Fun With Splash Inks (Part 2)

Splash Inks are acrylic inks invented by Karen Elaine and made by Yasutomo. I’ve posted on Splash inks previously. Today, Arizona Art Supply had a class in learning how to use the inks. Kari Foteff

Senior Account Manager Kari Foteff (L) from Strathmore, and inventor Karen Elaine.

from Strathmore Papers (L) and Karen Elaine were there and they taught a wicked good class. Strathmore papers were the first papers I loved when I was a papermaker, and it was great meeting someone who gets to work with Strathmore papers much of the time.

It’s fun meeting an inventor, particularly one who is modest and never mentioned her time on the Carol Duvall show. ( A popular show on the DIY Network several years ago) or the process of invention, just what the inks can do.

There are four inks, and they follow the CMYK colors: Cyan (blue) Magenta, Yellow and Black. You can mix them into over a hundred different colors.

We mixed several colors, and Kay, next to me, did a whole sampler of colors.

We then masked off a card and, using a stencil, scraped Golden’s regular gel (gloss) over the stencil and allowed the gel to dry, creating a resist.  We then mixed colors and applied them over the card. Kay did an attractive multi-colored card:

And I tried for a batik effect:

I’ll be demonstrating the inks at Arizona Art Supply’s booth the Women’s Expo at the Phoenix Convention Center April 27 and 28, 2013.

Karen Elaine helped me learn how to do some paper marbling with the basic colors. I have some more work to do (mixing new colors), but I’m really pleased with the basic marbling which is super easy:

And works with more complicated combing patterns, too.

Even the second pick-up works well:

I made these on cardstock, but you can also make them on sized watercolor paper. You can use them as art journal backgrounds, or just write in the lighter areas. You can use Golden’s regular gel as a resist and then write on it with a sharpie. Lots of experimentation still to go, but I’m having a lot of fun with Splash Inks.

-–Quinn McDonald has inky fingers again.

Disclaimer: I purchased the inks myself. I am receiving no compensation to blog about them.

Splash Ink: New Product

This isn’t a review, because I haven’t had these inks long enough to do anything except make a few basic mixes. But with a weekend coming up, there is the possibility you may want to try them, too.

I went out to buy ink today, because most of my work is done with ink, watercolor paints and pencils. I had gotten a flyer from Arizona Art Supply mentioning that there would be a demo of the new Splash Inks, and it had piqued my interest.

Here’s the premise: Splash Inks come in only four colors–the same four colors that printers use to make hundreds of colors by mixing them in different amounts or different size dots. You may know the colors as CMYK–Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black. The K is used to prevent confusion with B for blue, which is called cyan. (Did you take notes? No matter. Read on!)

The inks are acrylics, and only slightly thicker than ink. They mix incredibly well, and can be used in waterbrushes and in calligraphy pens. (I haven’t tried that yet).  I played around with the yellow and blue to make various shades of green, turquoise, and jades. The more water you add, the more transparent the colors become.

Splash ink was developed by Karen Elaine Thomas  for Niji and is distributed by Yasutomo.

The packaging comes with a mixing chart for landscapes, portraits and more. The colors are measured in drops (the bottle tops are designed for this) and water is added to lighten colors and make them transparent. It’s hard not to like the idea.

I’ve tried the most basic mixing with good results. While you are supposed to used these inks on watercolor paper, I think coated stock or Yupo will give a clearer color and less fast absorption, which made it a bit harder for me to mix. This is not a disappointment, it’s simply a new technique and needs some practice.  I have fallen in love with the colors you can make, though.

Karen Elaine was at the Mesa (AZ) stamp show, and demo’d an interesting technique using rubber stamps. There is something appealing about resists, and she used it in that way.

I’m eager to try working with these inks. They seem to be versatile and I want to explore them.

Disclosure: I paid for the inks and am not receiving any compensation from anyone to post this blog.

—Quinn McDonald uses ink to work on journal pages.

Jill Badonsky: The Muse Is In

Tonight, Jill Badonsky came to Changing Hands bookstore (Tempe, AZ) and did a book signing for her new book, The Muse Is In. Jill is a creativity coach, artist, writer, funny and genuine speaker, and her book is a huge boost for every creative soul.

“Everyone is creative,” is a statement that every creativity coach knows is true, and so many clients don’t. “It’s not about creativity,” Jill said, “it’s about resistance.” Sure enough, a lot of creative people don’t want the responsibility of being creative. It’s a hard job, and not everyone around you appreciates it. Even if you think it’s easier for you or your colleagues if you “go along to get along” and bury your creativity, you won’t be happy, and your unhappiness will spread to your colleagues. What a loss.

Thousands of things go right for you every single day.

“Talented people aren’t necessarily happy,” Jill said, and that’s  another great truth. Somehow, talent is supposed to make you happy. But often, if you are in the wrong job, then your talent doesn’t matter. (How many artists, writers and musicians–especially women–were told to be teachers, secretaries, or nurses and do their art “on the side?”) It takes a lot of strength to create the job that highlights your talents. Yes, I said “create the job.” That’s what a creativity coach is for. To help you tap into your courage and strength to do the work that uses the talent you have. It will bring you satisfaction and it will make the world a better place. A big order, certainly. But why spend your life doing work you don’t like or aren’t suited for?

