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.

2015 #17 Be The Rainbow {by Kay Carley}

 2015 Topic 17: Pigment Powders

Hi everyone. My name is Kay Carley and this is the first time I’ve been asked to contribute something to the PaperArtsy blog! I have loved PaperArtsy’s style and stamps for years now and particularly like the quirkiness of the JOFY stamps so whenever the opportunity arises I tend to reach for my JOFY stamps first and foremost!

Just recently I have been playing around with Brusho watercolour paints using JOFY and Lin Brown stamps as I’ve found that the big open designs of these stamps work just perfectly with the Brusho paints. Although I work by adding in different layers of stamping and incorporating little touches of detail I often like to keep a ‘lightness’ to my finished project.

So without further ado, here’s a little step by step tutorial on how I made this card using JOFY stamps and Brusho paints.

Step 1: Start by stamping and embossing the bobble flowers from JOFY38 onto a 14cm² white watercolour panel using VersaMark and White Detail embossing powder. Sprinkle a little of the Moss Green Brusho around the flowers and heavily spritz with water then move the paint around if required with a wet paintbrush. Using a piece of kitchen towel carefully dab within the bobble flowers to soak up any excess paint. 

JOFY38 

Step 2: Thoroughly dry the panel with a heat gun. (It is really important that the panel is crispy dry before moving on to this next step.) Using a clean paintbrush, paint water into each of the bobble flowers then sprinkle Purple Brusho into the first flower, Violet Brusho for the second, both Violet and Purple for the third flower and just the Purple for the fourth flower. 

Step 3: Thoroughly dry the panel. Mix some of the Moss Green Brusho with a little water into a palette and using a fine paintbrush shadow each of the bobble flowers then soften these lines with a damp clean paintbrush. 

Step 4: Ensure the panel is dry then stamp the tall skinny bobble (JOFY38) into some of the spaces using a Frayed Burlap Distress inkpad. Stamp the spikey flower (JOFY38) into the background using a Shaded Lilac Distress inkpad and heavily soften the image with a baby wipe. Sprinkle Moss Green Brusho around each of the panel’s edges and spritz with water.

Step 5: To finish stamp ‘be the rainbow’ (JOFY38) with black ink then highlight with a white gel pen. Colour the skinny bobble flowers with a BV01 Copic pen and trace over the rainbow wording with it. Add black detail with a fine liner pen to the main imagery. 

Step 6: Before sticking to a white watercolour card blank sprinkle on Stampendous Shabby White embossing enamel and heat from underneath.

When using Brusho bear in mind that a little goes a long way as these paints contain intense pigment so to keep a light ethereal feel only use a little or if you prefer a stronger/darker look to your project then sprinkle a little more. My advice is to sprinkle finely to begin with as you can always add more if you want to! For this card project I chose to only use one colour for my background so that the flowers would be the focal point but you can also try adding a complementing colour to the background which will give you a totally different look to your finished panel. Just play!!

Kay x

Blog: http://kaycarley.blogspot.co.uk

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kay.c.wilson.1

I regularly teach classes at The Craft Barn, Nutfield, Surrey (September and October classes are currently fully booked)

Thankyou Kay for joining us this evening, this technique of flooding an embossed image is a really great way to retain some control over the Brushos while still achieving the colour explosion. ~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.

2015 #17 Brusho And Paste {by Sam Butler}

 2015 Topic 17: Pigment Powders

Hi all, Sam here. Lots of you already know me, but for those of you who don’t, here’s a bit about me. I’ve been crafting for quite a few years now and like anything distressed and grungy. I love any sort of crafting and would say that I am adventurous with new materials and am willing to give almost anything a try!! I have a mad 8 year old bearded collie, a partner of 20+ years and my favourite colour is Green.

This is more of a techniques post, rather than an end product post, to show just how versatile Brushos can be. I experimented with various different ways of using Brushos many of which can be seen here on my blog. I have lots of ideas with brushos, this is just one of many techniques I am showing you tonight!

Before we start ....The first thing I want to say is when you get your Brushos don’t take the lid off, instead pierce a hole in the lid to make a sort of shaker pot. 

 Step One: Tape a stencil to your tag, then shake on a few colours of Brushos.

Step Two: Spritz with water. Peel the stencil off and dry with a piece of kitchen roll

Here's the pattern left on the tag - you can see how all the different colours have mingled.

Step Three: Take out some Golden Regular Gel, sprinkle on some Brushos and mix. Now you have a coloured paste to put through your stencil.

Peel of the stencil again and there you have a tinted texture on the tag. See the lower part of the tag.

I then added some stamping  in Timber Brown StazOn from  HP1503, and then edged the tag in Gathered Twig Distress Ink.

Here are 4 tags and 4 different techniques. (details of each are on my blog here) 

All stamps are from the Hot Pick1503 except the script used to stamp with bleach, that was from the ESN03 plate.

I hope this has given you a bit of an insight as to how versatile Brushos can be, enjoy playing.

 Sam.

We are glad you have had so much fun experimenting with Brushos Sam, I have been fortunate enough to see all your lovely samples. Tonights tag showcases how the Brusho Powders work alongside thicker textures, yet still does not overpower the layers underneath. Thank you for sharing your creativity with us ~ Gillian.

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 Circles link will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, Sept 27th winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.