Inks on Vilene with Foil Experiments

Winsor & Newton Inks on Vilene with foil

Pigmented inks on Vilene with foil

At Hobby Lobby last week, I bought a set of Winsor & Newton drawing inks with the 40%-off coupon. Quite a bargain! I also cruised down the clearance aisle and got several bottles of pigmented acrylic Speedball inks for about 75% off the original price.

I took a strip of Vilene and painted on the inks. I think the inks might "go farther" formulated as a color wash and sprayed on--that's for another experiment ...

The pigmented inks are thicker and opaque. They go on more like paint. The Winsor & Newton inks are transluscent and feel thinner.

I wanted to try the Vilene that Carol and Lynda blog about. [Thanks, you two, for the encouragement and support in these explorations! Your work is an inspiration!] I finally found some Vilene in the US at Joggles. How to describe it? It's kind of like a thinner PelTex without the fusible. The Vilene is pourous and nonwoven, as the inks can soak through to the back side (and to your work surface). It's a stabilizer, I guess, with more of a fabric feel than plastic.

I also wanted to try my collection of inks with various foils. Since my Vilene was not the fusible kind, I added a layer of Misty Fuse over the inks. I wanted to get an idea of what ink colors with foil would be worth doing on a larger scale.

Nice combinations that may be worth pursuing on a larger scale :
From the Winsor & Newton Inks Sample :

Brilliant Green with patchy Bronze
Ultramarine with Blue or Purple Foil
Sunshine Yellow with yellow and green and red foils
Brilliant Green with almost any color foil
Black with any color Foil
Purple with gold foil or bronze foil

From the Pigmented Inks Sample :

Calli Brown with Bronze
Deep Purple with Bronze
Teal Green and Gold or Yellow
Deep Purple with Warm Foils (red orange
Teal Green
Black with any color foil

Some surprises :
The used foil with patchier coverage gave me more of the look I was after. Just a hint of gilding instead of an all-over solid metal look.

The outline of a lizard appeared after I foiled it in another test piece. I wasn't thinking I'd have 2 lizards for the price of 1!

Peat Brown was kind of a dud with the gold and bronze foils, but did well with the colored foils.