walnut inks, aluminum tape and more....

I was honored to work with 12 new students in a journal workshop yesterday (at the Art Student League of Denver). I introduced a new material that I am just loving; walnut spray inks. I originally found them at Meiningers (in Denver) then found various other spray, water-based inks on line and at one of our suburban Archiver stores. Woohoo! What fun to play with the pump sprays and stencils. All of these "misting" inks are gentle, easy to use and easy to clean up. They offer a wonderful alternative to spray paint which presents too  many health and environmental risks. I have used them on coffee filters as the basis for hand-made books and in my journal pages. Here are a few examples:

Another new technique I am playing with is using aluminum tape (purchased in a hardware store) attached to a page, then incised, then painted over with black gesso which is wiped off after a few minutes. Fun! I'll plan my next video tutorial on these two techniques. Check back in a few weeks, or let me know if  you have used either of these and how your pages turned out.

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