Bokeh Backgrounds Tutorial

The origin of the word ‘bokeh’ is the Japanese word ‘boke’, meaning ‘blur’ or ‘haze’. It is a popular technique in photography and is a term used to describe the soft out-of-focus flare that creates spots of coloured lights around the focal point of the picture.

Anything that photographers can achieve with a camera lens and light, we crafters can create with inks and stamps! I love using this technique to create clean and simple cards and distinctive designs which draw your eye to the sentiment or focal point without overpowering it. It is also a very forgiving technique as the soft-focus effect doesn’t require absolute precision, which is always a bonus when we want to enjoy our crafting.

The key ingredient in achieving a bokeh effect on your designs is using a white pigment ink to layer over the background colour. The opacity of the white ink mutes the other colours and softens any lines or patchy areas. For this feature I have used a variety of different mediums to create backgrounds for these cards using watercolours, Distress Oxides Ink and Distress Ink blends. They all worked equally well.

Of course the other important element for creating the bokeh effect is a method for adding circles of different sizes. You can do this with either stamps or stencils depending on what you have in your stash. For some of these cards I made my own stencil by die-cutting different-sized circles from a piece of acetate. It’s best to use acetate so that you can see through the stencil to position it easier. It also pays to leave a bit of space between each die-cut circle on your stencil so that you don’t accidentally rub ink where it’s not wanted. But be generous; create lots of circles of various sizes, and overlap them on your design as this creates the distinctive bokeh look.

The bokeh technique works perfectly for masculine and feminine designs and all sorts of occasions – I hope you have fun with it!