A bit of Saturday fun

I started Saturday in the heat of the day by getting my supplies together at my patio table. From upper left clockwise: my dye inks I'm not using for this project, two 12 X 12 sheets of white paper, dye inks I will be using, two more sheets of white 12 X 12 paper, spray bottle of water that works (more on that later).

I saw this technique on Connie's blog and decided to try it. She has some fantastic videos you can watch to get this technique down pat. Note that there are no gloves in sight. I forgot to get them and was too lazy to go back in for them. But follow what Connie tells you. Wear gloves, because I now have very colorful hands and fingernails.


I began by spritzing two of the white pages with water.


Next, I added drops of DYE ink on the pages. I have enough reinkers I keep them separated in different containers. I keep my Distress reiners separate from my dye reinkers, pigment reinkers, and embossing reinkers. Don't ask why I have so many reinkers when I don't stamp. Other than the embossing ones I picked up at a garage sale a long time ago, I use them for various background techniques, just like Connie does. After I performed this step, I went inside (did I mention it was HOT out?) to allow the ink to dry. What was I thinking!?! The object is to allow these colors to bleed together.


So, it was back outside to complete the job. Here they are basically dry. This is the back side. Did you think I was going to show you the front, too? Not this time!


Next, I grabbed my spray bottle of 50/50 water and bleach, and took it, along with a rag I found in my rag bag and three lovely gingko leaves gifted me by Donna, outside. But the bleach bottle wouldn't squirt, no matter what I did, including cleaning it completely. So the only other thing I could do was put the solution in my water spritzer bottle, after which I would need to clean it completely (oh to own a dishwasher). For those unfamiliar with the process, this is called resist dyeing and you can see a step by step tutorial here.


I had barely gotten the bleach on the piece when it started to turn. I didn't even have time to remove the leaves before I took this shot.


But my bleach is old (about 4 to 6 months old) and the images didn't take too well, and looked even lighter after drying. So it's very important to use new bleach, fresh from the supermarket.


There is one really good thing that came out of this coloring session. Look at this sheet I tried to dye using color mists a few days ago. The colorful portion was under the 12 X 12 pages and the results give me an idea for a new technique, too. Stay tuned for it. I hope you had a great weekend and are looking forward to this coming week, including welcoming in summer.