Christmas Bister

Posted: June 29, 2015 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Before the Snow, Bister, CAS, Stamped Landscapes | Tags: Bister, Fabriano Watercolour Paper, Penny Black stamps | 22 Comments

I know it is odd for me to throw a Christmas card up on the blog in June but I had to pair the green and blue bister powders with the beautiful ‘Before the Snow’ tree stamp. After watching the way the bister powders reacted in water I wanted to see if I could stamp an image with water then drop some powder onto the watery image. It took a bit of fiddling around, several re-stampings and a paintbrush for some extra shaping but my experiment did work and I will keep playing with the technique.

I had splattered my watercolour panel with masking fluid in advance so I would have flecks of snow. The powders created pretty blues and greens that I was not able to match with one ink pad so I stamped my sentiment twice first in green then in blue and ended up with a suitable match.

Don’t worry I’m not switching to winter stamping; I’ll be back with bright summery images soon!

Supplies:
Stamps: Before the Snow, Season’s Wishes (PB)
Inks: Versafine Majestic Blue & Spanish Moss (Tsukineko) Blue and Green bister powders
Cardstock: Fabriano 100% cotton hot pressed watercolour paper & Green card
Also: Winsor & Newton Masking Fluid

A Bit of Bister

Posted: June 25, 2015 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Bister, Flower sparks | Tags: Bister, CAS, Penny Black stamps | 12 Comments

I have another card for you made from my beginner bister experiments. The panel above, cut from a larger piece, was made by first spritzing water on cold pressed watercolour paper then dropping bister powders onto the dampened paper. I have yet to try other types of paper but I would definitely recommend the texture of cold pressed paper with bister because the liquids settle into the grooves making little patterns of more intense colour.

I chose the Queen Anne’s lace stamps from the flower sparks set as they were perfect for stamping over the bister. I was able to position the stems and flower heads to make the most of random patterns.

Thanks for dropping by. More bister bits & pieces to come!

Supplies:

Stamps: Flower Sparks, Snippets (Penny Black)
Inks: Versafine Onyx Black, (Tsukineko) Bister pigment powders
Cardstock: Canson cold pressed watercolour paper, Fabriano hot pressed watercolour paper

A Burst of Bister

Posted: June 24, 2015 | Author: Heather | Filed under: Bister, Poppy Time | Tags: Bister, Kuretake Zig clean color real brush markers, Penny Black stamps | 12 Comments

This is my first creation using bister. A friend shared her set of powders with me a week ago and I made several panels exploding with colour and have turned only one into a card. When I was experimenting with the pigment powders I stamped the large ‘Poppy Time’ stamp on a couple of pieces of cold pressed watercolour paper and left two more pieces blank. I then spritzed water on the panels and started dropping bister into the water using a very very small paintbrush. Because I had poppies already stamped on two panels I tried to drop bister colours in appropriate areas. On the blank panels I was more random with the powders and I ended up liking those panels better. I have my own set of powders now and I am looking forward to trying some more techniques.

I did learn that it is best to walk away and let the pigments powders do their magic. It helps to have a packet of Honey & Dijon mustard chips on hand to distract you at that point. To turn the panel above into a card I used a couple of my zig clean colour real brush markers to add extra colour to the stamped images. I trimmed the panel and attached it to a card base with two strips of co-ordinating card stock.

Supplies:

Stamps: Poppy Time (Penny Black)
Inks: Versafine Onyx Black (Tsukineko), Bister pigment powders
Cardstock: Canson cold pressed watercolour paper
Also: Zig clean color real brush markers