Friday, March 30, 2012

Creative Chemistry 101



I have been taking Tim Holtz's Creative Chemistry 101 online class.  Today was the last 'official' day of class and I am sad because it has been one of the most interesting and informative classes that I have ever taken.  And now I understand and can reason with anyone as to why I NEED to have all of the different inks/reinkers/crap supplies I do - it's all in the chemistry.  And it's not that one is universally better than the other, they just have different properties that make each one better for a particular technique than another.  So, let me just let me share what Tim mentioned in one of the videos - "You need it all", lol!  I {heart} his thinking.

Day 1 we learnt all about the different properties of various inks - lots of things learnt that day and consequently a few dollars spent too! 

Day 2 we learnt all about Distress Inks and these are my samples of the techniques we learnt.

Blended Distress/Spritz & Flick


The tag I used is a manilla one that is as old as the hills.  I think if I had of used a better quality of cardstock, it would have turned out a bit better, ie more intense colours.  They seemed to get sucked into the paper.  I also wished I had used red in the top RH corner.  I didn't think I had one but I had forgotten about the Winter Trio of Distress Inks I ordered and had sitting in my cupboard.  I also cannot spritz & flick with my left hand.

Brushless Watercolour


Got a little over excited with the edging.  I guess it's something I need to practice because I keep getting this line thing going on even though I am applying in a circular motion.

Wrinkle-Free Distress


This was fun.  Again, should have used a better quality cardstock.  This is an old manilla folder that I cut to the same size as the first tag.  Don't really like those big brown blobs, but as Tim mentioned, it's all about practising the techniques, not making masterpieces.  Told you I {heart} his thinking.

Day 3 we learnt all about Alcohol Inks.  I must be the last person on the planet not to already have these,  but the effects are cool and I will be getting some more colours.

Alcohol Ink Agates





These two are my favourites, but I can decide on which I like best.  The white 'spots' are the pearl mixative I used, it was the only colour that I could find in stock in Australia.


Archival Resist


I wish I had have used a darker ink (brown) over the top of this.  It's a bit light.  Too impatient to wait for my order to arrive.  I found that the Jet Black Archival is very, very slippery on the gloss card.

Stamping with Reflections


Would have loved to have some of Tim's reflection stamps, but had to make do with what I had on hand.  In hindsight, I wish I had of stamped a text background ever so lightly before running through the Big Shot.  Think that would have set it off a bit better.  See that brown line around the outside, having trouble with that.  I guess it's just practice, hope so anyway :)

Day 4 we learnt all about Reinkers.  One of the techniquese we learnt was Watercolouring with Reinkers.  Since I am already familiar with this technique, I haven't done my tag yet, figured I'd work on the things I'm not familiar with so I can ask any questions I may have before the forum closes.

I haven't done the Layered Misting yet, but it looks like it's going to be a fun one.

Another technique was the Custom Stamp Pad.  I've tried this twice now and I've not been overly happy with my results.  I'm not sure if it's because the images I've used are a little too detailed or if it's because the opening to my reinker (I'm using SU! ones at the moment) is a little too big, meaning that I can't control the flow of ink that well.  I'm planning on getting a few of the Distress ones and will try this technique out again once they arrive.

Well, that's about it.  I'm hoping to get crafty again tonight and try out some more of these fabulous techniques.

If you have any questions about what I used, please leave me a comment or send me an email.  It was a swag of stuff and since most of it isn't SU! I can't recall the names of everything.  I will get around to updating at some stage.

1 comment:

Nikki Spencer said...

These look fantastic Jo, how much fun is this class? and how informative, l loved the simple terms Tim used and brilliant info he shared, it makes you look at all your products in a new light..:0) Glad l'm not the only one that still has to catch up..lol.