2024 Topic 6 : Scrapcosy {Designer Focus} Topic Introduction

Hi everyone, Dounia here

You may be aware that for the last few topics we have had an overarching theme being woven into the blog posts:HIDDEN. Secrets and surprises to explore! Perhaps covering part of project and revealing it later… or not!  It can be as subtle as secret journaling or as interactive as moveable parts. The interpretation is vast and we left it to our amazing blogging team and their muses to channel this in a way that resonates with their creative style!

The next topic for the year is a close up focus on the lovely Scrapcosy (ESC). Behind the pseudonym is Raquel Burillo, crafter, designer, young mom and full time software engineer, now back living in her home country, Spain. 

Question: How and when did you come to crafting? Were you always into papercrafts and mixed media or did you also experiment with other substrates?

Answer: I can't remember a specific moment, but I've always been curious about how things are made and I loved to experiment with different materials. Since being a child I remember creating jewellery with beads, wires, macrame threads, doing cross-stitch works, painting glass with glazes, making things out of balsa wood and sewing my own costumes for carnival borrowing my mum's sewing machine. 

My first interest on paper crafts though came strong in my teens thanks to the TV show Art Attack, it showed me the endless possibilities of using cardboard, cellotape, kitchen paper and glue (a DIY papier-mâché, basically), I just needed my imagination and I could build anything I'd like. I remember creating a wall clock in an organic shape, eyeballs for a huge cookie monster I sewed, and more. That was my first contact with paint, which I kept in huge pots which I still keep.

Question: Before you started being creative, did you have an interest in art yourself already?  Did you do art at school, visit exhibitions, or maybe collect art as a consumer and has being an artist changed how you view other people's art?

Answer: I started being creative at a very early age, so at that point I didn't have a special interest in art. It was later, when I discovered Impressionism, and specially Monet, one of my favourite artists. Back in 2006 I went to London for my final project degree at uni and I remember having the chills they first time I saw the water lily pond painting up close at the National Gallery, it's my favourite painting. Monet's brushstrokes when up close, don't seem too detailed but you step back from the painting and the scene gets created before your eyes.

Question: Did you have any specific artistic training? How did you learn what you do? Do you think formal training is necessary/helpful?

Answer: I didn't have any artistic training, I just played with different supplies and created things by way of presents or just to have a play. I love watching people creating things and I'm like a sponge: if I like something, I just learn by heart how it's done (theory) and then it's just a matter of practice and embracing your current skills, they will improve over time. My very first card was done with pens, I didn't know stamps existed back in the day, and my cousin loved it. Probably if I looked at it now I would spot many things that didn't work OK on the card and it could 100% be improved, but back in the day, the card served its purpose. Definitely knowing some basic theory helps with the final outcome, composition, colour theory, things like the rule of thirds and the even numbers make things look better. Sometimes a composition doesn't look OK until you apply some of these theories and then it clicks. I still have so much to learn!

Question: Do you think your art has changed much over the years? Are there things that always remain constant? 

Answer: I think it has changed, but not a lot. At first I was just working with paper and ink, then I discovered the embossing powders and then a whole world of mixed media supplies and paint. I started with clean and simple, until I quickly realised that being "clean" was really difficult, so I embraced the vintage and the grunge really fast, and kept on that vibe ever since. My Vintage Photo distress ink is something almost all my projects have and fussy cutting is also one of my favourite things to do!

Question: Do you have a couple of people who you consider to have influenced your art, perhaps this was before (or during) you finding your unique style?

Answer: As a crafter, Vicky Papaioannou was a big influence for me, watching her creating her beautiful art journals gave me a push to try starting with mixed media supplies and paints and to do my own layouts and to start as a YouTuber. As a designer, I admire Tim Holtz, his vintage vibe and his products. I love watching his demos, they are really inspiring and instructive, we both like to know how things work so we can then experiment with them. Watching him live at Creativation was amazing, as it was attending his class when he came to the UK.

Question: Looking back, is there one moment that you are particularly proud of, or perhaps a piece you made that to this day you can't let go of for some special reason?

Answer: Yes! The time Leandra asked me to prepare a make and take for Ally Pally back in 2017 using Distress Oxides, Infusions and my second release of stamps (with roses, mushrooms and halloween elements). That moment was memorable for different things: I came up with a technique that was really cool and simple, the tags looked fantastic and the people at the make and take nailed them and came out really satisfied. I don't know how many make an takes I taught that day, one after the other, but everybody was really pleased. Here in the post I share how I made them, video below. I still have the 3 tags I made as an example for that day.

Question: How would you describe your general philosophy in creating art? How would you sum it up in 3 words?

Answer: Just start cutting. I decide what is my focal point, I stamp, colour and cut it along with many other stamped elements, then I start arranging them in the page, I decide what other non-paper elements I'd like to add (ribbons, buttons, laces, metallic pieces) and when I'm happy with the composition, I create a background and stick everything in place.

