2023 Topic 02: Tetradic Colours {by Jenny Maples} with Sara Naumann Stamps

Hi everyone Jenny (Pushing The Right Buttons) here with you today. The first theme of 2023, 'Tracks', immediately made me think of my home town which used to be criss-crossed by a network of brewery railway lines. You can walk a trail around the town and see the historic Georgian and Victorian industrial buildings which remain from those times. Flocks of birds are a familiar sight, perched on the spider's web of power lines which still connect the rows of terraced houses. These are very reminiscent of Sara Naumann's designs, and it got me thinking about creating a journal recording some of this architectural history.

I really enjoyed taking the time to walk around my home town taking photos of a few of the buildings and hope it inspires you to go out and do the same!

The part that often puts people off is the idea of attempting to draw/paint buildings and I totally get that; it can take time and even then you may be unhappy with the results. So I used a simple trick learned from an amazing artist called Brittany Soucy which makes the whole process much more achievable. Going forward I will definitely be using it a lot more for adding architectural elements in new journals!

My starting point for this journal was choosing the colour scheme, in this case a tetradic one based on the results from playing with a PaperArtsy Colour Wheel. I'd chosen one of Sara Naumann's newer PaperArtsy stamp sets and a couple of her stencils but confess to pulling out a couple of her older stamp sets too because they worked together so well. I would always encourage you to delve into the PaperArtsy stamp sets and stencils you already have in your stash whenever you begin planning your projects - you may be amazed by what you find!

If you haven't already, make sure to read the comprehensive introduction to the Tetradic Colours topic HERE; I was fascinated to find I've used this type of colour combination many times before - clearly it's intuitively a favourite! Do you find yourself drawn to certain colours too? After creating a colour wheel, I colour-matched the results choosing existing PaperArtsy paint colours close to my chosen 4 on the wheel made from Mustard Pickle, Mahogany and Blue Bayou.

I went with a 'slim rectangle' selection of colours partly driven by the need for a brick red shade for the buildings; this included PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic Paints in 'Waterfall', 'Blue Bayou', 'Brown Shed' and 'Autumn Fire'.

Now it's time to get some colour and texture on the pages of your journal. By spreading a layer of heavy body white gesso over a painted background it gives you the option to make some of your own marks with a wooden skewer (or similar) on each page; train tracks were an obvious choice for my journal but you could use other shapes, flowers, lines, etc. to fit with your theme.

Here's the clever bit if you feel less confident with drawing or are simply lacking time; trace over your photo with a permanent ink pen and cut out the image! You can choose to leave out fiddly details or change the drawing to personalise it even more. Once cut out stick your image onto the page. I used a gel medium but you could also experiment with a sticky glue stick, adhesive sheets or similar, making sure the tracing paper remains stuck down securely on your painted background.

You can always add those trickier, finer details directly on your page when your building is stuck down and painted.

 

When the glue holding your image is dry it's time to start painting. I added layers of  PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic Paint in 'Brown Shed' and 'Autumn Fire', making use of their translucency to make some shaded parts darker than other lighter areas. Use your original photo as a reference but don't be afraid to put your own spin on it!

Finish painting your building and add in any of the details you may have lost with the same permanent ink marker. I also decided to add a couple of neutrals into my colour palette, using PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic Paints in 'Blue Bayou', 'Slate' and 'Snowflake' to complete the windows, roof, doors and window frames. Paint pens with a fine nib/tip can also prove helpful with this bit.

At this point you'll have a set of journal pages with colour, texture and a focal point, but embellishment with your stamps, stencils and more is always going to add interest to the finished book/journal.

 

Start with your stencils and don't be afraid to combine images on the page for more impact. Here I used different parts of PaperArtsy PS090 Stencil by Sara Naumann to sit the bird on a telegraph pole. Later on I stamped a script image over the bird with a grey permanent ink.

