For Want of a Black Line

Okay, okay, just one more. So I had this idea to stamp the Hero Arts Lattice background (sorry, Jackie) on black and clear-emboss it so there were black lines! Yeah! Cool! Um, maybe not. You see, black absorbs all color, so you see ... nothing. Well, you see black. I was stumped, but I played.  This is what I tried.

Starting with a die-cut black piece, I stamped the Lattice in Versamark and clear-embossed it. Then I used acrylic paint dabbers in aqua and pearl:

This has possibilities. (The die-cut shape is Nestabilities Labels 11, in case you're wondering.)

Next, on another die-cut piece of black with the clear-embossed Lattice bg, I tried my pearlized Distress sprays I made in my mini misters (distress reinker + water + white perfect pearls, shaken, not stirred*):

Do you see what's missing here? COLOR! It's as if all the color soaked into the card stock and all that's left to see is the pearl part. It's real purty and all, but ... I wanted color! I dried it and spritzed again, thinking the dried layer would support a second color layer - still nuthin'.

One last shot ... I took the above pearlized piece and went over it with Distress inks. I figured if the colored sprays just leave the shine, then I'll add the color on top of the shine! See:

It's kinda tough to see the color, but you CAN see it's not shiny any more.Grrrrr.

Then I had a moment of clarity, also known as a DUH moment. Angels might have sung, even. Dude, if all you want is black lines, how about using Kraft card stock and black embossing powder??! Do you SEE what has become of my brain?!?!?  So off I went to try that, and it's better -- way more better:

Here's the pearlized spray one:

and the Distress ink one:

Now THAT'S what I'm talkin' about!!!! We have a winner!!!!! I'm very excited about the results of this effort! VERY! Oooh, the possibilities!

So did I invent something? HUH?! Well, DID I?!?! Oh ... I see. If you and the rest of the blogiverse already knew this, then just disregard this whole post. I thank you.

Oh, and Jackie? I'm done now.

Thanks for stopping by!

* Did you hear that the new James Bond will drink a Heineken BEER instead of a dry martini, shaken - not stirred?!?!?!?!??! It's the end of the world as we know it! Bring back Sean Connery! I command it! Sigh.