Black Ice

The recent spate of freezing weather reminded me of the Black Ice technique so I thought I’d share this with you for this week’s DT post.  I’ve even made a quick YouTube video that you can find here.  The Black Ice technique was 'invented' by Melissa Kerman, who has lots of great YouTube videos about it.  It’s a simple technique, with only 3 steps, and minimal supplies.  When I last made Black Ice cards, I used silver foil card so I thought I’d try out coloured foil card this time.

Not all foil card is created equal - have a quick test on a scrap of foil card to check that the foil isn’t going to curl up when you get your heat gun on it.  I used Craft Perfect foil by Tonic Studios and it worked fine.   The ink pad must be suitable for use on a non-porous surface so I usually use Stazon.  I know that some people don’t like to use Stazon with photopolymer stamps so I did make one card using Ranger Archival Ink in Jet Black instead, which also worked.  For Step 1, I applied some temporary adhesive to the back of my foil card and then dragged the edge of my black ink pad across the foil panel.  I was after a light, streaky, antiqued  finish and had a little practice on my scrap paper so I could determine how much pressure to use.  A particularly juicy ink pad is not your friend here as you won’t have much control over how much ink is put down.

Moving on to Step 2, I stamped the images from Erika's Maple all over the panel using Stazon.  This can be a little tricky as, with the slick surface of the foil, the stamp can slide.  I also like to cut my panel slightly longer than is needed so this section can be used as a handle.

Step 3 requires the inked panels to be totally dry.  If in doubt, give it a little blast with a heat gun.  Going in the same direction as the dragged Stazon, I dragged my Versamark ink pad across the whole panel then added clear embossing powder and heat set. 

This stage is quite forgiving as if you, add too much ink, you can brush off some of the embossing powder before heat setting.  Or alternatively, if you don’t add enough ink, you can add clear embossing powder and heat set then repeat the process.  I like my panels to not be completely covered so that it looks like lines of ice crystals.

Since the whole point of this process is the finished panel, I opted for a sentiment on vellum so that the foil would still show through.  I gold heat-embossed the sentiment and then tore the edges for a rustic finish.

The downside with vellum is that it’s tricky to attach invisibly so I wrapped my strip around the panel and adhered to the back.

After mounting on a square of black card, the panel was attached to a 5¾” square card blank.

As well as using Erika’s Maple, I also tried out the technique to make underwater scenes using Create Your Calm and Dare To Swim.  I do think it’s a great technique for watery cards.

As you can see, I had a lot of fun playing with this technique.  The green card in the centre is the one I made using Archival Ink rather than Stazon.

I hope you’ll have a go at this technique, it’s great fun and results in beautiful, unique cards!

EDIT: The brand new release went live just after this post was published so I've now added a couple of extra black ince cards, made using the new Grunge Birthday Words and Best Birthday Ever.  Just goes to show that this technique is so versatile!