Masking two ways

Masking Unleashed

My final class in the Altenew Educator Program, Level 2 is Masking Unleashed. And Unleashed it was! The instructor had some different ways of masking and I was inspired to try positive and negative masking. Positive masking is using a mask of a specific image to cover that image so you can stamp or color around it. Negative masking is using the negative space so you can color inside a stamp or die cut. I wanted to try both of these to see how they worked out. I have two cards for you today using both of these masking techniques. Both cards use Altenew Blooming Bouquet stamp set which is a great floral image perfect for coloring with any medium. I recently purchased the Altenew Watercolor Brush markers and I have been looking forward to trying them out. Please read on for how I put together these two cards.

Masking images

Positive Masked Card
For the positive masked card, I first stamped the hello from the stamp set onto a piece of Tim Holtz watercolor paper using Gina K black amalgam ink. I then used Versamark ink to stamp the hello and then used clear embossing powder over the sentiment. I cut out the hello from masking paper and burnished it over the embossed hello. Using the same amalgam ink, I stamped the large floral image over the hello and also heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. This card is now ready for some watercolor.

Negative Masked Card
For the negative masked card, I took letters: H A P Y from Altenew Bold Alpha die set and lined them up on a piece of masking paper to spell HAPPY. I cut those dies out of masking paper and then adhered the mask to a piece of Tim Holtz watercolor paper. I had to keep the middle of the p and a as well. I then used the smaller images from the stamp set and placed them onto the letters. I stamped the first images and then had to mask them before stamping another set of images. I didn’t heat emboss these images because I was unsure the mask was going to stay in place given Versamark and embossing powder. With Gina K amalgam ink, it can be used with watercolor as well as copic markers. Before removing the mask, I lightly traced the inside of each letter to help me determine the outside shape of each letter. This card is now ready for watercolor.

Watercoloring

For both cards, I used Altenew’s watercolor brush set. Altenew has two sets of watercolor brushes , spring garden and winter wonderland. I swatched out the colors first so I knew what they would look like. The colors are really intense so I laid down a bit of color and then used a water brush to pull the color out and move it around the image. I work on a Tim Holtz glass mat that has a palette on the side. For some of the smaller areas, I squeezed the color onto the palette and picked up the color from there. I like these markers and they make watercolor really easy. Be mindful of the intense pigment. At least in watercolor, you can use a paper towel to pick up color off the image. After the images dried, I used colored pencils to add some shading and details.

Card Assembly

For the positive masked card, the sentiment was already present; the panel just needed some embellishments. I trimmed the panel to 3 3/4” tall and used a gold leafing marker to add a thin line of gold to the top and bottom of the panel. I then adhered the panel to a piece of fun foam to add even dimension to the panel. For a final touch, I add Nuvo drops in gold to various spots around the images. This card is now ready to make someone’s day.

The negative masked card needed the letters to stand out more so I used an 03 micron pen to add lines and shading to the letters. To finish the sentiment, I stamped birthday in Gina K amalgam ink using Concord & 9th Perfectly Penned stamp set which is a set of scripts letters that connect to give the appearance of script writing. Unfortunately it is hard to heat emboss with this set as you need to stamp each letter individually. After stamping birthday, I traced over the letters with a Versamarker and used clear embossing powder on the letters to give some shine.

Thank you for visiting and I hope you are inspired to try different masking techniques on your cards. Please let me know in the comments below which card you like, the positive or negatively masked card. Thank you for joining me on this journey with the Altenew Educator's program and if you have any questions about the program, please contact me. Have a crafty day!