Exciting New Product and Demo Days

Hi everyone, Darcy here. I've just popped by today to firstly let you know where we all are and secondly to introduce an exciting new product to you.

This weekend is The Craft Barn Extravaganza in Surrey. Two whole days hosted by The Craft Barn, on site at their huge shop. They have marquees set up in the car park for this amazing event {Sat and Sun} of free demos and bookable workshops with special masterclasses on Friday and Monday. In total there will be 27 demonstrators, with 3 of our very own PaperArtsy team there to wow you with their creative know-how.

Leandra, fresh off the plane from New Zealand, will be demonstrating both today and tomorrow. Jo Firth-Young and Lin Brown will also be there tomorrow. In addition Helen Chilton will be demoing Lynne Perrella stamps, and there are always other demonstrators using our Freso Paints among other products. So if you are in the area then do pop by and say hello. The weekend promises to be packed with creative inspiration, with all the latest products on show. The Craft Barn shop will be open all weekend of course, and particularly well stocked for the occasion, so you are able to purchase all the products that are being demonstrated.

So where are the rest of us? This weekend is also the bi-annual show at Doncaster. Stamp Magic, the stamping and papercraft show is held in the Doncaster Dome. Tomorrow is the 10th anniversary of the show, and that is where you will find the rest of the PaperArtsy team.

Myself and Emma will be demonstrating, Mark will be running the till and, if we ask her nicely, Gillian might pop on and do some demos too. Do pop by and say hello, we love to see you, and if you are new to our blog then come and make yourself known. I promise we are a friendly bunch. We have a great stand ready for you, full of all our latest products, and that brings me to this...

We now have stocks of Caran d'Ache Fibralo pens. You can find them in the online shop here. These are so new that you won't find much information about them online.. I know, I searched all over lol They are fibre tipped, water soluble pens, bright and transparent and available in 30 colours.

They are ideal for sketching,drawing and colouring in, adding fantastic pops of colour. I had a little play with them just to see what they could do.

I found that using them direct to sucky card made them tricky to blend, the sucky card just sucks in the ink, BUT when you use them over paint... oh wow! They are especially wonderful over Fresco Chalk Acrylics, like they were made for each other. They blend beautifully, either with a finger tip, a damp paintbrush or a waterbrush (the ones you fill with water)

I tried out a few techniques, this small tag was first painted with Fresco paint and crackled. I then dripped and stamped and coloured in.

Because they are water soluble, you can splatter them with water and then blot the colour away with a paper towel. Notice the scrap of lace... that was coloured with the pens too. The images are from EDY07

Next I painted this board first with Fresco paint, then I built up some shading using the pens and blending with my fingers. I stamped and coloured the fish, and added drips to the heart. The images are from LPC024.

Now here is where I got really drippy. After seeing many 'drip-type' artworks online, I had an idea for this journal page. I drew and coloured the eyes and glasses, then I used Background Plate 5 to add the numbers. Then I coloured random sections at the top of the page and then sprayed them, allowing the vibrant ink to run. I completed the page using the alphabet from JoFY 21. These pens are just perfect for colouring in letters, you only need the tiniest amount of ink on each letter, then using a damp brush you just blend the colour out to fill the shape.

There are also 3 metallic colours available, Silver,Gold and Copper in the fine tip.

Here I applied the gold pen directly to a stamp, I breathed gently on the stamp to dampen it and then stamped onto the page. Amazing effect, and so easy!

My next sample involved using the pens through stencils, again you only need the smallest amount of colour and a damp brush. I also used grunge paste on this board. I then scribbled with the pens onto a non porous surface, spritzed with water and then picked up the ink with a brush. It worked really well at covering the grunge paste.

Here is how the board ended up, the stencils are gently fading in the background while the brighter colours pop on the flamingo, from EDY05

Next I wondered how they would cope over canvas. I coloured and dripped on this small 6"x6" canvas board. I then added text and washi tape.

I finished this sample by adding images from HP1301, I painted some smoothy card with chalk, and then used a blue pen directly on the stamps. this means you can blend the ink after stamping and create a much softer image.

Finally, after all that colouring,painting and dripping I had a pile of papertowels that I had used to clean my brushes and to mop up the drips... don't throw those away, let them dry out.

Here I glued a paper towel to a large tag using matte glaze.

It gives a great surface. I coloured some sheets of smoothy with more pens, and then used stencils to create these flowers. I also added grunge paste in the background, which, once dry, was coloured with the pens.

The stencils are from the Lin Brown Collections and the text is from ELB06.

I hope you have enjoyed seeing these samples. I will show them in more details with step out photos over on my blog over the next couple of weeks. I will have them all and the new pens with me tomorrow at Doncaster. We will only have a limited number of sets available so be sure to pop by early and get a set for yourself.

Darcy x

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