Bokeh With Alcohol Inks

Hi Everyone! Welcome to my blog. I hope you are having a nice day. The bokeh technique has taken off lately and I tried a new spin on it. I started off by doing the polished stone technique with alcohol inks on glossy card stock. I used Currant, Slate and Denim alcohol inks. I spritzed the felt with 91% alcohol (or you can use Ranger blending solution) and tapped the applicator all over the card stock. It is best to make several layers of ink on the card stock, because when you start lifting off color the bokeh is more distinct as you will see.

Here is the finished polished stone background.

Now take your stencil and lay it where you want on your background. I found that larger simple designs work better with this. Use a small finger dauber sponge and spritz some alcohol on your craft sheet. Rub the dauber in the alcohol and blot it a little on a cloth. Hold the stencil down very firmly with your hand. Now rub the dauber LIGHTLY around in the circle stencil. If you press too hard alcohol will run under the stencil. I found that rubbing around in one direction and then the other worked best.

You will begin to see the circles turning whiter because the color is being lifted off by the alcohol. That is why you need several layers of the alcohol ink on the card stock to start with. Some of the color will move to the edges of the circle to form a distinct edge.

Here is the finished bokeh background. I really love the look of this!

This is the card I made with the background. It is SO hard for me not to add loads of things to my card. I made this one simple so that you can see the bokeh background. 

I hope you will have fun making some of your own backgrounds this way. I hope you have a wonderful day!