Peacock Feathers

I decided to try a couple of methods for colouring a peacock feather stamp, my first experiment with the ‘Feathers’ set from Darkroom Door. I look forward to trying all of them eventually but the gorgeous colours of the peacock feather prompted me to pick that one first.The colouring on this first card was zig clean colour real brush markers directly on the stamp. I used the stamping platform so I could add one colour at a time. I blended the centre a little with a brush to get solid colour then spritzed the stamp with interference gold pearl-ex spray and stamped over the marker image. This gave everything a little shimmer and blended the colours into each other a bit. My pearl-ex spray is homemade; I add a small amount (about 1/8 tsp into a small spritzer filled with water). I stamped ‘thanks’ over the feather with majestic blue versafine then embossed with clear powder. The border panel looks black but is actually blue to co-ordinate with the centre of the feather and the sentiment.

My second colouring method was brusho. I spritzed the stamp with the same gold pearl-ex spray then stamped on hot pressed watercolour paper. I dropped a tiny amount of ultramarine brusho at the top of the feather, also a little turquoise then olive green down the shaft of the feather then stamped again to activate the brusho with pearl-ex spray. I embossed a birthday sentiment in gold and framed the panel in gold shimmer cardstock.

My final colouring method was with Sakura Koi colouring brush pens. I kept the stamp in the stamping platform so I could ink then stamp a colour at a time. The Sakura pens are very bright so I thought they were a good match for the gorgeous colours of peacock feathers.

Once again I stamped the colours one or two at a time so I could keep the centre of the feather distinct. Once I had stamped both feathers I spritzed the gold pearl-ex spray over the whole panel which ended up doing two things: the barbs softened to look a little ‘hairy’ and the droplets of spray created a pattern of watermarks over the ‘eye’ of the feather.

I ended up using majestic blue versafine ink again to add a sentiment from ‘botanical script’ set and cut a mat  in the same colour. This card also has a slight shimmer to it so I added a gold cord for a finishing touch.

Supplies

Stamps: Happy Birthday, Thank you, Feathers, Botanical Script

Inks: Versamark, Majestic Blue Versafine

Markers:  Zig clean color real brush markers, Koi Coloring Brush Pens

Paint: Brusho (ultramarine, turquoise, olive green)

Paper: hot pressed watercolour paper, blue cardstock, gold shimmer cardstock

Also: stamping platform, gold embossing powder, clear embossing powder, gold cord, pearl-ex interference gold spray