Alcohol Ink on Silver Leaf

With gel medium, 2014. I wish I could capture the colors in the sky better. It looks like sheet metal that has been treated with a torch. 

Without gel medium, 2013. The shooting star was added to conceal all the scratches.

I do believe I've solved the problem of working on silver leaf with alcohol ink. Last summer I created an ink painting on silver Simple Leaf applied to Yupo but it scratched so easily I was forced to toss it in the bin. I did get one scan of that painting I don't think I shared on my blog so I will today. Yesterday I gave it another go but this time I applied a coat of Liquitex gloss gel medium and allowed it to dry before adding any ink. I was thrilled the leaf now withstood quite a beating which included multiple layers of ink and blending solution plus some manipulation with a tool. The gel medium formed a protective buffer 'tween me and it with nary a scratch in sight. FYI, I don't recommend using Pearl mixative on silver leaf, though. It produced a rather flat, 'dirty' look I don't like at all.