Question: Why do you craft? Do you feel creating and crafting are necessary for your personal equilibrium?

Answer: Because I have lots of fun! When I'm crafting I lose track of the time, I can spend hours and hours at my desk and the results from a crafting session are always unexpected. No matter what I have in mind to create, it always surprises me the outcome, either because it turned out better than expected or because it's completely different to what I was planning to do. I have happy accidents many times, I embrace my mistakes and they challenge me to play differently and sometime outside my comfort zone.

Question: What is your fist goal when creating? Is it more a personal expression or do you aim to also touch people? 

Answer: It depends, if I'm creating something specific for others, like an album cover or a card the aim is definitely to touch their feelings and giving them something they will love and treasure. If I'm creating for myself, then I just want to have fun during the process and surprise myself with the final outcome.

Question: Do you evaluate your own art and your progress or try to measure your success? 

Answer: Not really or rather, not consciously. The last time I evaluated my own art was when I was preparing for a craft fair last November. I was going to be at a demo desk and I thought it would be a good idea to gather all the samples I had in my drawers that I had made for PaperArtsy in all releases and stick them in a big cardboard board. It was then when I was shocked at how much art I had produced and how I had evolved through the time. It was nice to stick them all in two big boards (one was not enough!) and arrange them by similarities or colours/themes. They are now hanging from my walls in my craftroom and I love to watch them. People that visit my craft room spot them and I get lots of compliments. It's become now a nice inspiration board for me.

Question: What is the best compliment somebody could give you?

Answer: I don't know! Probably it would be that I've inspired them to craft something... or that my artwork is inspiring. Sometimes I get those comments in my YouTube videos and I feel really pleased, they make my day!

Question: Where does your inspiration come from?

Answer: Most of it comes from nature, observing plants, flowers, insects and animals. I also get really inspired when I walk in a city, with the signs from the coffeeshops, the things displayed in the markets, the patterns seen in pavements, walls. Inspiration can be everywhere and anywhere!

Question: Do you have a general process to creating? Are you a planner or more of a spontaneous artist? Has that evolve over time?

Answer: I like to plan. It can be a very basic plan, like deciding what is my focal point and what main supply or colour I will use, or it can be a very complex plan, when I want to create something that has some interactive feature or a complicated built, like this Cabinet of Treasures I made for a release. I can be hours thinking (I sometimes start planning in bed, before falling asleep) or minutes, it depends on the day or on the level of inspiration, or if I'm blocked and I can't start.

Question: Do you experience 'blocks' when creating? Do you have tricks to get past them? 

Answer: Yes, sometimes I just don't know where to start. My trick is: I pick a stamp as my focal, stamp it, colour it and cut it. If I know what to do next, I do it, if not, I keep on stamping, colouring and cutting other things until inspiration strikes or my paper runs out! Then I start creating clusters and at some point I like what I see and I stick literally to that idea, I glue it in a background and I'm done. And if I reach nowhere, then I save all the cuts for another day that I'm stuck and they become a really good starting point (half the work is already done!).

Question: Do you use different products now than when you first started on your creative path? If you were stuck on a deserted island, what are the main supplies you would need to have with you?

Answer: Yes, I started with ink, stamps and embossing powders, but now I Iike to use many mixed media products, especially PaperArtsy Grunge Paste and Infusions. If I went to a deserted island and I had a small bag, I would take with me Infusions Golden Sands, Infusions Sunset Beach, Infusions Sleight Blue, Satin Glaze, my stamp set ESC18 (with either a black or a brown ink pad and an acrylic block), a thin brush and a thick brush, smoothy paper, my book Art Journal Vol 2, scissors, a water spritzer, glue and Vintage Photo Distress ink. If the bag was a suitcase instead, I would bring all my stamps, my stencils and my books with me, a pot of Grunge paste and a few PaperArtsy paints. I wouldn't take embossing powders to the island... I wouldn't know where to plug the heat tool!

Question: You are Spanish and lived and worked both in Spain and in the UK. Do you think that influences you creatively? Have you noticed differences between the two countries in their approach to art and crafting?

Answer: The UK definitely has influence in my designs. I made an entire release around the world of tea, 4 stamp sets (ESC13 to ESC16) full of cups, teapots and more, I brought to stamps animals I photographed there, like the robins in ESC19 and ESC22, the squirrel in ESC25 and the owl in ESC24. The doors from Victorian houses inspired the stamp set ESC40. And now since I've come back to Spain, and I'm living in a village called "la Garriga" I have in the back of my mind a few ideas on designs inspired by Modernism and by the Catalan culture. When it comes to crafting, in Spain people are more into scrapbooking, some into mixed media and very few people create cards, while in the UK I feel the proportion is exactly the opposite, with cards being on the top.

