The Resist Technique

I am not an expert crafter and I don't do video tutorials, yet. But I mentioned in my last blog on Christmas cards that I would show you how I do the "resist technique". So here it is.

The idea of resist is to keep some parts of the paper the original color while allowing ink or paint to color the other parts of the paper. There are many videos on the internet that you can see the resist technique and mine is not unique but it is how I do most of my resist cards. In this first picture, I used green embossing powder on white watercolor paper. In the pictures below demonstrating the process, I used clear embossing powder on white watercolor paper. Watercolor paper is usually thicker and has a texture to it, compared to card stock. Card stock will work for this technique too but if you add too much water, the card stock warps and is harder to use. The watercolor paper I am using is a 140 lbs paper designed to take a lot of water.

Emma #1's Ink Resist Technique: 

Here's what you'll need: 

Large background stamp - I am using Hero Arts Leaves, Branches, and Berries

Watercolor paper or thick card stock - in this case, I chose to make the paper slightly smaller than my card base. The paper is 5" x 4".

Embossing ink pad - I use the VersaMark WaterMark pad

Embossing Powder

Ink - I am using Ripe Persimmons and Mowed Lawn Distress Ink from Ranger

Water sprayer

Some sort of water resistant sheet to work on

Step 1: 

Ink up the background stamp of your choice with embossing ink. It is actually a glue not ink.

 Step 2: 

Place the paper face down on the stamp, making sure not to shift it once it is laid down. 

Place a piece of scrap paper over the top and either rub with your hands or take a brayer and roll it over the paper. This will ensure the pattern is stamped all over the paper. 

 Step 3:

After you remove the paper from the stamp, carefully hold at an angle and pour the embossing powder on the face of the paper. 

As you can see in this picture, the powder should only stick to the paper where the glue from the VersaMark pad is. In some cases, you may find that the powder, which is very fine, will stick to the paper in places you don't want it to. To avoid this, you can either rub your paper before hand with a dryer sheet or buy a small cloth pouch that is filled with corn starch from the craft store. Sometimes they are called "Embossing Buddy" but I don't remember what mine is called; it is an off-brand. 

 Step 4:

Tap off any excess embossing powder and place on a scrap piece of paper. I usually hold the paper up off the table but couldn't in the picture because I have only two hands. 

Move the HeatIT Craft Tool around the paper so you aren't concentrating only one spot. If you heat it too much, the paper will start to burn. 

Once you see all the powder has melted and is now shiny, you are done heating it. Set aside for a moment to cool. 

 Step 5:

With the ink pad, tap it on the waterproof sheet 2-3 times to get some ink on the mat. If you are making more than one card at a time, you can add more ink to mat. 

Spray the ink on the mat with 3-4 sprites from your mister. Don't add too much water, just enough to see it start to bead up. 

Step 6:

Place your watercolor paper embossed side down, covering as much or as little as you wish. 

In this case, I only wanted one side to have the solid green on it so I laid it down, picked it up, then laid it down in a few more small places. 

                               

Step 7:

With your HeatIT Craft tool (or any heat gun) dry the ink completely. 

Then repeat with the next color. 

Color Warning: 

                                

You will also want to know your color combinations because the distress inks are "reactivated" once they get wet so even though I dried the green completely, when I added the red next, the area where the colors mixed turned slightly brown. If you don't want that brown color, you will need to use only one color ink for this technique or chose colors that make a nice color when mixed, like blue and yellow makes green. (In the picture on the right, there is a tag that has the red and green ink as well. I used that tag to pick up the rest of the ink off the sheet so nothing would go to waste. 

Step 8:

Once the paper is completely dry, you can wrap vellum about a half inch up from the bottom and adhere with tape on the back. Then adhere to the card base with quarter inch boarder on each side. 

And there you have it. Emma #1 Ink Resist Technique card. Hope you have the opportunity to make a few cards.

Emma #1

Christmas Cards 2014

Now that I have completed all my Christmas cards for this year, most of them mailed AFTER Christmas, I thought I would write about the cards I made and maybe even show a few "trade" secrets.                                       Here are the three basic cards I made.

This one used a large background stamp from Hero Arts called Leaves, Berries, & Branches. I used VersaMark Watermark Stamp pad (from Tsukinedo, Inc) and Stampendous! Embossing Power in White, on black paper to make the beautiful background. Then I used the SpellBinders Holiday words to die cut "Merry Christmas" in shiny red paper. I used the Xyron 1.5" Create-A-Stamp maker to attach the words to the vellum. The vellum is attached to the paper using the Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher. I made several various of this card using water color paper and the "resist" technique. I will explain about that later post. 

For this card, I used the Paper Smooches "Squared" die to make the background. (For all the die cuts, I used my Cuddlebug by Cricut. I broke the new machine I bought in June so I had to go back to my old machine I have had for 5 years.) The swirly Christmas tree is the Penny Black Twirl Tree die. For the different card variations, I used both solid papers, like this one, and patterned papers. I think in the end, I like the solid paper over the pattered paper…especially when you add the tree on top.

This style card was my absolute favorite! The beautiful snowflake was a die from Penny Black called Stellar. It turned out beautiful with the shiny paper, as shown here. But I also used regular white & black cardstock from the local department store and that turned out really nice too. One thing I decided I really liked to do was take my VersaMark Watermark stamp pad, cover this snowflake was (this is glue like product you can use to make a watermark on paper or use for adding embossing powder to give it a nice shiny look), and apply either white or transparent powder. That turns any ordinary, mat paper, into a nice shiny surface. There are some pictures of that too. Once I learned how to use this wafer-thin die properly (lots of paper went directly into the trash, lost as casualties, before I finally worked out the cutting process), this because the simplest and most elegant card to make. I used JudiKins Diamond Glaze to attach the delicate die to the background paper. In most cases I used a solid paper but in some cards, see below, I used simple pattered paper.

For these three cards, I first stamped the watercolor paper with VersaMark Watermark Stamp Pad and covered the paper with embossing powder. I heated it up with my Ranger Heat It Craft Tool and once melted it becomes resistant to inks or watercolor, hence "resist technique". For each of these cards, I used various Tim Holtz Distress Inks. The red color is "Ripe Persimmons", the blue was "Chipped Sapphire" and the aqua color was "Peacock Feathers". They are all beautiful colors and easy to use. 

Here are some variations of the "squared" cards I made. For the card on the left, I took watercolor paper and painted the colors using my watercolor set. The Christmas tree stamp is from Stacey Yacula Studio through Purple Onion Designs. The card on the right is basic white, green, red, and yellow paper and the sentiment, from Hero Arts, called Joy To All, is stamped on vellum.

Now on to my favorite cards. The Stellar die from Penny Black is fantastic! It is details and once I learned how to use it in my Cuddlebug, I could crank one out in a very short time. If you want some direction on how to use wafer thin dies in a Cuddlebug, you can search Youtube for videos; I found that very helpful. I won't go into too much detail here about it, it would take way too long. I will tell you that there are two tips I found very useful: 1)place the die cut side up, not down; 2)either rub the cut side of the die with wax paper or place a piece of wax paper between the die and the paper you are cutting. It makes it a lot easier for the paper to release from the die.

 

This is probably the longest post I have ever written for Emma Squared Designs so I hope you made it this far. If you have any questions or comments, please let me know.

Also, I have one more tip for everyone: START MAKING YOUR CHRISTMAS CARDS IN JULY! I should have known better but I made over 100 cards starting December 17th! Yes, I am that person...The final card was made on December 29th and mailed on December 31st. So learn from my example!

Emma #1