Collage fodder and mark making with black sumi ink and acrylic markers, plus a cool packaging tape trick!

Below, I experimented with black sumi ink applied with a bamboo reed pen.  I just wanted to do some mark making with black lines to collage into future artwork and/or junk journaling.

The first one is made on top of a gessoed oil pastel drawing with lots of scratchy lines. I applied the oil pastels over a scribbly and random design made from a black sharpie. I created two layers in the oil pastels, which I then scratched into. I added water to the oil pastels to spread them out like paint, then covered with gesso. Once dry, I added my sumi ink line design, which was really satisfying, I might add. I found myself going into a “flow” with this one. I noticed when I added my ink with a bamboo reed pen that it scratched some of the gesso, too, which revealed more of the oil pastel color underneath for a double scratchy effect. I spritzed it with water so the ink bled a little, then added some gold shimmer spray.

The second one I made from black sumi ink and distressed and shimmer sprays overtop of a manilla folder, then spritzed with water. It started off as an under paper that ended up with a few unintentional marks that I found intriguing, so I continued adding to them. This one felt satisfying, too, although not as much as the first.

The 3rd is black sumi ink applied to dried awagami paper that was wadded into a ball, dipped in water, squeezed out, and then spritzed with acrylic ink. I blotted out some of the lines with a paper towell to give it a lighter, softer effect. I also spritzed it with gold shimmer spray. #4 is the reverse side of the same awagami paper, which I think looked just as cool, if not better.

#5 is black sumi ink applied on white tissue paper, spritzed with water, and sprayed with a gold shimmer spray. #6 is the same, except it was made on the wrapper tissue paper, which holds all the others and has some kind of labeling and barcodes. I thought the extra text, black rectangle, and barcode ended up making it look cool. #7 is another piece of white tissue paper with spritzed black sumi ink and gold shimmer spray.

#8 and #9 are made from simplified zentangles with spritzed sumi ink added. #8 was made with black sharpie, water soluable crayons, white wax resist crayon, black sumi ink, and gold shimmer spray. #9 was made with black sharpie, crayons, and spritzed sumi ink. I really thought the sumi ink over crayon was a cool effect.

Below, I experimented with a thick, black, acrylic ink marker. I like how the color came on transparent and also how sometimes it left little streaks of line, but overall, I liked the sumi ink better.  The first one is on tissue paper. The 2nd is on a coffee stained window advertisement left in our mail box–the back side. The 3rd is on a gelli print that was a little bit lack luster. 

Below, is a cool way to clean up your gelli plate using clear packaging tape, and it makes cool collage fodder, too! I’m telling you that nothing I tried pulled up the remaining acrylic paint on my gelli plate no matter how many new prints I made; there were several layers that wouldn’t come up! Then I remembered something I saw in one of the videos I watched where she took packaging tape and pulled up her  print that way. I forget where I saw this, but I decided that it might solve my problem of not being able to get my paint up. Well, it took 75% of the paint up, but enough to make cleaning my gelli plate much easier! I then sandwiched it in between another piece of packaging tape. Below are the strips, featuring both sides, taken from the same leftover paint on my gelli plate. The last 2 are closeups of what the texture looks like. This is the ultimate grudge look, in my opinion, with that distressed, chipped paint look. It could be all the alcohol I poured on my paint and gelli plate the other day, which led to that cracked appearance. I think they would make cool printables.

My favorite in this series is #1. It’s not necessarily pretty, but it is captivating. It seems to express something deep within which compels me to want to explore it further, maybe write about it. Most of these collage papers are going to be applied to my grief junk journal, which I am making to process my own grief with various losses, but also as an example as I lead others in my next Psalms 102 workshop to create their own grief junk journals. These collage papers could become art pieces themselves, background pages to add to, folders, pockets, tags, cards, or embellishments. I’m excited about the idea, and not only have I been making papers, but I also have been gathering supplies and ideas.