The Crafty Thinker: Stephanie Fischer - Independent Stampin' Up Demonstrator: Bleaching technique

Showing posts with label Bleaching technique. Show all posts

Friday, 19 January 2018

Ink it! Stamp it! Design Team Blog Hop: Technique - Bleaching

Welcome to the Ink it! Stamp it! Design Team Blog Hop - we hop every month so be sure to pop back and visit us again! Today we have a Technique theme - which always makes for an exciting Blog Hop with tons of inspiration!

You are currently at my page - Stephanie Fischer, The Crafty Thinker. At the end of my post there is a full line up of team members, please click on the name after mine in the list to continue the hop.

The technique I have chosen is bleaching - one of my favourites. Sometimes I "paint" with bleach, adjusting the amount of bleach in various places to achieve light or dark shades but this time I kept very simple so as not to detract from the gorgeous butterfly.

#thecraftythinker, #stampinup, #cardmaking, #bleachingtechnique, Bleaching Technique, Beautiful Day, #InkitStampit, Stampin' Up! Australia Demonstrator, Stephanie Fischer, Sydney NSW

The only place I like to use bleach is in the craft room!

The base card and decorative panel are Fresh Fig cardstock and there's a layer of Sweet Sugarplum. In order to be thrifty with my Gold Foil Sheet, I simply added a strip to each side of the central panel before adhering to the Sweet Sugarplum layer.

The greeting, from the Birthday Blooms stamp set, is gold heat embossed and the little splodges (or perhaps they're supposed to be little flowers) are stamped with Versamark.

The beauty and the frustration of bleaching is that every batch of cardstock reacts differently so you ever know what to expect. My original intention was to use Basic Black cardstock. In the past I've had great success with Basic Black but this batch just wouldn't react! Eventually I gave up and switched to the Fresh Fig cardstock!

You can never tell how the cardstock will (or won't in this case!) react to the bleach. Every batch is different.

The black card will not go to waste - I'll use it for something else.

Step by step

Wipe the cardstock with embossing buddy.
Stamp image with Versamark
Cover with gold embossing powder (or colour of your choice) and then tap off the excess
Use a heat tool to "melt" the embossing powder
Apply bleach into areas that you require to lighten
If you wish, once the bleached areas are dry, you can add colours with your favourite medium

Tips and Tricks:

Bleach is harsh on brushes so apply the bleach with an old brush and then keep that brush for bleach. Rinse the brush well afterwards.
Use more bleach in areas that you want the lightest and a dryer brush in areas that you require a little darker
Let the bleach dry between applications (until it's dry you don't know what it really looks like)
If you're impatient like me you can dry it with a heat tool but only from the back (to preserve the heat embossing)
Keep adding layers of bleach until you're happy with the outcome

I hope you've enjoyed this card and I welcome your comments.

Thank you so much for joining us today. We hope you'll join us again next month for our projects featuring our favourite new papers in the Occasions Catalogue! I'm Stephanie Fischer and to keep hopping around, see the list below to see who is up next with another great project!

Thanks for visiting
'Til next time!
Stephanie

Product List - click on an image to shop in my online store (Australian Residents only)

Beautiful Day Clear-Mount Stamp Set

$37.00

Versamark Pad

$15.00

Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder

$8.75

Heat Tool

$50.00

Birthday Blooms Clear-Mount Stamp Set

$33.00

Sweet Sugarplum A4 Cardstock

$14.00

Fresh Fig A4 Cardstock

$14.00

Gold Foil Sheets

$7.00

Monday, 17 July 2017

You've Got Style, Champagne and Balloons!

I love this quirky image of the lady in her fur coat even though I'm not sure it's entirely flattering!

You've Got Style, Layered card, Bleaching Technique, Watercolouring, #thecraftythinker, Stampin Up Australia Demonstrator, Stephanie Fischer, Sydney NSW

Champagne in one hand, balloons in the other - she's ready to party!

