Hot Off the Printer

You don’t want your techniques to be the focus of your work. You want them to be mysteries that add to the overall aesthetic. After all, if the audience can’t tell how you did it, you must be a professional!

TECHNIQUE ONE: Shine It

Printed aluminum foil lends a bit of bling and mystery.

Step 1

Brush one to two coats of Golden Digital Ground or Inkaid onto aluminum foil.

Step 2

Let the ground dry.

Step 3

Attach foil to a carrier sheet for your inkjet printer—cut it a bit smaller than the copy paper and tape the edges down.

Step 4

Print your image onto the foil and let it dry.

Step 5

Spray the printed foil with a workable fixative.

Step 6

Glue the piece to a surface of your choicewith matte soft gel.

Step 7

Finish your artwork as desired.

MODERN MADONNA

Darlene Olivia McElroy

TECHNIQUE TWO: Make It Talk

Add another layer to your imagery by printing directly on book pages. I especially love images printed on architectural book pages. If your paper is slick, follow steps 1 and 2 from Shine It (Technique One); you‘ll be painting the Digital Ground or Inkaid on book pages instead of foil.

STRONG MAN MYTH

Darlene Olivia McElroy

TECHNIQUE THREE:Make an Image Salad

Put a grouping of images or objects—both 2-D and 3-D—on your scanner bed and print (if you have a 3-in-1 printer/scanner), or scan the grouping and then bring the scan into a photo-editing program. Then print it out. Rearrange the objects, and create another image or print.

SOUND FLIGHT

Darlene Olivia McElroy