Freezer paper and Alcohol Ink (AI) background technique

This is a technique I first demoed in April, 2009. I'm bringing it back because many people followed Tim Holtz's 12 tags of Christmas posts. In one of his posts, he made the comment that you could not use photo paper with AIs because it stayed sticky, but needed to use glossy paper. Since glossy paper is not always available, and since it's rather pricey, here is a low cost alternative to both photo and glossy paper. As an aside, you can tell how new and clean my vinyl table covering is in this photo. I can assure you, it isn't that pristine now.

Supplies:

Freezer paper
Alcohol Inks (AIs)
Blending solutions
Scissors
Craft sheet or some way to protect your work surface
Optional: rubber gloves

Tear a manageable piece of freezer paper from the roll. Note that there is a slick or shiny side and a dull side. Make sure the shiny side is up.

Randomly apply several drops of three or more AIs to the shiny side of the paper.

Working quickly, squirt blending solution all over the paper, not just where the ink is.

Fold in half and squish together.

Manipulate the ink by pressing and pushing on the paper. Try not to crease the fold.

Open the paper and see if you like the results.

If not, add more blending solution and more AIs. Repeat until you are happy with the results. Now you can cut it to the size of your project.

These were a lot of fun and went quickly, since the AIs dry fast.

Is everyone enjoying the OWOH annual blog event? Remember, you don't have to offer a giveaway to visit your favorite blogs, along with a few new ones you might find. As of six am, there were 762 blogs registered.

Today's blog spotlights Rachel Baldanza who lives in NY, and in keeping with the spirit of OWOH, is not part of the giveaway. Since many of my readers are painting faces at the moment, I thought her blog might be something different and inspiring. If you click on "next page" at the bottom of the page, you'll see one of her sketches and a peek at her sketchbook.