Starting from the bottom and working up, the layers in this card are:
Sweet Sugarplum, Very Vanilla, Powder Pink, Very Vanilla, Fresh Fig, Very Vanilla (square with an oval removed from centre), Sweet Sugarplum (inlaid into oval)

The balloons are cut from Silver Foil and Copper Foil and embossed. I tied some Black Metallic Thread around them and attached them to the hand via holes that I poked, before sticking to card front with glue dots.

The greeting is attached with a dimensional.

After heat embossing, I bleached the image prior to watercolouring it.

I stamped the image with Basic Black Archival ink and clear heat embossed it before attacking it with an old paintbrush and household bleach.

Once the bleach was dry, I watercoloured the image with Powder Pink, Chocolate Chip, Sahara Sand and Daffodil Delight inks. I added a wee bit of Chalk Marker to add some highlights to the trim on the coat and hat and then a tiny bit to highlight her skin and wished I hadn't! Ah well!

Tip: When using framelits, I often cut them from the centre of small rectangles &
keep the negative shape for purposes such as this

Thank you for visiting.
'Til next time!
Stephanie

Product List - All supplies used can be purchased in my online store - click on "shop now" or on a product image below (Australian Residents only)

Wednesday, 5 July 2017

Bleached Floral Statement

Another image from the Floral Statements stamp set and another treatment. This one is painted with bleach.

Floral Statements, Bleaching, Flower Shop, #thecraftythinker, Stampin up Australia Demonstrator, Stephanie Fischer, Sydney NSW

The Flower Shop bloom goes quite well with the flowers in the Floral Statements image

I tapped my stamp into Versamark and then into Basic Black Archival ink, stamped onto Elegant Eggplant cardstock and clear heat embossed. To be honest, the Versamark probably wasn't necessary because the Archival ink stays wet (or "open") long enough to add the embossing powder. However, I was cold and had the air-conditioning going so played it safe!

The added flower provides some dimension to the card

I painted the flowers and leaves with bleach and then added some Pear Pizzazz to the foliage.

I layered my floral image onto a piece of Sweet Sugarplum cardstock before adding to my Elegant Eggplant card base.

My next step was to stamp a flower from the Flower Shop stamp set in Basic Black Archival ink onto Sweet Sugarplum cardstock and watercolour a little with some Sweet Sugarplum and Elegant Eggplant inks before cutting it out with the matching Pansy Punch.

I snipped down between the petals a little, curled the petals down with a bone folder and depressed the centre of the flower with a ball tool on a firm sponge before adding a Faceted Gem.

The little piece of foliage is cut from Lemon Lime Twist cardstock with one of the Bouquet Bunch dies and sponged with some Pear Pizzazz ink.

I also stamped and watercoloured a flower inside the card.

Thank you for visiting.
'Til next time!
Stephanie

Product List - Click on a product image to visit my online store (Australian Residents only)

Sunday, 12 February 2017

You Beautiful Dancer - Bleaching Technique

For a while at least, this is the last of my cards with the bleaching technique and it may be my favourite. If you'd like some hints and tips on the bleaching technique, check out this post.

www.thecraftythinker.com.au, Beautiful You, Bleaching Technique, #thecraftythinker, Stampin Up Australia Demonstrator, Stephanie Fischer, Sydney NSW

Basic Gray is one of my favourite cardstocks to use for the bleaching technique

The clear heat embossing looks satisfyingly dark and clear on the Basic Gray card. I didn't add any pigment to her skin but I did create some shades while I was bleaching (by using a dryer brush or lighter touch in those areas).

I kept some shaded areas while I was bleaching the image

I coloured her dress and hat with Daffodil Delight, Crushed Curry and Crumb Cake Stampin' Write Markers and added a touch of Crumb Cake marker to the ground.

The greeting is white heat embossed.

Thank you for visiting.
'Til next time!
Stephanie

Product List - To visit my online store, click on one of the product images below (Australian Residents only)

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