Look what came today! (& a Tartan step by step)

The postman brought me a small package from Personal Impressions this afternoon. It didn't look like much. Just a small corrugated card box that rattled a bit when I shook it. Looks can be deceptive though, as when I opened it, look what was inside...........yes, the new colours of Ranger Alcohol Inks in Lights and Brights. Twenty four luscious shades that all alcohol ink fans have been waiting for. They are pretty, rather than grungy, girly, pastel, pinks, lilacs, peaches....just gorgeous!

I've made a colour swatch on gloss white card so that you can see them properly - I added it as a small picture so that you can click to enlarge it to read the colour names.

I promised to do a step by step on how to create a Tartan effect with the inks, so thought that this was a good time to do it. Sorry if some of the pictures look a little blurry (it wasn't the excitement of the new inks making my hands shake, honestly!). You'll need: Glossy white card (preferably Cast Coated....don't use photographic paper for this), two or three shades of Alcohol inks (I used Watermelon, Clover and Willow), Blending Solution, Applicator tool and felt piece, non-stick craft sheet.

1. Press the felt piece onto the applicator tool so that it grips well. Squeeze drops of the Watermelon ink across the length of the felt, spacing them as shown below.

2. Now squeeze drops of Clover ink between the Watermelon blobs - that's a technical term by the way! Squeeze a little of the Willow in in any spaces between the first two colours.3. Add a little Blending Solution across the length of the felt, bearing in mind that the more that you add, the paler the ink colours will become.
4. Sweep the tool across the glossy card in a horizontal direction. Sweep it across again below the first band of colour. The idea is to try to get the bands of colour side by side as opposed to leaving white gaps or overlapping them too much. However, don't worry about this too much - if you do get a white gap it will still be fine!

5. Turn the card round by 45 degrees so that the bands of colours are now vertical. Sweep the tool across the card exactly as before to create the Tartan effect. If needed, you can add more ink and/or Blending Solution if you feel that the felt is dragging, or want more colour.

6. Once dry...this takes about two seconds!....cut away the edges where the colours look a bit raggedy - or leave them on, it depends what effect you are after. Use the design as a background on a card, for an ATC r even to punch shapes out of. If you want to stamp onto the card do be sure to use something like an Archival pad as opposed to a Stazon which, being a solvent based pad, will remove the alcohol ink.

As you can see, it's a really simple technique, so do give it a try! Apologies to any of my Scottish friends reading this.....unless I've been very lucky, I doubt that this is a legitimate Tartan design! Do note that I put a decent amount of Blending Solution on the felt for this one, so the colours are fairly muted. Just add less for a stronger effect. Have fun and let me know if you do give it a try.

Lindsay