A Faux Batik Xmas



Occasionally I will paint individual cards for Xmas. I find them labor intensive so I have to be in the mood and this year I'm in the mood. I decided to stick with my alcohol ink batik technique for a welcome change. These are not folding cards so I've used Yupo as my backing substrate. I'll be writing my message on the back of each card with Micron pen so they will need a coat of Krylon spray varnish to eliminate any smearing. I could not find my white fluid acrylic paint to create the snowy candy canes so I used White-out. It worked great but I had a devil of a time washing it out of my spatter brush. Here are a couple of my faves.

Xmas Card ~ wax paper & alcohol ink

I've been laying down a few sheets of wax paper to protect my work surface when painting with the inks. Today was cleaning day which included replacing the wax paper which had become wrinkled and covered in dried ink. When I removed the tape that held it in place I realized the patterns that had formed from all the excess ink runoff were beautiful and shouldn't be wasted. I belong to a group of alcohol ink artists on Facebook and many of them have posted images of glass ornaments they have transformed with alcohol ink. Idea! The colors were not only just as vibrant on the wax paper but the crinkled texture was very intriguing as well. I cut out an ornament shape and glued it onto hotpress w/c paper with Mod Podge. I dipped a small sponge in a little of the gold mixative and stippled that around the ornament to create a subtle background. Ta Da! A Xmas card!