It's been a long time since I worked with ink sprays and boy did I have fun with this week's project!
My tag was created with Distress Spray Stains and Tim Holtz Stencils to achieve this look! But yet it looks stamped, doesn't it?!
TIPS FOR WORKING WITH DISTRESS SPRAY STAINS:
- Very concentrated/highly pigmented color. Spray paper with water first, for a more diluted/lighter look (this is what I did with the first background ink layer on my tag, detailed below).
- Same Distress INK attributes -- color will lift when water is applied, even with the metallic colors.
- Great to use with stencils, either by itself, or to color freshly applied stencil/texture paste.
- Watercolor with the ink, either with a watercolor brush dipped directly in the ink, or fill a water reservoir brush with the ink and dilute it with water to your liking.
- Use the spray stain like a dauber, by applying it with a sponge applicator.
Here's how my tag came together:
To contain the spray and make sure I didn't get it everywhere, I placed a #8 Manila Tag into an old used shipping box lined with packing paper, lightly sprayed the tag with water, then sprayed the tag with Peacock Feathers Distress Spray Stain. Let dry:
Next, I took the sprayer out of Abandoned Coral Distress Spray Stain and tapped the nozzle onto my plastic paint palette (shown in the center of my palette below).
Then I tapped my 1" Round Ink Blending Tool into the ink and sponged the ink only onto the flowers of Tim Holtz's Mini Stencil Set 10 floral stencil (the stencil is wash-taped to my work surface, to help prevent bleeding) -- thus, creating my own "dauber"!
Next, I dipped my watercolor brush directly into Twisted Citron Distress Spray Stain and painted the leaves and stems through the stencil:
To enhance the upper part of the tag's background, I masked off the lower stamped part of the tag using a sticky note and washi tape ...
Then I sprayed Tarnished Brass Distress Spray Stain through the flourish stencil from the same Tim Holtz Mini Stencil Set 10 set -- Isn't that a gorgeous golden color?!!:
I also used the flourish stencil and 1" Round Ink Blending Tool on other parts of the tag, just by placing the stencil and only inking on the blue background, avoiding the flowers:
This awesome sentiment is from Concord & 9th's Butterfly Beauty set. I stamped it with Jet Black Archival Ink, using my Misti Stamping Tool so I could double-stamp and get a very bold black impression:
To finish the tag, I colored wide white silk ribbon with the Tarnished Brass Distress Spray Stain (just spray and let dry):
Next, I wanted to give a little more definition to the citron leaves and flowers (they seemed to blend into the aqua background a little too much), so I lightly outlined them with Twisted Citron Distress Marker:
Finally, I used Concord & 9th's Butterfly Card dies to create the half butterfly strip from Ellen's 40# Vellum. The butterfly body was die cut from paper sprayed with the Tarnished Brass Distress Spray Stain. The butterfly strip was attached to the tag using Tim's Tiny Attacher, but the butterfly wing was left unattached so it can flap up:
The golden ribbon was tied through the tag hole and secured with metallic gold string:
I hope you've learned some wonderful tips for working with ink sprays this week and will give them a try!
