I used the Swirly Bird Branches for my page and the very first thing I have done is give both pieces a base coat of white. You can use paint or gesso, it is basically to make sure your inks maintain their intensity and richness when applied to the chipboard, kinda stops some of the colour being absorbed.
Now before you start decorating your chipboard, go through your inks and find 2-3 matching shades in the colours you want to use. Look at the papers you will be using and also the photo to give you some ideas.
So I decided the bird was going to be blue, so I started at the head using the lightest of my chosen colours and covering roughly a third of the bird with this shade.
Grabbing the second colour, I started by just covering the edge of the first colour and continued down to cover two-thirds of the bird.
Working quickly, I then applied the final darkest color from the body to the tail. Once you have good coverage of each ink colour, you can use you fingers to blend each colour onto the next. Don't be worried if you feel you want to re-apply any of the colours for a more intense look.
Moving onto the branches now and I have used a slightly different technique. This time I have choosen the strongest shade of green to completely cover both branches.
Then using my lightest and darkest green inks, I have randomly inked in layers around the edges of the leaves. Once I am happy with the mix of colours, I have used my trusty fingers again or you can use a cotton bud if you want to stay clean and I have smugged the colours along the edges to soften the overall look.
It highlights the egdes nicely.
The legs of the bird were easily covered in brown with a Marvy pen.
To finish off each of the branches, I have applied Rangers Crackle Accents for a one-stop glossy crackled effect and I am in love!
I always have a great time playing with inks and blending them together and it is quite a simple technique to try. Remember you don't always have to use shades of one colour, you can mix things up and choose 3 complimentary colours to put together. Experiment with them and have fun!
Here is the final page, a classic sulky look of my boy when things don't go his way.
Thanks for visiting the blog :)
