Stone Backgrounds

I have been working on background papers again. This one turned out so well, I can hardly bear to cut it up or cover it. It is a little hard to scan properly, and you can't really see all the gold veining running through the browns.

I think if I am going to stamp on this paper, I will have to use a big, solid colored stamp, as the color and pattern in the background will overpower nearly everything. I might mount some solid gold or bronze stamped autumn leaves over the surface, but pop them up and curl the edges a bit so they aren't really covering the paper.

The inks I use are sold as re-inkers for Stampin Up stamp pads. There are about 48 colors, and I like to use them because of the variety of color.

Follow these steps to get this beautiful, shimmery, autumn colored marble:

1. Take a pigment ink pad in a metallic color, and dab it randomly on your glossy paper. For this paper, I used gold.

2. Take a cotton ball or small cotton pad [like the kind women use to remove eye makeup] and saturate it with alcohol.

3. Squeeze a couple of drops of dark ink onto the cotton ball. Do the same with a lighter color ink - on the same ball. You can use complementary colors or colors from the same family. I've never used more than three colors at a time, but maybe I am being conservative. For this paper, I used three different browns.

4. Dab your cotton ball freely on the glossy paper. You can dab right over the pigment ink, and it will begin to run.

5. Take a spray mist bottle of alcohol and spray over your glossy paper to further blend the colors and to move the pigment ink around.

6. You will probably need to spray a fixative over the whole thing after it dries, or you will end up with metallic fingers when you handle the paper. You can use a cheap hairspray or an art spray.

Have fun!