Blending the Wheel – Altenew Class Layering 2

Layering Class 2 – Altenew

Hello Friends!

I am working my way through my classes and in the second layering class, I had an idea that I haven’t done in a long while. Breaking it down simply is I blend the inks on the stamp. I thought how fun it would be to layer the blending. The secret is that you need to find colors that are far enough apart on a color wheel, but usually on the same side. What I mean by that is you really need to try and keep warm colors together and cooler colors together.

I used red and yellow in this example to create a layer of orange that would blend the layers of inks. Notice there is space between red and yellow on this color wheel. (This s a super basic color wheel so imagine if we had more colors between yellow and red.)

Different kinds of yellows will respond with different reds in fun way. Take a moment to look at all the fun you can have with layering colors, using a more complete color wheel.


Now you can image, with all those colors of ink that Altenew offers. I love that the inks are so subtle in change, yet so varied. Think of these inks as paints you can blend!

Moving on, You will note my card is on a green base with some green baubles on it. The reason I chose to use a yellow green is, that it is opposite red, (the primary color of my card image) on the color wheel. I use this yellow green because yellow is a primary blending color on this card. The yellow in the green of the base card is supported because I used yellow with red to make that yellow-orange blend.

The idea of layering isn’t just putting down ink colors on top of each other, but there is an art to it. Choosing a color scheme that makes sense will make our layered ink cards so much more beautiful. For some artist this is absolutely a natural ability for others it’s not that easy. I have found that understanding why I chose a color can help others make the choice easier.

Be patient – the ink needs to settle on the paper to complete the blending.

How I blended the inks is simple:

  1. Put the lighter colored ink (Yellow) on the center of stamp out almost to the edge.
  2. Add the darker ink (Red) around the edges and moving inward a bit.
  3. Using a wet baby wipe or wet paper towel, dab the hard edges made by ink pads
  4. Stamp image (usually best if you use a stamping platform)
  5. If you need to repeat, clean stamp between stamping image

The best part of using the Altenew stamps is the number of layers. I repeated the process on the next layer with inks that were slightly darker (creates great shadows).

The third layer, I used a darker red to be sure there was enough definition and to give the flower a defined overall color.

It is amazing the things that taking classes can bring back. I love the way this card came out. Let me know what you think below.

Blessings!

Erika

Yellow blended outward and created a smooth look on the parrot tulip.

2 thoughts on “Blending the Wheel – Altenew Class Layering 2

  1. Golda February 24, 2021 / 3:24 pm

    This is a beautiful card. I love your explanation of the blending of the inks and the choice of your bauble color. It is clearly defined and makes it easy to understand.

  2. Erum Tasneem February 25, 2021 / 3:46 pm

    I love those off the edge leaves, I often do that as well. I also like that additional stamping in the background. Cool card!
    Thank you for submitting your wonderful work to the AECP assignment gallery.

Leave a Reply