2020 #5 Mark Making: Make Your Mark with EEV {by Jenny Marples}

2020 Topic 5: Mark Making

When we look beyond the obvious to see more deeply, we can find things unintended. Jenny has 'seen' people in Ellen Vargo's set that make me wonder why we all haven't seen this before! With lots of marks both embossed and de-bossed, this is a beautiful tag well worthy of a second look.
~ Keren

Hi everyone, it's Jenny with you today, and I'd like to share with you a textured tag that makes the most of Ellen Vargo's wonderful stamp set.

If you've seen Keren's introduction post for this theme you'll have seen that there are many ways to 'make your mark' and I was inspired to try using a few of them to create this large mixed media tag.

During the process of making it I took photos to show how the main elements and marks were made. Starting with the base, a Tim Holtz Thickboard Small Tag, spread an uneven layer of Grunge Paste along the surface. Mist the diamond patterned stamp from the set EEV07 with water before pressing it into the paste while still wet. Re-mist and re-stamp across the rest of the paste to create the textured pattern seen below.

Once the paste is dry, prime the tag by applying white gesso to the top half (front and back) and black gesso to the bottom half (again, front and back).

Now for the Fresco Finish Paints - brush the top half with Heavy Cream and the bottom half with Squid Ink - I applied just one coat of each colour and ensured that a little of the base coat showed through the brush marks. You may also see that the edges and middle were delicately brushed with the contrasting colours at the top and bottom. Continue this onto the back of the tag, along with the solid central line of Steel Grey which is added more thickly with a smaller brush. When the paint is dry use a permanent ink gold pen to add a thin, hand drawn line over the Steel Grey one.

To make your mark in another way stamp the rectangular patterned image onto some card and cut round. It was at this stage that I it dawned on me that this reminded me of the silhouette of a person!

Cover the card in embossing ink, then a silver coloured embossing powder and heat set; I used Emerald Creek Craft's 'Hammered Metal' for this stage. Repeat three times to add depth to the finish before re-stamping the image into the final layer when still molten. I find using ink on the stamp helps to release the stamp from the embossed pattern when it cools, and it's definitely a technique I feel most comfortable using with deeply etched rubber stamps like these as you know they'll take the heat.

To help the pattern 'pop', brush Niagara Falls Fresco Finish Paint lightly over the embossed 'person'. Use the same colour to paint a lace effect die cut strip.

For another spot of mark making paint a small tag with Gold Rush Fresco Finish Paint before stamping the arrow pattern along it with Buff Fresco Finish Paint.

Taking all these elements I began to 'build' the tag, adding leftover scraps to add texture and contrast behind the 'person'. Included in these is a leftover bit from the Cherry Blossom Gift Box featured on the blog a while back because it also had the Gold Rush colour in the background. There's also a piece of cotton lace coloured with some of the diluted Buff colour - it's amazing what finds a new home when you keep your scraps!

In order to add another pop of contrasting colour I dug out a little die cut heart and coloured it with Salmon Fresco Finish Paint and added it to my 'person'. And to finish there had to be words. The phrase 'make your mark' sprang to mind for so many reasons but I didn't have all of those words to hand so, in a final mark making exercise I stamped the individual letters with a little block set that's been in my stash for years.

Hopefully this has given you a few further ideas for making marks on your art particularly when using the deeply etched rubber stamps and gorgeous chalky finish paints from PaperArtsy. And I'm interested to know if you can see any other shapes in Ellen Vargo's patterns?

Thanks so much for stopping by.
Jenny

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