Talking of stamps, that script image can be found included in PaperArtsy ESN51 Stamp Set by Sara Naumann and it was the bird from that set which found it's way onto the first page of my finished book. Sara's collage style stamp designs cleverly combine images which is why I love to use them on painted pages.

And remember how it's always worth diving through your stash for older stamp sets... sure enough, you can find another bird included in PaperArtsy ESN52 Stamp Set by Sara Naumann.

It was the birds on the wire from PaperArtsy ESN64 Stamp Set by Sara Naumann that was part of the original inspiration for this project and they combine beautifully with the measurement image from ESN51, in this case extending the branch image and replicating part of the bridge I had to look over to get the photo of this warehouse.

 

We've seen stencils used for adding images to the pages and now it's time to use them in a more decorative way.

At this point you have the focal points and additional images in place and these can begin to compete for attention. It's important to ensure the viewers are initially drawn to the main building when they first look at the page. One way of doing this is by adding extra stencilling around it using a colour which blends well with the background.

Don't just think of using paint with your stencils, particularly when they are a simple geometric design like PaperArtsy PS363 Stencil by Sara Naumann. I found a matching colour embroidery thread which could be stitched through the page following the stencilled lines.

With the pages almost complete it's time for those finishing touches.

Bind your pages into a book using fabric (as I showed HERE) or paper and add your covers. My covers were created in the same way as the pages and I tore away parts of the pages to insert a little glimpse of lace behind. It's at this point you finally get to see what your pages look like sat together as a book and I decided to add some extra trims to them. If you don't have the correct colours to hand try dyeing them with Paper Artsy Infusions. The 'Rusty Car' shade worked well, contrasting nicely against the aqua coloured 'Waterfall' background.

With the book complete it's time for a final flick through of the finished pages. Not shown here are the 'blank' pages where I've written a little about the brewing history of the town and some personal observations. And if you are wondering why I added the title '32 Crossings' to the front of the book that refers to the 32 level crossings which used to cover the town!

It's good to reflect on what you enjoyed (or didn't!) after completing a project to help steer you in the direction of future experiments. I for one will be taking what I've learned about tracing images into my future book/journal making adventures and hopefully you will be able to take some ideas from this post too.

Jenny

Blog: https://pushingtherightbuttons.blogspot.com/

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2022 Topic 15: Paper, Seeds & Twigs {by Ellie Knol} with Tracy Scott Stamps

Hi everyone, it's Ellie Knol (PAPER-STAMPS-COLOR) with you today, and I'm here to share with you a way of bookbinding with twigs using a selection of stamps and stencils designed by Tracy Scott. In the process I also chose to re-bind a butterfly illustrated book, and create a book with blank papers to draw/play in.

I've always wanted to bind a book using twigs as the base to sew the signatures. I finally tried it making two books.

The smaller book has two signatures; therefore the spine of the book has two twigs to which the signatures are attached with thread (book number 35 in my series of binding books).The second book has twigs (from an apple tree) on its spine too, but they are not used to attach the signatures; they are for decoration only.

Before binding, I needed to make the book covers. This is the gel print that started the project...

It is a clean up print onto some recycled paper. This type of paper is from an overhead projector I use at university. After teaching, I take it home and reuse the parts that have not been written on... I love the big squares!
The paper is quite thin. To make it sturdier I glued it to a piece of thick cotton and then onto a piece of cardboard (cut to size!) using with bookbinding glue, making sure I had no air bubbles between the layers. I left it to dry properly before adding two coats of PaperArtsy Fresco Finish - Satin Glaze on top of the print. This adds a nice layer of protection!

 

 

I then glued all the edges of the cotton inward over the cardboard and went outside to find some twigs. These are from my apple tree and will do the job I hope! At least they are long enough.

I made a copy of this gel print, by scanning the original and printing it with my laser printer.  This version was glued only on the cotton fabric: I now have a background completely coordinated with my covers.

Time to face a difficult but necessary decision: cut the board in two to create a front and back cover for my book.

