Stippling with Ink

There was so much interest in different ways to create your own background paper that I thought I would share with you another technique that I have used. It is called Stippling or 'pouncing' the ink on the paper. The supplies I used were dye based ink pads, stiffle brushes that look like a small shaving brush, and glossy paper. The glossy paper helps the ink to spread and gives the paper a blended look rather than a brush marked look. The LTC that I am using as the example is my American Pie Swap LTC. I was looking for a tie dyed look to accompany my Janis Joplin stamp.

I chose my colors and took the stiffle brush, tapped the brush in the ink, and tapped the brush onto the paper to get the coverage that I wanted. I did the different colors in rows to give the paper a tie dyed look.

I took a stencil of a flower and placed it over the glossy paper with the tie dyed effect and stippled the flower in two other colors of dye ink. You can do this technique pretty quickly because the ink will dry fast and you don't have to wait.

This glossy paper has a total of 6 different colors to it and gives it a brightly colored effect. The more you stipple the ink on the paper, the darker the colors will be.

I stamped my Janis Joplin stamp over the colors. I love the way you can see the colors through the area of the stamp that was gouged out. Stencils give your cards a great effect in addition to your carving and with so many stencils on the market, there are many options for different kinds of effects for your cards. You can also use a large paint brush instead of the stipple brushes. I found the stipple brushes at the craft store for around $5.00 for a package of three.