Warm Wishes BATIK

Try a New Technique! For this card, I used the brand new stamp set Winter Post from Stampin' Up!'s Holiday Mini Catalog to begin selling day after tomorrow. I LOVE this mini! It's full (I mean FULL) of great stuff. If you haven't gotten your mini catalog in the mail already, check it out online. And be sure to let me know you need one. I will reserve your copy and have it waiting for you at the next Stamp Club (Sunday, October 26.)

This technique is called the BATIK Technique and it is featured on SCS today. I used the ink refills Elegant Eggplant (which ended up looking like Perfect Plum so I decided to use Perfect Plum card stock) and Ballet Blue. Aren't they just lovely together?! Here are the instructions given to us by Lynn on SCS...

What is Batik?
The word batik (pronounced Bateek) means "wax written" and this is basically what batik is. It is a way of decorating cloth by covering part of it with a coat of wax and then dyeing the cloth. The waxed area keeps its original color and when the wax is removed the contrast between the dyed and undyed area makes the pattern.

What you'll need today:

Stamps
Watercolor paper
Versa mark
Clear Embossing Powder
2 or three Classic re-inkers
Water spritzer bottle (mini mister works great) - one for each color of re-inkers you will use
2 sheets of text weight paper (copy paper)
Iron set on high - no steam

Step 1: Stamp your images using versa mark onto your watercolor paper. Apply your clear embossing powder and heat until embossing powder is melted.

Step 2: A. Get your colorwash or make your own by placing several drops of re-inkers into a mini mister (or similar small spray bottle) and then adding water to the mister. I didn't measure my drops of re-inkers, but rather just added enough water to provide the desired color intensity. Shake to mix.B. OK, ready? Now mist your colors, one at a time, onto your embossed watercolor paper, dabbing with a paper towel if you get too much color, or to help blend blobs you may get. NOTE: Keep in mind, when misting colors onto the paper that two different colors mixed together will make a third color. Like in my sample, I mixed pink and blue and got the purple shade you see. So while it may look like I used three different colors, I only used two.

Step 3: Now place your watercolor paper onto a sheet of your text weight paper (embossed side facing up) and place another on top of your watercolor paper (to protect your iron). Using your iron press the watercolor paper until the embossing is melted and absorbed into the copy paper. You can check to see if it's all done by lifting the copy paper and if you still see shiny embossed areas, keep ironing.

Now step back and admire the beauty you have created. Now, just complete your card as desired. It's such a fun an easy way to create a big WOW. I hope you will give it a try.