Rusty Alcohol

Hello all, and welcome.  I've got a little MDF tag for you today before heading back into the journal.

I've had a small tag (12 x 6cm, which is not quite 2.5 x not quite 4.5 inches) sitting around on the craft table for a while with a paint-crackled surface already on it.

Today I was inspired by the current Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge to try some alcohol inks over that crackle, and I love where I ended up.

I'm not sure I know any longer what crackle paint that is... maybe DecoArt Chalky Finish over something very dark underneath?

But what I do know is that I love how the alcohol inks flowed over the surface with the help of a little Blending Solution.













I started with some Mushroom ink, and then added Stonewashed and, after that, some Eggplant.













I gave each of them a chance to move alone first and then started encouraging them to join forces using the Blending Solution.














One of the really great things about using the alcohol inks is it means I can mess around with some watery washes of paint over the top without losing any of my inky effects.

The alcohol ink is not affected by the water or the paint, so it stayed happily in place while I added some rusty touches of Quinacridone Gold and Paynes Grey DecoArt Fluid Acrylic paints.












I was even able to spritz the paint with water and dab away to get exactly the rusty cracks I wanted, and all my lovely bluesy alcohol inks were completely untouched.
















You'll recognise the thistles if you saw my post Hoping for some light.  In fact, that pair of tags were also done on this same size MDF tag.













For these thistles I applied Sepia and Jet Black Archival inks to the stamp, using the black to create shadowed areas.

I had to quickly add some clear embossing powder after stamping, as they weren't showing up enough, but the e.p. gives them a bit more presence.













Some rusty wire had to be next, wound around the tag.













There are some words, of course - simple Small Talk stickers, given a touch of their own rustiness with some Sepia, before being edged with Jet Black and a touch of pen work to shade them into the background.













Oh, and in a slight afterthought I added a number brad, altered with some Ginger and Rust alcohol inks so that it would look as if it's been there as long as the wire (which it has, though neither of them has been there very long!).















Some more rusty wire tops us off, and we're done.













I do like working on the MDF tags, especially when using fairly heavy crackle and the rusted effects.












You get a far more substantial artefact at the end of it.  I feel this could be an old panel which has maybe been around for a few decades, and that makes me happy.

In a decaying society, art, if it is truthful, must also reflect decay. And unless it wants to break faith with its social function, art must show the world as changeable. And help to change it.
Ernst Fischer









I'd like to share this at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge where this week's theme is Alcohol, Drinks or Inks

Anything Goes (as long as they can see the stamping) at the Fashionable Stamping Challenges, so I'd like to join in there too, after far too long an absence

I'd also like to play along at the Mixed Media Place where this beautiful January Moodboard with its dusky purples, hits of rusty brown and orange, and natural elements have all inspired me

Anything Goes for January at the Bleeding Art Challenge Blog too, as long as you've got at least two mediums involved - crackle paste, alcohol ink, fluid acrylics, and Archival inks should squeeze in okay!