full screen background image

Friday 6 January 2012

Darkness Stirs and Wakes Imagination

Night-time sharpens, heightens each sensation ...
Darkness stirs and wakes imagination ...
Silently the senses abandon their defences ...

Slowly, gently night unfurls its splendour ...
Grasp it, sense it - tremulous and tender ...
Turn your face away from the garish light of day,
turn your thoughts away from cold, unfeeling light -
and listen to the music of the night ...


What do you think of when you think of stamping and colouring? Well, you probably think black ink, white paper... maybe off white... or you might get absolutely insane and go for a dark blue or brown ink. ooooooooo. You are a vixen!

Well - - what about colouring on black paper? with images stamped in white? GASP - - - WHAT?????????!!!!!!!

It is fairly easy with a few coloured pencils, some white ink, and white embossing powder and black paper. Take the black paper - either smooth or linen... not much texture, but a little is fine.  Stamp the image you have chosen in white ink and then emboss over it with white detail embossing powder.  I chose Sacred Heart Art to work with today.

Once your image is embossed, use a white coloured pencil and colour it in... you can shade with it just as you would a marker or when you colour with a darker coloured pencil on white paper. If your paper is textured it will have a little texture in the colouring (I have a black linen paper I used below). Once you have coloured with the white you can colour over it with any colour you choose.

Similar to Copics, if you make a mistake you can correct it... Take a black pencil and colour over the white area... and it takes it away - - well it covers it up - kinda like makeup concealer and the big dark smudges under your eyes. Well under my eyes at least. :-)
You can have very vibrant colours on the dark paper, or you can leave it with Black and White.
Whichever way you choose to go, it adds a bit of the unexpected to the project you are working on.

Here is the card I made with the bottom heart from above.

I hope you have had fun with this technique and maybe it will inspire you to Abandon your Defences and Embrace the Dark Side. (I know mixing Phantom of the Opera and Star Wars is a bit preposterous... sue me).

See you soon!!!!!

p.s. Apparently the spell check for Blogger uses the Queen's English (it does not like the spelling color)

15 comments:

  1. Gorgeous Card Alaine! Thanks for the tutorial... will need to give it a try! Have a wonderful weekend! Hugs!

    ReplyDelete
  2. LOVE THIS!!! It's so striking!!! The possibilities are endles...the wheels are turning now!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Totally fabulous technique and tutorial!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I forgot to mention that your results are absolutely stunning.

    I also loved the "tip" for when one makes mistakes...

    ReplyDelete
  5. What a fantastic tutorial, and a stunning project! I am so gonna do this! Like tomorrow! This is 1 of the coolest technique I've seen in awhile. Thank you so much for sharing it with us!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Very nice. I may have to try this for one of the challenges this month.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Well, I have my new technique for the challenge now. This is uber kewl. I cannot wait to give it a shot.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Love this - thanks for sharing - I can't wait to try it!

    Is detail white a specific type of embossing powder? I haven't heard of that product here in Australia

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wow! These turned out beautifully! I never think to stamp on black paper. Gonna have to try it now! :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. I love how these turned out. I've got to try this! I think it would work on other dark colors too. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I luv this! Don't forget about transference paints on black - gorgeous!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Way cool! I will have to hunt down my EP as it's been forever since I've embossed.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I AM TOTALLY DOING THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete