Process Notes
Supplies
Adirondack inks by ranger. Can be bought at good craft stores.
Disposable gloves.
Tools for inking. Most people use felt stamps, I used cotton pads and brushes but anything that dabs ink and gives you a good pattern.
Yupo paper. A plastic paper that becomes your canvas
IceResin. I used a 2 part resin that is mixed 1:1 that is self doming, low toxicity and of a jewellery grade.
Torch for releasing bubbles. (Note Heat guns blow the resin and disturb the surface tension resulting in a flat thin cover)
Acetone & isopropyl for cleanup
And lastly a clean environment for curing and dust free coating.
Process Notes and pics
Clean yupo paper with isopropyl alcohol to remove dirt and oils.
The layers are up to you and unless you use a mixative like I did, you can just wipe and start again if it gets out of hand.
I practised on a gloss white ba
throom tile before making the actual panels.
Lay down a base colour (I used ink plus a pearl mixative). This seems to lay a stable base for the patterns I wanted to achieve. It's not completely necessary to use the mixative, you can start with the inks.
Add your pattern and your colour combo in which ever method suits you. My technique was to randomly put drops on the sheet and then dab to get the marbling effect.
A quick well written tutorial is this one and of course a myriad of YouTube videos.
Learn about Alcohol Inks - Tutorials, color charts, combinations, domino art, projects, polymer clay and more with Adirondack by Tim Holtz
I waited for each layer to dry (10-15 mins) but it's not necessary if you want blended colours. The inks still do and go wherever they want to. Once happy with the panel sheet I left overnight for the inks to completely set.
Punch the hole for the firing button but keep the circle to make matching buttons. Then, using the existing panels as a template, cut the yupo sheets to size and nip the corners. The resin and yupo is still flexible for about a day (weather dependent) and can be cut with scissors. This will give you a sharp edge so I chose to cut beforehand and get the pillow type soft edge.
The resin I used is mixed 1:1 and then carefully poured over the panels. A flat tablespoon of each part for a single panel. Slightly drizzle to the corners to get a pillow look to the edge. A word of caution. If you push and prod the resin it will disturb your ink pattern so let the resin do its doming with as little interference as possible.
I found the resin dipping at the thinnest point to the right of the button hole but in a happy coincidence the dip falls under my thumb so is perfect for me. A heavier grade of yupo paper will alleviate this. You can the doming effect on the button. It sits slightly higher than the panel but has a lovely tactile feel.
Button and dipping resin issue
Let sit for about 5-10 mins and let the bubbles come to the surface. Waft a butane torch over them to release. The yupo will melt if you are heavy handed and will set fire to the resin if you are too eager. Ask me how I know that.
Cover or leave in a dust free environment overnight. At this point the panel is still flexible and any drips can be trimmed away. I backed with masking tape to catch any excess and just removed that. Another couple of days and the panel is hard. Because of the doming effect of the resin on thinner yupo paper you may get some curl. I weighted them lightly without any impact on the resin.
The panels are attached to the Billet box using 3m super sticky double sided glue tape. I was cautious about using a permanent solution but the glue is up to you. The yupo has a semi gloss finish so the glue chosen has to work on mixed media and non porous surfaces.
Before I forget, the yupo paper is white so eill show through on the edges. I run a black sharpie round the edges of both the panels and buttons.mm Or you can use any colour you want.
it is early days but the resin will continue to harden, can be sanded and buffed/polished if it needs it and also this particular resin is self repairing so additional coats can be applied if necessary.
I thought Vaping was addictive but this is extremely satisfying and easy to do. The inks have a mind of their own and I discovered the hard part is to stop tinkering with a piece.
These inks are so versatile........you can even paint with fire (on tiles) to get some great patterns.
