There has been a lot of talk and questions on the AQ board about using shaving cream and food coloring or dyes to make background paper so I thought I would give it a try and show you my results.I am using my husbands cheap Barbasol Shaving Cream (without him knowing), food coloring, alcohol ink, ink pad reinker, glossy scrapbook paper, paper plates and plastic forks.
This is a very easy project with minimal mess that would be great for kids to try. If you use paper plates and plastic forks, everything can be thrown away and the only real mess is some dye on your fingers that will wear off.
I thought I would show you how the paper comes out by using three different dyes. Why you ask? Because I have the supplies and thought it would be cool to compare them and choose the best medium for the job. I am using red food coloring, Cranberry alcohol ink, and Cranberry reinker. Before you scroll all the way down to the end, can you guess which one worked the best?
First, I sprayed the shaving cream on the plate. About a fist size works well for a small card such as an LTC size 2.5" x 3.5". Of course you would use more for a larger size paper that you could cut down later to size.
Next, I spread the shaving cream out a little bit. This way I don't work the dye into the shaving cream too much be trying to spread it out to fit the paper.
I only used 4 drops of dye to get a very nice shade of red but I am sure you can use less drops for a lighter shade.
With the plastic fork I swirled the dye through the shaving cream to give it a nice marbled look.
You could mix the dye in more to get the effect you want but remember, too much mixing will blend all the dye through the shaving cream and give you just the colored effect without the marbling. Remember that the more you use the cream, the more the dye will mix in and give you a solid color look. You may need to redo this process if you have a large amount of cards or paper to make.
Here are the shades of red that each dye gives in the shaving cream. Each dye had the same amount of drops used. From left to right: food coloring, alcohol ink, reinker.
Place your glossy scrapbooking paper glossy side down on the shaving cream and lightly press the paper all over in the shaving cream. Make sure that the entire paper is covered in cream. Do not move the paper around in the shaving cream. You will end up mixing the dye and cream even more than you like.
Lift off the paper and lightly wipe off the shaving cream with a soft tissue or toilet paper. I found that if you use a paper towel or something rough, the card will scratch and scrape off the dye you just applied. Be carful of long finger nails as well. They can also leave scratches.
Here are the results. From left to right: food coloring, alcohol ink, reinker. I like the effect of the food coloring the best and guess what? It is cheaper than the other dyes. Go figure. The cards only take about 10-15 minutes to dry and the shaving cream does leave a sort of film on the surface but you are still able to stamp a dye or pigment ink onto it with no problems.