Ikat Style Single Chevrons

Hello Lovelies!  I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend so far!  I know I am, the weather has been better than forecasted, I got to bring my daughter to the circus yesterday, and I got this week's Freehand Challenge nail art done.  This week's Freehand Challenge prompt was Ikat.  For those of you that are unfamiliar with Ikat, it is a type of fabric printing that I believe is Indonesian.  It is often represented as a triangular or diamond shape pattern but can be many other patterns too.  I have done an Ikat nail art design once before so I wanted to try something a little different.  This time I went with an Ikat style single chevron print that was actually inspired by a cake I saw on Instagram created by @malihacreations, a custom cakery in Charlottesville, VA.  I inserted a picture of the cake into the picture with my nails below.

Materials I used in this design:
Base coat - INM Ridge Free
Base color - Lacquered Polish 'Irish Crème'
Stripe colors - Color Club 'Antiquated' (gold), China Glaze 'Petal to the Metal' (Pink), and 'Capacity to See Beyond' (blue)
Small detail brush
Small dotting tool
Top coat - Rica 'Glossy Glam'

For my base color I used a neutral shade of polish that actually has some gold shimmer to it, that is difficult to see in the pictures, but I promise it's there.  This was a polish created by Lacquered Polish as part of a collaboration set I purchased back in March.

I created the Ikat chevrons by placing three small dots in the shape of a V as guides for my stripes.  Then using a small detail brush, I created my first stripe (about two striping tapes width wide), using a hashing motion.  Essentially moving the brush up and down while creating the V-shaped stripe.  I created a second stripe with a secondary color about the same width using the same motion.  I then outlined both stripes with my third color.  Trying to make the outline stripes as thin as possible, I used a stippling or dotting technique with the same detail brushed used for the previous stripes.

As almost always, I performed a bit of clean up with acetone and a brush and then topped it all off with a glossy top coat.

As you can see I changed up the accent colors and the order of the color stripes a little bit.  I did keep the gold somewhere in the middle only because it just seemed right that way.  I did intend to flip the V's (points up near the cuticle) but I forgot I wanted to do this once I got started, *forehead slap*.

I really love how the bright pink and blue compliment the neutral background color.  The addition of the metallic gold also gives it a little pop, which is nice too.

I enjoy creating Ikat style nail art because you really can't do it wrong.  Ikat prints are a little messy, a bit uneven, and irregular.  That makes it a great design for beginners or someone with an unsteady hand.  I highly recommend you give this pattern a try if you haven't already.

I hope you enjoyed this nail art design and found the tutorial useful.  By the way, if you ever have any questions on this post or any other post please feel free to ask in the comments down below.  Thanks for stopping by, see you next time.

 

Your Fellow Plebe,