Welcome Back Darcy Wilkinson Project #1 .... ChalkBoard

Hello everyone! Well, its Darcy's final week :( And this means it is the final week of Semester 2. Next week we have #3UP for a whole week and then in September we kick off into the final Semester of the year. I think some of you may have initially wondered if 4 months was too long for a semsester, but I love it! We really get to know the designers, and they get to work and explore ideas with our wide ranging products. Believe me, we have a lot of stamps, and for them to narrow their selections down to 4 weeks of posts is not always easy! So the weeks soon fly by, and this semester has certainly done that!

I also want to take this opportunnity to say a special thanks to this semester's designers for their added dedication this, our 10th birthday month. In a lot of ways we couldn't have planned it better (not that we did...just good luck!) As the last month of the semester, and to see the final of each designers contribution has been sooo exciting, and of course it's been wonderful to call in other mystery Designers for guest posts too!

So, here she is......Da Da Da Da Daaaaarrrrccccyyyyyyy.
I know from the feedback you have been in awe of Darcy's attention to detail, unusual ideas, techniques, and (extreme) ability to think outside the box. I am immensely looking forward to the week ahead, and I am sure you are too, so please, make sure to leave your comments, she loves to know what you think about her projects. Here's Darcy:

"Welcome lovely PaperArtsy people, this is my final month of projects. I am thrilled to be here again but a little sad that my semester is almost over. I hope you will love these final projects and find them useful".

When I first saw this blank board and hook I was a little stumped as to how I could use it. But then the idea of a chalkboard popped in my head.

A traditional chalkboard is painted black, and at the time I did not have any Little Black Dress, so I looked to my next darkest colour. This happened to be Squid Ink. I gave the board 2 even coats. 

I then cut a curve of paper that would fit over one side, this would be my template for the next stage.

Using this template I was able to create a curve of stencilled leaves using Grunge Paste. I drew around my template lightly and then stencilled over my pencil lines.

Once dry I cut out the leaves, keeping them as a whole piece.

I then started to paint the grunge paste, first Hyde Park, then Guacamole. I dabbed Hey Pesto between the leaves and blended the 3 colours. It needed a little depth, so I add small dabs of Blood Orange to the areas between the leaves, and blended again.

    

Next I started to add Treasure Gold. Emerald, Indigo, ( with a brush) Brass and Rose Quartz.(with my finger).

At this point I had the large leaf piece in front of me and I loved it, however when I put it onto the Squid Ink background, it just wasn't right.

Nothing I tried next to it seemed to work, and it just felt way too heavy looking. So, not one to be beaten by paper and paint, I just cut the whole thing apart.

I then coloured a sheet of Smoothy White Stamping Card with a mix of Lilac,Moonlight and Very Berry. Onto this I stamped lots of the flower from HP1009.

I was pretty happy with the very textural leaves and the contrasting stamped flowers, so I set them aside and worked on other areas. Firstly I stamped the birds and grass from HP1009 onto the bottom of the board. I then ran my finger around the front edge of the board with a little Emerald Treasure Gold.

I didn't want the sides to be completely plain, so using an old credit card I created some 'stems' using Hyde Park and Guacamole. Then I added blobs of Lilac, Snowflake, Pansy and Very Berry. I wanted the Fresco Paint to be really thick and dimensional, so I mixed in a little Cornflour. I then dabbed on the colours, allowing each to dry before adding another blob on top.This technique of blobby flowers was inspired after seeing my friend Sue create a whole painting in this way, she in turn had seen it done by an artist called Julie Ryder.

You can see how dimensional they are from the front. They stick out and feel all bobbly.

I then took a piece of Calico fabric, I pleated it and stitched around the edge to hold the pleats in place. I masked off a text stamp from HPXT03 so that I could stamp each of the words separately.

 HPXT03

Once stamped onto the fabric I frayed the edges a little.

 I then attached the fabric and arranged all the leaves and flowers.

At this point it should have been finished, but I decided that I did not like the huge long hook that came with the board. So I took that off and added a smaller cup hook.

Now as I wanted to use this as a chalkboard, I thought I had better try it out. I bought some plain white chalk and found it was easy to write over the Fresco Paint. More importantly with a baby wipe it was easy to clean away the message and write something else. So that I didn't lose the chalk,I made a tiny organza bag, filled it with chalk and that hangs off the small hook.

One last photo ....

Leandra Says: So what would you have done if the Fresco paint didn't work as a chalkbboard??? LOL Although, as a chalk effect paint, I guess it kind of makes sense that it does! Really liking the blobbies on the sides too! Cornflour seems to be your thing at the moment!

Gillian Says: Gorgeous Miss Darcy, I like your thinking substituting LBD for Squid Ink, looks great. The composition of the leaves and flowers is a real statement piece and the little organza bag with chalks genius.  Lovely to have you back :)

If you are inspired by Darcy's post tonight, and want to jump in and have a go, then do just that, and blog, Pinterest, or Flickr link your web page showing what you made to out InLinkz tool at the foot of Sunday night's blog post here. You need to link by noon (London time) on Sunday Sept 1st. We will do 2 prize draws, one for every single entry (including multiple entries), and a second draw with just one entry per name. Successful winners will get to choose an A5 PaperArtsy stamp of their choice. Good luck!