My favorite tip from Jill this evening was the “credit check,” in which she asked us all to review our day. While we were churning (I’m supposing I wasn’t alone in thinking of unfinished, undone, almost-late work), Jill said, “what did you do that was wonderful, that was a win?” We so often don’t think that way–and it’s such a better way to put the puzzle of a day together.

Jill designed, illustrated and wrote the book. Wow!

From the second we wake up in the morning, we start to think of what is undone, late, not right. Giving time to the day to check in on what was completed, done right, and an opportunity to grow can change the day (and your head) around.

It was a positive, interesting happy evening. And while I’ve just spent about an hour with the book, I know I’ll be using it for inspiration for myself and for my clients.

It’s fun to look at, interesting to read, and inspiring to think that Jill wrote, designed and illustrated the book!

--Quinn McDonald enjoys the idea of designing, illustrating and writing a book, and is grateful she didn’t have that responsibility. But she loves being a creativity coach.

Dusting off an Old Book

Books shouldn’t be judged if you use them for purposes they weren’t written for. Giving a book a new life by giving it a second chance is a wonderful thing.

Use Jocasta Innes’s “Paint Magic” for your journal projects, too.

Jocasta Innes’s book, Paint Magic is a book reborn for me. In the 80s, I bought it to give myself some new ideas for creating interesting painted walls. I recently discovered that the same techniques can be used in art projects.  Paint Magic did a great job for that alternative purpose, and I’m delighted to recommend it for book artists, which is why I purchased it.

Looking for some new techniques to create backgrounds for my art journals, I flipped through the pages and found a section on using gesso (a background that prepares a canvas or board for paint) and another on stenciling.

Each technique has a description of the effect, then includes preparation, materials, equipment, how-to and some variations. There are wonderful photos of the finished result (on walls).

Sure, the book includes rubber stamping on walls, but for journals, I recommend Graining (p. 106), marbling (p. 114) and ragging (p. 53). The techniques can be easily adapted and give delightful results.

–Quinn McDonald is a writer and certified creativity coach who is sifting through a lot of ideas to create a few good, new classes.  Don’t miss her local classes starting on March 9 in Paradise Valley, and her class at the White Tank Library in Waddell on March 23

Fun With Parallel Pens

Pilot Parallel Pens are a wonderful addition to any art journal page. As do all parallel pens, it writes a broad smooth line, a tender fine hairline, and decorative strokes. The pens come in four widths: 1.5mm, 2.4mm, 3.8mm, or 6mm. The ink feeds across the writing edge and when I try it, it’s smooth and even. (Pen and Ink Arts has some exclusive sizes: 1mm 2mm, 3mm, and 4mm and 6mm slant)

Four Pilot parallel pens from http://blog.shopwritersbloc.com/writing_instruments/

If you have used parallel pens, you know how they write–you can use them for the traditional calligraphic strokes. But, I’m not calligrapher, so I misued mine immediately. Each pen comes with a red and black cartridge, and packages of cartridges are easy to buy– and come in 11 colors including red, black, blue, green, and a box of mixed colors. Each package also comes with a converter bladder device, so you can use Higgins, Dr. Ph. Martin or other inks.

To my great surprise, you can pull out the cartridge and use the barrel itself as an ink reservoir. This is wonderful for mixing your own inks or gouache. You can also use the barrel to create one kind of ink–Payne’s Gray, let’s say, and then dip the ink in another color, you get wonderful blends. (The Harmless Dilettante has some great examples.)  Of course, you can do this with traditional colors–blue to green, purple to black. But that’s not what I did.

Color sample of Dutch Blue, Interference Blue, Shimmering Black on black Artagain paper.

I found two incredible watercolor inks–an interference blue made my Dawler-Rowney, that looks watery white in the bottle. And a water-based acrylic ink called Shimmering Black, which I put in the pen, made sure it was writing well, then dipped the nib into interference blue and wrote with it.

The result was an incredible blend of shimmer and shine in each letter. Unfortunately, I dropped the wet sample I was working on face-down on my desk before I could photograph it. Interference and sparkle colors don’t photograph well, anyway. I hope the  sample on the left will do to describe the color.

The point (I’m just going to ignore that) of this is that the Pilot parallel pens are versatile, easy to use, and come with cleaners for people like me who use acrylics that aren’t meant for those pens in them anyway. If you are going to experiment, buy an acrylic ink cleaner right away. I’m glad I did.

You can also turn the pen up on its corner and write like a monoline pen. I did that with the ink mix and while it’s not as obvious (the line is thinner, after all), it makes a great new kind of calligraphy.

Disclosure: I purchased all my Pilot pens and inks myself. I was not compensated in any way to write this article.

Quinn McDonald is the author of Raw Art Journaling, Making Meaning, Making Art.   Quinn will experiment and possibly ruin pens and inks in pursuit of meaning-making,  and not mind a bit.