Water Reactive Inks and Stencils

by Craftingscaley

I first saw this technique shown in the Lavinia For You face book group by Elizabeth Arden. It can create unique backgrounds of any colour as you want.  It adds a fantastic detail to your finished projects that does not over shadow the main feature be that stamped images or a die cut frame.

1

Making sure you are either working on a suitable water proof surface, or place your messy mat onto your work surface.

2

Fill your spray bottle ready and get your card stock. I have used 2 different types that work with this.

Either Lavinia Multifarious or Crafters Companion 300gsm Water Colour card.  You can either work on a whole sheet or pre cut it to the size you want to work with.

M
3

Pick your ink pads colours

I have used both Distress Oxides and the Crafters Companion Spectrum Noir Harmony Water Reactive ink pads.  You need at least 3 colours per background.

4

Taking the 3 choosen colours 'smoosh' some of each on to your working surface. Then spray a small amount of water onto each of the colours.

5

Then swipe your card through the watered inks. It doesn't matter if there are still some white card showing through, it will all add into the detail.

6

Placing your card stock to one side, (You don't want to get more water on it). Take the stencil you want to use, and spray liberally with water.

Once sprayed, take care to wipe the outer edges of the stencil, so during the next step you don't leave a band across your background.

Take the stencil and place it WATER SIDE DOWN on to your inked card stock.  Quickly cover with kitchen towel and press firmly for a few seconds.

7

Remove the paper and stencil, being as fast as you can cover the card stock with paper towel and press down over the area to soak up the water left.

8

Repeat steps 6 and 7 to complete the stencil pattern across your card stock.

The image will become clearer as the card dries.  If you want to stamp on the background straight away, make sure the card is completely dry by using your heat gun.  This is a card I recently made using this background technique.  Hope you have enjoyed this technique and project xx