I then found some lace that would be very handy to put the twigs through and act as a spine... But how to attach it?

With my sewing machine and some very nice rusty color thread I sew around all the edges, also sewing an extra layer of cotton to the inside. I won't bore you with all the details of this stage; I think the pictures speak for themselves.

At this point, my project spontaneously sprouted two whole new parts! Considering the current topic, I knew I wanted to incorporate some book paper and I suddenly thought of a book I was going to restore for a friend. I also decided to make a second book to go with it: this one with only blank pages for my friend to be able to draw the beautiful butterflies... Inspiration takes so many many twists and turns! Does that also happens to you?

I took the book apart and decided to use the THICK boards again. They were in a rough shape, and I could easily separate then in thinner layers to be used again. PaperArtsy Fresco Finish - Satin Glaze came to the rescue again, now to protect the top layer of the cut-to-size boards. 

As this is a side project, I will not make this part too long by explaining the making of these covers but I still wanted to show you the gorgeous texture they revealed when covered in PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic - Snowflake with a palette knife!

Back to the covers of my initial books! It was now time to get everything in one place, the covers and background, the stamps and stencils and my notes and ideas.

I chose as my main focal, the gorgeous steampunk butterfly from Tracy Scott stamp set 74 (TS074) and stamped it directly on the covers.

I Coloured the images with watered down PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic - Copper,

Autumn Fire and Southern Skies to bring them to life.

For them to fit in the ribbon, I split the twig lengthwise. I also whitewashed them with a thin layer of PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic - Snowflake to match the cover. For extra protection, at this stage I also added another layer of the PaperArtsy Fresco Finish - Satin Glaze, especially over the stamped areas.

The front cover... 

.. and the back cover so far.

At the same time, I worked on the covers for my friend's books. I used Grunge Paste through the PaperArtsy Stencil by Tracy Scott (PS338) on the first cover...

...and I chose the twig and berries from the PaperArtsy Stencil by Tracy Scott (PS268) for the second cover.

While the paste was still wet I stamped into it with the butterfly (inked up with black ink)... I cleaned the stamp right away of course!

Here are the covers, all in a row!

I initially intended to keep the covers white but then had the urge to color them (oh well), which I sort of regret although they turned out quite good. I again used the same colors, watered down to reveal the texture.

I went back with white paint though the stencil to soften the main images.

I stamped the element from Tracy Scott stamp set 75 (TS075) onto the second laser copy of the print that was adhered to cotton, and fussy cut these pieces.  They will be used for the closure of the cover.

I took advantage of the leftovers to also stamp the cogs and screws from TS074 to be used as embellishments for the final touches. More fussy cutting!

I used one of them to add a faux-screw to 'hold' the twigs...

At this point I still had a big leftover piece of background left, so why not use it?! I decided to go for my original plan at this very late stage: a bookbinding incorporating twigs to attach the signatures to.

 

As I had two signatures I needed two twigs to hold them. If I had chosen to make a book with five signatures I would have used five twigs.  The signatures are a mix of bookpaper included and blank pages.

 

Twine was added as closure of the cover for the two books. I added a few metal elements, rusted with PaperArtsy's Rusting Powder, to tie the look together. I LOVE the corners!

For the smaller book, I made a 'button' from one the clog as the closure...

Please enjoy all the following pictures...

 

As I have hinted in this post, I think I should've stopped adding and adding to the projects but I do love how they turned out. I learned a lot too, like using the Satin Glaze on top of the papers: it makes them almost like plastic surfaces.. I used this product for the first time; I will use it again I am sure! It's not glossy at all, and makes for a beautiful surface for a book cover for instance.  

In the end I like the smaller book most, as I like to explore bookbinding and this is really a lovely way to add interest to a spine very easily. 
I hope you learned along with me and got inspired to try one of the ideas in this post!

Happy day! Ellie Knol

Blog: http://elliecreahoekje.blogspot.nl/

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