EPSAI metal

Last month I volunteered to demo at the September Cracker Jack Stamp Club meeting.  I thought I had my demo technique planned but it just didn't work out when I played around with it last weekend.  So I changed my demo to another technique I had seen online.  It didn't work out either.  I could not think of anything else to demo and was wondering if the other stamp club members would believe me if I said I knew I would be sick on Thursday and unable to demo when I saw the corner of  this project:

This was my show-and-tell project for the February Cracker Jack Stamp Club meeting when our theme was "Dry Embossed" and it was posted on this blog on February 10th, 2011.    I decided to demo this technique which I think I might call EPSAI (Embossed, Painted, Sanded, Alcohol Inked) metal.

Our theme for September was masculine so I made this card for both my show-and-tell and a sample for my demo:

I embossed a 2" x 5" piece of Quickutz metal sheet with a Cuttlebug Clockworks embossing folder.  Remember to have the bumps of the embossing folder on the bottom with the shiny metal looking up at you.  I painted the embossed metal with white gesso.  White acrylic paint works, too.  The alcohol ink will have a more opaque look when applied over the gesso.  After the gesso is dry sand with a sanding block, sanding in a circular motion for best results.  Wipe clean.  Choose the alcohol inks you want to use.  I used Ranger Peach Bellini, Butterscotch, Caramel and Ginger Alcohol inks on the above card.  Drip one drop of alcohol ink on metal and tilt to let alcohol ink run. It's good to drip on the raised images if possible for good coverage and better blending.  Drip another drop of a different color alcohol ink close to the first drop  and tilt to let the alcohol ink run and blend.  You have to keep a wet edge for the inks to blend so work quickly.  A toothpick is great for moving alcohol ink into small uninked areas.  Let the alcohol ink dry and buff with a piece of white paper or even a piece of brown paper bag over your sanding block.  My gears looked a little flat so I made a wash of black gesso and water and painted over the entire piece.  I immediately wiped the metal with a damp paper towel to remove most of the black wash.  I added a little black gesso around the edges, slapped it onto an anodized silver cardstock mat and attached a few watch/clock parts.  I attached the matted metal piece to a black card and heat embossed "Happy Birthday". 


I made a few other samples that still need to be embellished:

I used a Tim Holtz Pocket Watch embossing folder, Ranger Latte, Red Pepper, Terra Cotta, Sandal and Hazelnut Alcohol inks with a black gesso wash for this piece.

I used a Tim Holtz Swirl embossing folder for the top images.  The left image had the bumps of the embossing folder on the top and the right had the bumps on the bottom.  I used Ranger Wild Plum, Pink Sherbet and Sail Boat Blue Alcohol inks with a white gesso wash.
I used a Cuttlebug Dominoes embossing folder for the image across the bottom with Ranger Juniper, Cranberry, Denim and Eggplant Alcohol inks with a black gesso wash.

Every Cracker Jack Stamper went home with wonderful, unique metal pieces.  It was so much fun to see how different this technique can look depending on the embossing folder and alcohol ink colors that were used.  And oddly enough, everyone went home with cleaner fingers than my still-inky-from-last-night fingers!

Robin