The Smell of Ink

As part of the Wanderlust 2017 classes we get prompts for our Wanderlust book. The latest one told us to finish the following sentence: "I treasure this memory from childhood, the smell of ....."  The first thing I thought of was the smell of ink. An ink pen was how I learned to write and I still love the smell of it. Some magazines arrive and the first thing I do is stick my nose in them to breathe in that smell. And fountain pens have become the rage again all of a sudden. I bought one and it reminded me so much of my student days, scribbling notes down as quickly as possible using a pen filled with red ink!

These pages were done in Finnabair's Mixed Media Journal on some of the craft pages it contains. I gessoed them first though, so started on a more or less white background. Then I collaged on some images mainly coming from collage sheets by Alpha Stamps about the alphabet combined with the inside of an envelope as well as other ephemera. I also obtained the rubber stamps of ink pots and pens from Alpha Stamps.

Colour came next using acrylic paint and Distress Crayons combined with S309 Juxta Pose stencil from StencilGirl Products.  The focal point words come from the medium stencil  in the November 2015 Stencilgirl Club, designed by Seth Apter. The word WRITE on the left hand page was stamped using the alphabet set designed by Everything Art for PaperArtsy.

 Finally I sprayed through the Juxtapose stencil  with gold mica Precious Pearls. With my fountain pen I wrote the words: The Smell of Ink, on the side of the page. The postage stamps in matching colours were the final addition to this spread. I just can't help myself.