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Make your own background Using Interference Paints

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Oriental trends have hit the craft industry big time over the last few years, and today I want to share with you this beautiful Kimono card which incorporates this beautiful Eastern style with another fun technique using the Daler-Rowney shimmering paints for acrylic.

This card is probably one of the simplest ones I have ever made, as in reality it is merely peel off stickers, but it is the background that gives this card it’s beauty and appeal which is why so many people are drawn to this card. So here is how it is made.

Did you notice the texture of the background? And do you perhaps recognize what it is? Here’s the secret… it is simply a piece of kitchen roll (a paper towel).  Using black acrylic, paint the entire surface of a piece of kitchen roll. You may need to take your time doing this, as if you are too hasty, the brush can rip through the paper towel especially as it will weaken when wet. As this dries it will harden the paper towel and it will feel thicker and will be more a much stronger surface to work with. Next for the fun bit – grab the paper towel and crumple it up into a ball.  Squeeze it tightly and then open the paper out flat again but do not make an effort to flatted out the creases. Squeeze some interference paint unto a flat surface – either a plate or sometimes I use a leftover piece of acetate from stickers or rub ons so I can just throw it straight in the bin and not have to worry about ruining my good dinner set.  Tap a sponge into the paint and then gently tap this over the scrumpled piece of kitchen roll.  By tapping the paper gently, the paint will stick the creases but not to all of the paper, giving a wonderful almost-marbled effect.  Once again, leave to dry.  To make the paper flat again, iron the paper between two pieces of greaseproof paper.  

Now the paper is flat, you can use it just in the same way as you would use any patterned paper.  For my card, I stuck this on the inside of a card and placed a pagoda peel off paper on top.  The pearlescent red lines on the background paper looks beautiful, almost like a sunset.  I also took a kimono peel off sticker and placed this unto the paper and highlighted the design by using the interference paints, then cut around the peel off design.  Et Voilà, a beautiful and easy peasy technique to make your own patterned paper for your card making and scrapbooking.  You can of course use normal paper for this technique too, but remember that if you wish to use the interference paints, you will need to use black paper, or paint it black first of all.

TIP: Instead of using paints to highlight the creases, why not try using an ink pad. This works great with distress inks by Ranger to give a fantastic ancient distressed look.

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  • Gail January 22, 2009, 9:14 am

    This is absolutely stunning!!!..I can’t wait to try my hand at this..one (silly ) question..what is interference paint?..i have a lot of acrylic paints..but not sure what that is..thanks for a awesome tut…loves ya Gail

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