Welcome to class 7 of our Card Making 201 series! In today’s class, we’re introducing an exciting new technique that uses a common household item you likely already have – bleach! The bleach technique is a creative way to lighten or alter the color of your cardstock, adding a unique touch to your handmade cards. There are several ways to incorporate bleach into your designs, and today we’ll focus on two methods. First, we’ll create a bleach ink pad to use with stamps, and second, we’ll use bleach to color in an embossed image. Get ready to take your card making skills to the next level with this fun technique!
For class 7 of our Card Making 201 series, we’ll use a bleach technique to:
- Create a bleach ink pad for our stamps
- Color in an embossed image
Want to learn more easy techniques to improve your card making? CLICK HERE for our full Card Making 201 series, where we introduce simple techniques and fun new tools to make your handmade cards stand out.
Card Making 201, Class 7
In this video class, I (Jackie, an experienced card maker) teach Jesi (my daughter, a beginner card maker) the bleach technique for a fun creative twist to her handmade cards. We hope that if you’re also a beginner card maker you can learn alongside Jesi and build your knowledge and confidence as she does.
There’s a lot more information shared in the video class than what’s written below. So make sure to give it a watch to learn everything you need to know to bleach your cards confidently!
Bleach Ink Pad
The first bleach technique we did in the video class was creating a bleach ink pad for our stamps. To make this we used a paper plate, paper towels, and no-splash formula bleach. I don’t have a measurement to share with you on how much bleach to use, it’s kind of a trail and error method. In the picture you can see how different amounts of bleach can change the image. But once you have your bleach ink pad made, you ink your stamp in it and stamp on your cardstock like normal! Then give it a few minutes to dry, you’ll see the color of the cardstock change as it dries. Isn’t this bleaching technique neat!!
If you give the bleach ink pad a try, make sure to experiment with different cardstock colors! The bleach reacts with each color differently. I loved how Early Espresso changed to a yellow/gold color and is perfect for stamping leaves. This idea also makes a great masculine card! CLICK HERE for my supply list to make this thinking of you card.
Card Measurements:
- Basic Beige Card Base: 8 1/2″ x 5 1/2″, score at 4 1/4″
- Crumb Cake: 3 3/8″ x 4 5/8″
- Early Espresso: 3 1/4″ x 4 1/2″
Coloring With Bleach Technique
The second bleach technique we did in the video class was coloring an image with bleach. For this technique, we combined our new knowledge of using bleach for card making with what we learned about heat embossing in Class 4 and Blender Pens in Class 2. First, we started by heat embossing our image. This is necessary because the glossiness of the image will not be affected by the bleach! Then, we poured a small amount of bleach into the cap (you can also use a cup or something else) and used a blender pen to pick up the bleach and color the image. If you recall in Class 2, I mentioned how blender pens will eventually dry out. Whenever this happens to me, I’ll designate it as my bleach pen for future use.
Card Measurements:
- Smoky Slate Card Base: 8 1/2″ x 5 1/2″, score at 4 1/4″
- Basic White: 3 5/8″ x 4 7/8″
- Night of Navy: 3 1/2″ x 4 3/4″
CLICK HERE for my supply list to make this thinking of you card.
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Will the bleach damage polymer stamps?
Nope, just give your stamps a good clean afterward!