Some alcohol ink backgrounds

I took the time today to do some "art retreating" but at HOME rather than at an official art retreat, as per a new Yahoo group I belong to - HomeArtRetreats. Pretty obvious name, I guess!

Anyway, I thought I would post the two pieces of background paper I am so far most happy with. The other two pieces need more work, so they are not finished. I may decide to scan them before going further, though - for interest. The one to the left is version A.

Basically what I did with this was follow the instructions on the back of the Tim Holtz Adirondack Alcohol inks set I purchased recently. The technique was called polished stone, or the polished stone effect. I used a non-porous craft sheet as my "palette" and used the bottles of ink themselves as the primary way to spread the color around.

I used wild plum, pearl, copper, and stream (the blue) for my colors. After I put them on the craft sheet, I kind of moved them around a bit with a cotton ball saturated with rubbing alcohol. Then I laid a 4.25 x5.5 inch sheet of glossy card stock over the ink, twisted the paper, and lifted it. I returned it to the ink until the whole sheet was covered, and used the cotton ball as a dabber to finish up the edges if I felt I needed more ink there.

The second sheet I finished is pretty close to being a matching sheet, so I am sending the set to a Yahoo group buddy (the Creative Junction group) who should enjoy using them to make cards.