Mirror card

I have been playing with mirror card. It has interesting possibilities. I am working on a chunky book and want the pages to be very colourful but also interestingly textured. I took some mirror card and stamped it using a texture stamp & versamark ink. I then added Stewart Gill Lead patina embossing powder and heat embossed. I will colour the page with alcohol inks, and then add the main image by layering another piece onto this background.








This is an ATC background experiment. I took some silver mirror card, and coloured it with yellow & red Pinata alcohol inks. I didn't much like it, the inks don't seem to blend together as well as the Ranger alcohol inks, and it looked a bit 'spotty'. I stamped it with versamark and a texture stamp, then heat embossed with a deep green embossing powder. This was a big improvement. The colours were still too harsh, so I gave it a quick dab or three of Stream alcohol ink, which turned the underlying yellow & red inks into greens and a reddy brown. I really like this now, all I have to think of is how to add an image without spoiling the background!




The last mirror card experiment of the day was a happy accident! I had coloured some silver mirror card with Stream alcohol ink, and wanted to add a gold dragonfly image. I wanted instant gratification, and didn't wait long enough for the alcohol ink to dry properly. I stamped my dragonfly with versamark, and coated the card with gold embossing powder. When I tapped the powder off, there were splodges of embossing powder all over the card - in all the areas where the alcohol ink had been thickest. Not what I wanted at all! I decided to try and retrieve the card by brushing the embossing powder off. It brushed off beautifully, and then I discovered that the alcohol ink had been brushed off with the versamark and embossing powder, leaving the mirro card showing through to make a silver image. I know that Stazon will dissolve alcohol ink, but the results are not crisp and clear, or even very predictable! This image is very clear and fine - even if the scan isn't! I had planned to stamp and emboss the image again, but this is so ethereal, I don't want to cover it up. And the next time I create this effect it will be intentional!!!



On a completely different topic, it is a public holiday here in the UK, and in our normal tradition for public holidays, it is raining!!!! We have had several weeks of gorgeously sunny and warm weather, and we really need the rain, but I had quite forgotten how grey the day can seem without sunshine. The sunshione and warmth have made several of my garden plants peform spectacularly this year, and they are so beautiful I thought I would share: