I is for

This month's alphabet for our A-Z techniques on the ArtVentures group is I. I could not think of anything so just got some supplies out and played around. I am calling this technique, Irridescent interference.

I started with watercolour paper and and stamped a Hero Arts stamp with Versamark. I coloured the image with Perfect Pearls. I then painted the piece with Dr. PH Martin’s Radiant watercolor inks, and heat set it.

When it was dry I stamped the image again with Tsukineko Opalite ink and applied interference Pearl-ex over the image.

To complete the ATC I added a flower and a leaf which I die cut, embossed with pigment inks and embossing powders, then stamped onto it while still hot to make a pattern.

Because I was experimenting, I made several different cards. For each one I started with the same colour family of Perfect Pearls and watercolor ink, then the same palette of Opalite ink and tried to used the same interference Pearl-ex, however with that I only had red, green, blue an violet.

The interference background is hard to see in the pictures, but it is really nice when held up to the light and the original Perfect Pearls also shows up through the inked background.

Clay Charms

On AFTCM we are doing a monthly charm swap and for April the charms were to be stamped clay and two were to be sent to our partner.

I couldn't decide what I wanted to do so I made four charms. After conditioning my clay I stamped some images into it then coloured them with various mediums.

 The charm on the left is done with copper paint, a small circular embellishment added and a flower gem. The Green one is done with Mica Magic inks. The blue one was coloured with pearlex and gems added to the butterfly body. The little maple leaf one is air-dryed clay and was coloured with markers and watercolour paints, then painted with some clay sealer.

Only two of the charms were sent to a partner.

More spray starch fun

Had another play with the spray starch technique earlier today.

The right one is glossy black cardstock, which was an embossed piece from my failed frosted embossing, so rather than throwing it out I sprayed the starch then pounced ont some pearlex with a brush. I really like this one as the embossing powder underneath gives it a nice texture.

On the second one I took mica watercolours from USArtquest and painted them on white matte cardstock. I sprayed the starch and added gold and rust pearlex over it.

It is too bad that the photos don't give you the full impact of the nice sheen from the pearlex and other mediums.

Spray starch technique

I had run across a blog where they used spray starch to make a background, but did not disclose how it was done since she used the technique from an issue of the Techniques Junkie newsletter.

Funnily enough right after that,  Deb Lovett who sent the technique to TJ belongs to one of my groups and shared the "how-to" with us. Just click on her name and it will take you to the tutorial.

i experimented with different mediums for this technique. I used walnut sprays, glimmer mists, Posh inks, and memory sprays as well as the pearlex. Some I just sprayed a second time with the spray starch and others I put the scrunched plastic wrap over while still wet. I used glossy cardstock for all of these, but apparently you can use matte cardstock, so I may have another try with that.

Necklace

I am in a swap where we make necklaces and send to a partner.

Thinking of the postage cost I decided to make the focal point of my necklace from Paperclay. I conditioned and rolled it with a brayer then cut it out with a heart shaped cookie cutter. I then imprinted it with a stamp from Hero Arts. Coloured it with various Perfect Pearls and Pearlex. In the instructions, it says you can bake the Paperclay to dry it (275 degrees for 15 minutes) so I did since I was being impatient to get it finished!

I took a Jewellery charm thingy that I got at the dollar store and added some "gems" to it then glued it to the heart.

I strung some beads in coordinating colours and attached the heart with a little ring.I also attached a clasp although I don't think it was really necessary.

Inchie swap

I have signed up for a swap on the Dream, Create Inspire group where we are using a frame from Blumoth Crafts. Eleven people joined the swap, and we create the inchies using a colour scheme and and in some cases a theme chosen by each person. We have two inchies, the centre and the frame to complete our own when we receive our inchies in the swap. I have decided to wait until I receive my inchies before completing the frame.

I coated the inchies with gesso then used Acrylic paints, Metallic Paints, Lumiere paints, Perfect Pearls, Pearlex, and some of my stamps and stamping supplies such as Smooch inks, and pigment inks to do the bases. On some I used molding paste, others I used papers and even some netting type paper.

The embellishments are scrapbooking pieces, old buttons, old pieces of jewellery, brads and other "doodads".

I am really looking forward to seeing all the tiny works of art that everyone makes and the completed frames.

Mini Memory for Heather`

I decided to get a start on September's Mini Memory, which is for Heather. Her theme is birds and butterflies and the colours are white and violet.

The theme was not a problem, however, the violet was as I think of blues (i.e. the flower). However, as a colour it can be a mixture of red and blues, so as usual I just did my own thing and hope that Heather will not be disappointed with the colour.

I started by painting a chipboard coaster with Gesso, then painted it with African Violet acrylic paint, toned down with some white acrylic. I then stamped the flourish stamp in frost white pigment ink and winter white embossing powder. After that I painted it with Mica watercolours in iridescent violet.

I have some Magenta chipboard pieces and I painted a bird with the two colours and crackle medium.

I also had some mini canvases so thought I would use it for the centre. Painted it with gesso, then added molding paste and smooshed it around with a rubber stamp. I added some Pearlex pearl white to it when dry, then dabbed some of the African Violet paint mixture over that with my fingers.

I attached the canvas to the coaster, then the bird. I rummaged through my stash of beads and bellies and found three feather beads and added them to the bottom of the canvas. In the picture the background flourishes look different but in "real life" they are white.

Brocade

Over on CC Swaps Adrienne is running a Mystery swap. She broke down and gave us the instructions early, and the Mystery is Brocade using polymer clay. You can get the directions here

As instructed I conditioned and rolled out the black clay, then added 4 coats of metallic paint to each piece. I chose to use Lumiere paints for the base coat, copper, gold and silver.

I used some embossing mats to imprint the clay after dusting them with my anti-static pad.
I added some cheap acrylics over this, and rolled it out again. I cut them into shapes and baked as directed.

For this first batch, I think I was too heavy handed with the acrylics and was not really happy with them.

The second batch, I followed the same procedure, but used large background stamps to imprint the clay. I used Winsor Newton Finity acrylics and Luna Lites after imprinting. I think the better quality paints and a lighter hand definitely made a difference in the final outcome I rolled out another piece of clay, imprinted it with a text stamp, added some Pearlex and baked it then adhered the tree piece to it. After making this I saw an idea on a blog and thought I would make a little book since I have some small chipboard book cover pieces.

I took the embossed chipboard and coloured it with yellow gold and burnt orange Mica Magic. I adhered the Brocade piece to this. I took some index cards and cut them to size and rounded them with a corner rounder punch and punched a hole in the corner. The back is also coloured with Mica magic and a saying stamped in Versafine onyx black. These are pics of the book closed and open.

Quote of the Month - January and February

I am participating in a swap on CCswaps where we create a piece of art using a quote for that month, which must be displayed somewhere on the art. The quote is: "Great art picks up where nature ends."

For January I used a piece of cardstock and did the Stamp Smooshie technique (you use your stamp as an applicator and smoosh the ink around on the paper-usually 3 different tones of the same colour ink). I then added some mica magic ink over it. I stamped the Safflower Script stamp (Stampington) on a piece of acetate with Stazon black ink and attached it with vellum tape.

I had a piece of cardstock on which I had rubbed off some Mica Magic ink while doing some stamping and liked the look of it, so I chose that to stamp the Magenta butterfly image on and attached it to the middle of the acetate.

I mounted the piece on another piece of Mica Magic coloured background. The final touch was to add the maple leaf brads and the quotes. This is now at it's new home with Maggi.

The February quote is: "Feet what do I need thee for when I have wings to fly." I decided on an altered book board. I used some techniques from Kelly Rae Roberts book Taking Flight. I am really pleased with the book as it has great inspiration and some step-by-step instructions and not just a bunch of "pretty pictures".

The background is similar to one that I learned in an Altered Diva class, where you paint gesso on the substrate, add one coat of paint. let it dry then add another coat and while wet spray it with water, let it sit for a bit then dab it with a cloth. The little circles in white were made by dipping the end of an adding machine roll holder thingy in paint and stamping on the book board.

The body was a stamp (PSX) of a seamstress mannequin which I stamped into polymer clay and baked. When it was ready I rubbed it with a wash of brown acrylic paint, then painted the flowers, heart and ribbon and body with acrylic paint and brushed some Pearlex and Perfect Pearls over the top.

When it dried I coated it with Poly Glaze, then when that set I rubbed some "Goldfinger rub-on paste over it and glued on the gems.

The head is an image from a magazine advert which I cut down and glued into a flattened bottle cap and filled with Glossy Accents. The gold wings were left over from when I was making some Christmas Angels years ago; cut in the middle to reduce the bulk and glued behind the body and added some gold Stickles to enhance them a bit. The seagull was a found item in my stash. This will be going to it's new home at the end of February when the partners list is announced.

Mica Swap

Another swap I am in is to use some form of Mica on an Art piece, i.e. create an item using any mica product (tiles/sheets, flakes, or powder). The item could be a card, ATC, bookmark, booklet, canvas, tip-in. etc.


I had a book board which I had painted with acrylics and pearlex, but did not make any effort to use it, so out it came for this project. I added some green mica magic ink on the one side, painted the edges a dark colour to add some dimension. I stamped some word stamps with gold acrylic paint and Brilliance silver ink. I then stamped the quote onto Fibremark paper with gold pigment ink and embossed with gold embossing powder.


I did some die cuts on my cuttlebug out of green cardstock and added gold Mica Magic over them and attached them in the corners. I stamped & embossed the sun image on the Mica Tile. I glued the eye image to the board then attached the Mica Tile with glossy accents and added the little rivets to finish it off.



My inspiration for this piece was the quote stamp which I purchased yesterday.