Domino Art!

As promised ~ today I want to start with domino art!

These little gems come in all sorts of shapes, sizes and can be found just about anywhere toys and games are sold! They make a perfect little canvas for so many fun, quick and stunning rubber stamping projects! From magnets, embellishments for cards & scrapbooks, jewelery, key chains, ornaments, etc.... the list just goes on and on!

There are also similar products on the market that are usually sold as blanks (both sides) that all of these techniques can be applied to. I'm not going to be using them today but I just wanted you to know it would work on those as well.

Today I want to start out with something real simple just to get everyone warmed up...we're simply going to be coloring the domino with Alcohol Inks and then stamping or stamp & wipe. I like to use Archival Inks when stamping on dominoes because I've got several and I'm familiar with how they react with the AI's but you could also use Staz-On or a Hybrid Ink if you like.

Also, there is no special preparation needed when applying AI's to the dominoes. I know some people think you have to sand everything to get a good coating of inks but it's really not necessary and I find it makes the inks do funny things.... You end up with lots of little scratches ~ that's great if it's the look you're going for but those pesky little lines can be eliminated by not sanding at all! Normally all I do is wipe with a dry cloth to remove any oils or other debris that might be on the domino.

Supplies:

Dominoes

Adirondack Alcohol Ink - Ranger

Archival Ink - Ranger

Ink Applicator & Felts - Ranger

Rubber Stamps - Time Flies - Hampton Arts; Flower - Inkadinkado; Little Boy - Stampers Anonymous

Instructions:

1. Apply desired colors of AI's to your felt and begin pouncing the ink onto the domino. I normally use 1-3 colors when working with Alcohol Inks just to keep things from getting too wild. If you add too many colors you'll most likely end up with mud.

I did want to talk a bit about how to get various looks using AI's. Several people have asked me how I achieved a particular pattern with the AI. Now, you can't reproduce a pattern exactly just because of the nature of the beast but you can reproduce the basic texture/feel of the pattern by following a few simple steps.

Look at these 3 examples ~ the top green domino is the Polished Stone technique most people are familiar with which combines 3 colors to create a "stone" texture look; the center blue domino is made using only 2 colors and resembles a marble pattern and the third and final domino is a very basic coating of AI with some veining and no bubbles or tiny circles at all.

How do you get each look? It's all about layers and evaporation! Now because Alcohol Inks have alcohol in them they tend to evaporate quicker than other inks. Once you understand the evaporation rate you will open up a whole new realm of AI's to play in!! I'll give you the shortened version for now...I could talk about AI's all day if you let me go on about them. They are one of my favorite mediums to play with ;)

Now we're going to start from the bottom (purple domino) and work our way up.

Purple - This one is easy...no fuss, no muss...just apply the inks to the felt and pounce. Once the domino is covered with ink simply let the Alcohol Inks do it's thing. It will make the veining and open areas all by it's self.

Blue - Faux Marble - You will apply 2 complimentary colors of AI's to your felt and pounce. Now, once the domino is covered let it sit for 10-15 seconds. This not only allows the ink on the domino to dry but you are also letting some of the AI on the felt to evaporate as well. Now pounce the domino again. Less AI on the pad means less spreading of the color, hence more veining. Repeat until you get the desired color depth/veining you want.

Green - Polished Stone - Apply 2-3 contrasting colors of AI to your felt (you can add a bit of Metallic Mixative at this time if you like) and pounce the domino. I like to wait again 10-15 seconds to continue pouncing - evaporation you know. I continue alternating between pouncing and dry/evaporation time. Sometimes, dryer is better when it comes to AI's. The dryer your AI/felt is the smaller the circles you will create. So you might not get really tiny circles until your felt is almost completely dry.

I know it sounds odd but trust me on this, it really does work. This is one time when practice equals fun! And remember, there is no right or wrong...it's all good!!

Now, back to the domino ~

2. Ink your stamp with desired color of Archival Ink and stamp. IMPORTANT: Do Not Touch the image - IT WILL SMEAR!!! Set it aside and let dry or heat to dry with an embossing/heat gun.

Now, you could quit there and call it good but there is another technique that you can take this process one step further. It's called "Alcohol Resist" which is Tim Holtz's August Challenge. He used this technique on his "Fragments" but it works on any slick surface ~ glass, domino, metal, mica, transparencies, etc.

1. Apply AI's as above - less is better in this case.

2. Stamp the image using Archival Inks (color won't matter here).

3. Quickly with a light touch pounce off the ink with a soft cloth.

4. You can leave as is or over stamp this area with another color of Archival Ink.

And here are the results!

You can apply a very light coat of Acrylic Sealer if desired. I like to apply a coat of Glossy Accents when I'm finished to protect and add shine.

Be sure to check back tomorrow as I'll be sharing more domino ideas!