Black Emboss Resist & Easy Faux Bleach (With NO bleach)

I love the look of emboss resist with black, but until now the black always looked purple. (I was doing it on glossy paper with classic ink.) If you use Naturals White cardstock and black ink you get a truer black. If you want more of an ultra-dark brown look to it, just use Craft ink.

I wanted to try bleaching with this stamp, but I don't use bleach anymore since I found out how bad it is for people and the environment. (It contains dioxin which is one of the worst toxic substances known and is a carcinogenic.) So, I decided to try faux bleaching.

Advantages to Faux Bleaching:

A) You have much more control over the lightening process: you can add more or less ink & repeat layers of white ink until you get the results you like. You get lovely grey tones too.
B) There's one of the browning of your image that happens with bleach & cardstock (unless you add brown to your White Craft ink to get that look on purpose.)
C) No bleach fumes, no headaches or other side effects & no pollution.
D) No wear & tear on your paintbrushes.
E) Your work stays acid free.

All you do is Paint over the dark colour with White craft ink! (Also known as pigment ink.)

Close-up of faux bleach with White Craft ink

Steps to making this Faux Bleach card:

1...Stamp Riot of Petals background in Versamark ink onto Naturals White cardstock.
2...Emboss it with clear embossing powder.
3...Sponge over black ink &...Allow to dry. (Heatgun if desired.)
4...Use an aqua painter (or a paint brush) to paint on White Craft ink (or pigment.)
5...to get a very faint look, just blot off areas as you go (that's how I did the leaves.)

Edited to Add: There's an easier way too:

1. Just stamp on Black cardstock in white craft ink (aka pigment ink)
2. Emboss in clear embossing powder
3. And paint with a wash of White craft ink

And that's it!!! You can also colour over with pastels after.

:0)
Mel

P.S. Here's another version of faux bleaching where the stamping image looks bleached instead of the inside of a line image. (It's a lot like batik.) I found it on Rubber Road Adventures (<--Can't wait to browse that technique site more.)