2021 Topic 8: Nature's Treasure with HP {by Jenny Marples}

 2021 Topic 8: Nature's Treasure

Jenny really is offering a masterclass in how to build up an idea and then bring it to life, layer by layer with one of our Hot Picks floral vintage stamps as the focal point. This truly is an astonishing read and I love how she tells us how and why she adds all those scrummy details to each layer.
~ Leandra

Hi everyone, it's Jenny Marples (Pushing The Right Buttons) with you today, and I'm here to share an idea for creating a home decor piece which was inspired by memories of a trip to the Palm House at Kew Gardens, London. This remarkable glass and metal structure provides a wonderful home and backdrop for protecting and displaying some of nature's most beautiful botanical treasures - it is well worth a visit or three!

Following on from previous journal pieces I teamed a hand drawn sketch depicting part of the Palm House with Hot Picks stamps, used to create both focal points and subtle accents

The stamps have also been used to create decorative paper for the background, whilst some words and a stencil by Sara Naumann have added accents that help to build in those all important interesting little details.

Start with a sketch - I roughed out my design from photos using pencil marks before reproducing it on a piece of tea dyed paper. Use different nib sized pens (permanent ink of course!) to help emphasise some of the lines when you re-draw over the top of your original sketch lines.

Emphasise the important elements - whilst more recently I've been adding a little watercolour to help make the main structures stand out, for this sketch I've reflected the fact that the metal beams in the Palm House are painted white by using 'Snowflake' Fresco Finish Paint on the ones in the drawing.

Adding a touch of nature - a dramatic plant was needed to work with and compliment those strong vertical beams in the Palm House so I chose a strong architectural one from the Hot Picks HP1602 stamp set.

Test your positioning - try stamping onto a piece of transparent packaging to work out where you want to place your plant before committing to adding the ink.

Thinking ahead - I deliberately chose to stamp the flower heads over the edge of the sketch knowing that extra layered flower heads would be added next to fill in the missing detail.

Adding colour - single-ply tissue dyed with 'Violetta' Infusions has a wonderful mottled look which can be given a warm or cool hue by adding it to a cream or white card base with a gel medium. For this project I chose to stamp the flowers onto the warmer cream base.

Think outside the black - just because I'd used black ink to stamp the flower on the sketch didn't mean that had to be replicated on the coloured tissue card. Since there is a lot of shading detail incorporated into the stamp design I chose to use a purple ink to stamp more flower heads to compliment the card colour.

Cut, shape, layer - adding several layers of shaped flower heads brought dimension to the flat stamped image underneath. I also stamped the central sections onto a contrasting yellow coloured piece of card to create more of an exotic look for this dramatic plant, covering each one in some Glossy Accents.

Don't forget the foliage - there may be no leaves included on the original design but you can always embellish your flowers with some bespoke foliage. I die cut little leaves, painted them with 'Tinned Peas' Fresco Finish Paint and slipped them underneath the flowers, remembering to add the same colour to the stamped stem. A white gel pen was also used to add a little more definition to the edge of the flower heads.

'Gild the lily' - I've shown in previous posts how you can use different coloured inks with your stamps to add detail with a lower 'value'. Around the stem and flower heads I utilised more stamps from the HP1602 set in conjunction with grey and purple ink.

You'll also see below how Grunge Paste has been applied through Sara Naumann's stencil PS247 over the stamping. To finish the main panel I went on to add some hand stitching over the stamped sections.

Build a background - with the main panel complete I started work on the background, creating some bespoke vintage style decorative paper using Hot Picks stamp sets HP1301 and HP1501.

Some of the text based images from these sets were stamped over painted card with a mix of grey and black inks.

The Fresco Finish Paints used for this card all came from the same set and included 'Taupe', 'Truffle', 'Stone', 'Eggshell' and 'Chalk', all applied in random patches with well-worn household paint brushes and a spatula. By finishing with a loose brayered layer of 'Snowflake' Paint it brought the various colours and stamped images together.

Begin building - after covering a solid tag base with the stamped background paper I applied some more of the Infusions dyed tissue over the top.

Adding layers - by adding further layers of tea stained and gel printed paper on top of the tissue and under the main panel it helped with framing it. I also added a piece of fabric on top of a board painted with black gesso and edged with a gold pen to do the same. You can see below how more stamping and stencilling was applied to the bottom and top of the lower layers to match the ones on the top panel.

To finish the tag I added clusters of smaller die cut leaf stems at the top and bottom, various metal embellishments and a large bow.

The words 'nature's journey' can be found as part of Sara Naumann's ESN50 stamp set. I gold heat embossed them onto off-white card before mounting them over the flower stem to create a second focal point. Touches of gold wax were applied to the edges of the tag and over the leaf stems.

Here are some final close ups of the finished tag;

 

As with previous posts I hope that this post demonstrates how the images in your stamp collections can add to and enhance your drawings as well as helping to create your own backgrounds.

Thank you so much for stopping by.

Jenny

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