2015 #17 Garden of Dreams {Kay Ballard}

2015 Topic 17: Pigment Powders

Hello everyone - Kay Ballard with you this evening (also known as Kaybee). I was really excited to be asked do a guest spot on the Paper Artsy blog about one of my favourite mediums – Brusho watercolour inks. They are little pots of powdered joy! 

I use all kinds of paint, including acrylic (my PaperArtsy Fresco collection is rather extensive), and I’ve recently tried oil paints. I love colour, texture and dimension, and for me, happiness is experimenting and constantly learning. My Paper Artsy stamp collection is also starting to burst out of the box I keep them in. All of them work really well with Brushos, whether stamping onto pre-Brusho'd material, or stamping/embossing and then colouring.

My project started life as a 10" x 8" watercolour board, which is watercolour paper bonded to a backing board. First I stamped and heat embossed (in white and olive green), using ELB22 and the dragonfly from JOFY 13. It is quite difficult to see the white embossing in the photo. At this stage I also added some book page slivers. 

ELB22

JOFY 13

I prepared some different materials with the Brushos – plain card, glossy card, book pages and some white felt. I forgot to photograph the felt before I had cut into it, so it was fortunate I had a piece left over!

At the same time I stamped and white embossed some images (from ELB23) onto heavyweight watercolour paper, which were then flooded with water and sprinkled with Brushos, - it is very tempting to then take a brush and fiddle with the colour, but leave it to dry to create some amazing colour combinations.

ELB23

I then stamped images from ELB22 and ELB23 onto these various materials. 

Back to the board, and I sprinkled three different Brusho colours and spritzed with water, adding more powder and water until I was happy. These powders are fabulously unpredictable when lightly spritzed, but can be used as normal watercolours if dissolved in water first. Only a very small amount of the powder is needed to produce vibrant colours; too much powder and it will become dark and muddy. 

I cut out all the stamped images from the various materials and spent a happy time arranging everything. The words are from ELB04. 

ELB04

The cone flower is made from the tulip head (ELB23), stamped 3 times and the outer petals cut away; topped with a small circle of Brusho'd card. 

The caterpillar (from JOFY37) has some hairy wool fixed at the back. I love him!

JOFY37

I also love the soft effect of Brushos on felt, and it is possible to stamp and emboss on it, but keep the image simple. Be quick when heating the embossing powder or the felt will burn.

I hope I’ve inspired you to try Brushos (or any paint for that matter) on different materials. I’ve had great fun with this project, and thank you to Paper Artsy for inviting me to play! 

You can find my ramblings about all things arty on my blog www.inkpaintandme.blogspot.co.uk

Kay 

Thanks Kay, how fabulous are those felt flowers! This is such a great piece, full of interesting textures and layers. All the different substrates working so well together. ~Darcy

We would love you to join in with challenge #17: Pigment Powders If you are inspired by any of our guests who blog with us over the fortnight, then please join in and link up your creativity HERE.

All links go in the draw to win a voucher to spend on products of your choice from the PaperArtsy online store. The Pigment Powders link will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, Sept 27th winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.