Question: How did you first start designing for PaperArtsy? Can you share a bit of how that process evolved for you, and do you have any advice for your younger self or other creatives now that you are more aware of this process ?

Answer: It's a bit of a long story, but I like to write, so there you go: I like to try new things and back on 2015 I decided to give it a go and created my Scrapcosy blog and then my Scrapcosy YouTube channel. I had many projects in mind and no children of my own, so plenty of time for me. One day at Ally Pally (craft fair in London) in April 2016 I discovered the Brusho powders, bought them and then I went to the PaperArtsy stand to do a make and take on a new product that they had just released which was called Infusions. I had no clue what it was, but it reminded me of tea and it sounded better than Frescos (the other make and take). Leandra started talking about them, explaining the properties they had, how to use them, did a bit of a demo for us and we made the make and take. I was like a sponge, absorbing all the info, and since I fell in love with them, I bought a few and I thought, "damn! I bought the brushos, which is almost the same, and are not that cool, but I can't return them now..." and then I had an idea.

When I got back home, I checked online, there was nothing on Infusions yet out there so I decided to make a comparison video between the 2 products. The next day or so, my video was up and a few days later Leandra herself contacted me and asked if she could share my video with their suppliers because I explained all about Infusions so well. I was over the moon, I was so happy! I said of course, please share it! And my video started having many views. I was really excited! 

Now forward a few months, right before the November 2016 Ally Pally show, I had my next project in mind (creating some scrapbooking paper designs in colour). I came across some images in black and white that were just beautiful and I thought these would be awesome as stamps, but how could I bring them to life? Then I remembered Leandra and I thought, OK, tomorrow it's Ally Pally, let's print these and show them to her, maybe she would be interested in them. And there I went to Ally Pally, super nervous. I thought Leandra wouldn't remember me but she did! She thanked me again for the Infusions video! So I told her I had something to show her and we agreed to meet at the end of the show. 

So I had my day at Ally Pally full of make and takes and lots of shopping as usual, and at the end I showed her my designs and she said yes! I couldn't believe it! She told me years later how brave I was that day, but to be honest I think I was really naïve and didn't think much on the impact this could have on me, otherwise maybe I wouldn't have dared! So for those out there with dreams and projects in your mind, go for them! Make a plan, take little steps towards your goal and don't be scared, just try! The worst thing you can get is a NO, but what if you get a YES?

 

Question: You are a lover of vintage imagery, as obvious in your work. How and where do you find your vintage references?

Answer: I go through books, documents, papers in different libraries, flee markets and vintage shops and when there is something I can't find anything for, I draw it myself from pictures I've taken. My mobile is full of pictures of either my son Matt or flowers and other inspiring things I find during the day. My family is really used to me stopping every now and then in our walks when I find something that I need to photograph and even Matt sometimes asks me to photograph things he thinks are interesting.

Question: How do you go about designing your products? Do you have a set process? Has that changed other time?

Answer: It has changed, indeed. But the essence is always the same: I design what I want to have and to use. At the very beginning my stamps were a compilation of my favourite vintage images edited and restored so they could be stampable. But over time, I had other ideas for which I wouldn't find anything I could use, so I draw them myself, like ESC08 with the Christmas ornaments or the entire tea collection. Now I do a mix of both, I create collages and compositions and I love to add ephemera items now and then.  

Question: Is there a product you love to use that you wish you had designed?

Answer: Yes! Infusions!

Question: What does it feel like when other people use your products and share with you what they have made? Do you learn or get inspired by seeing other people using your stuff?

Answer: It feels great! I love seeing what they do with them so this topic will be such a treat for me! Thanks, PaperArtsy! When I see how people use my stamps, it's really inspiring, it helps me deciding what would be useful for them next or what would they enjoy better: a bigger butterfly, another animal, what sentiments I haven't included yet that they may be missing and bringing from other products or brands. Sometimes I also design stamps for some crafters I know, I imagine what they would do with them of if they would like them.

Question: Do you have any new skills (craft related or not) that you want to learn in the near future?

Answer: I would like to learn watercolour and to improve my drawing skills. I wrote a children's story and I would like to bring the characters to drawings and make a book, so both of these would be great skills to have.

Question: Do you have any events planned this year coming up that you want to share with us?

Answer:  I'm planning to launch another book (Art Journal Vol 3) I'm finalising the design, so it may be out this August if all goes well, and it will tie in with my next release for PaperArtsy, so stay tuned for both! I'm also planning to create an online course on Infusions, but I still need to land the content and the exact format, it'll probably be in both languages, Spanish and English.

If you want to create along with us we would love to see what you get up to! 

You could tag us on Facebook, Instagram @paperartsy , Twitter, or post in PaperArtsy People Group on Facebook. We really love to hear about how the blog topics have inspired you, so don't be shy!!