Paper Towels
Tupperware type containers
Chlorine Bleach
Vinegar
Water
Various black papers
Inks and Stamps (as described below)
Rectangular (brick shaped) sponge made of a dense foam
This procedure is easy and simple, but do protect your work surface from accidental drops of bleach, and wear protective latex gloves if you like.
Put folded paper towels in the bottom of a couple of plastic dishes large enough to accomodate the end of your sponge. Pour chlorine bleach into one of the containers to soak the towel.
Mix a solution of one part vinegar and two parts water and pour it onto the towel in the second container.
We used Arches Cover for our Wild Horse piece and a textured handmade paper for the leaves and “Primitive Man”. The Arches yielded a beautiful cool khaki and the handmade paper gave us a warm adobe color.
Tap the end of your sponge onto the bleach soaked towel until you see that it has soaked up some of the bleach. Then “stamp” the sponge onto the paper repeatedly, shaping a rectangular window on your paper. When finished, wash out your sponge so you will be able to use it for your neutralizer.
The next step is to watch and wait while the paper lightens. When it has reached a color that you like, apply the vinegar solution in the same manner as you did the bleach, and let the paper dry.
Now, you are ready to use the “blank canvas” you have created.
Wild Horse Canyon:
We stamped the horse (available from Cre8it) with black Memories Ink and Copper pigment ink, embossing the latter with copper embossing powder.
The Stand Out:
We have both sizes of the triple leaf stamp by Rubber Stampede and used the large one to stamp in black Memories ink. Then, as an embellishment, we stamped the smaller version on tan paper with Ranger’s Cabin Fever rainbow dye ink pad. We cut out the largest leaf, scored and shaped the middle and mounted it on the piece for accent.
Primitive Man:
Sherrill Kahn’s petroglyph images were stamped with black Memories.
Bleach and Ink on Handmade Paper
Stamps by Sherrill Kahn, www.impressmenow.com
We are crazy about double-depth, keynote mats. They are usually white or off white and the bevel is twice as thick as on regular mats. The “keynote” refers to the fact that the window is usually much smaller than the mat, so the art is highlighted and given much more “presence” than if it were matted normally. For example, a 5"x7" piece of art might be matted in a 16"x20" mat.
If the bevel is white, the mat is called a “Museum Mat” and if the bevel is black, a “Presentation Mat”. These bleach pieces look wonderful “floated” in a presentation mat against a cream or khaki background. Our samples are matted that way, but we have not inlcuded the white mat area in the interest of saving space.
We find these mats at our local fine art supply store, or order them from Dick Blick. Michael’s has also started to carry a few “Museum Mats”.
