Tuesday, March 27, 2012

playing with ink. OR making a mess and loving it.

I'm a bit of a product junkie, but then I get intimidated by how to use the things I've bought, and so they sit in my stash gazing reproachfully at me and gathering dust.

Does that happen to you, too?

A big part of it for me is not knowing why or how certain things work, so I never know 'what else' I can do with it.

THIS is why I'm loving Tim Holtzs' Creative Chemistry 101 class. Knowing how a product is made, how it works, why it does what it does, means I can think of loads of ways to try it out without having to see if someone else has done it first.

Just recently, I joined an Tim Holtz inspired mixed media ATC swap, where we have to use at least one TH product. NOT A PROBLEM!! I reckon I can find at least one!

So I made three different ATCs, using different techniques, and even *gasp!* EXPERIMENTING!!

One of the things I tried was using alcohol ink on mica. You know, mica? the must-have a few years ago? yeah, well, I bought some and then didn't know what to use it for, so it just sat in a drawer, languishing and making me feel guilty.
Turns out, you can colour it with alcohol ink and then layer it over a photo or image and get this amazing vintage look.



I loved the freedom of exploring as I wanted to, loved using something I'd had forever, loved the result, and felt so good for stepping out of my comfort zone.

And here are the ATCs, finished and ready to post. (I made a set for me to keep as well)


Seriously, if you get hung up on using things 'properly', give yourself permission to play with product. Give yourself permission to try, to have a go, and even to mess up.
You'll learn way more that way than by following 'proper' techniques.

It's ALL about the process of creating.

3 comments:

  1. Toni you have done a FAB job on your ATC's !! your swap partner is gonna LUV 'EM xx

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  2. They are fabulous Toni and whoever gets them are very lucky.

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  3. Very pretty ATCs... thanks for the reminder, I wanted to play with some of those too. I too have products that stare at me reproachfully, and wonder when I'm gonna play with them.. and this class is helping me with that too, as well as using a variety of stamps that have never been inked. :o/

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Hi there, and thanks for taking the time to leave a comment -- I LOVE hearing what you think (: