses feelings. I have heard of occasions of some people refusing to swap their ATCs when they see the other persons ATCs and it didn’t meet their standard. Thankfully these incidents are few and between but remember that we all had to start somewhere, so be generous with your ATCs.

Happy Creating,
Michelle

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Filed Under: Altered Trading Cards Tagged With: , , , , ,
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