Faux Brushed Metal Pansies

Aloha,

Fortuitous ink pad experimentation led to the look of brushed metal cardstock without the monetary investment in this card, inspired by the Altenew course Irresistible Inking Techniques.

This trio of purple pansies from Altenew’s Simply the Best stamp set features three treatments of faux brushed metal cardstock. To create brushed lines on cardstock, swipe the ink pad down the surface of the stamp prior to impressing the stamp onto paper. Sweeping the ink pad in this manner results in fine, inked channels rather than the typical pouncing technique for even coverage.

The posies were stamped in Altenew’s Maple Yellow and their purple hues of Wisteria, Ultraviolet, and Andromeda. Each flower was brushed in a different way. One features the single-direction swiping technique and was layered with all with the brushed directions matching, which created the look of a single sheet of brushed metal cardstock printed with a pansy. The second flower was brushed with a cross hatched look. The ink was stamped in two passes, first with vertical swiping, then with horizontal on each successive layer. Because of the double stamping, this pansy’s color is more even and the texture of the stamping more subtle. For the final blossom, each layer was stamped with swiping in a different direction. The base layer features vertical swiping, the second layer has horizontal swiping, the third layer was swept diagonally from left to right, and the fourth layer diagonally front right to left. Though all the flowers consist of a single layer, this flower variation in particular causes the eye to question how many layers were used.

The card’s background is yet another example of brushed metal inking. To achieve even coverage across a card-front sized sheet of paper without the benefit of a stamp, Altenew’s Almond Butter was swiped vertically on a silicone mat. Then, the cardstock was pressed onto the mat and rubbed for even ink transfer while applying pressure with the opposing hand to hold the paper in place. To add more warmth to the resulting background, Almond Butter was blended onto the paper with a blending brush. This filled in any remaining white space and intensified the color while maintaining the brushed metal texture.

These flowers were fussy cut by hand and arranged in slight curve from the lower left to upper right portion of the card front. The “you are in my prayers” sentiment from Altenew’s Wildflower Garden stamp set was stamped on the upper left in Andromeda ink, the same color used for the darkest pansy layer. The sentiment almost appears to be nestled among an implied ring of flowers.

Mahalo!