Travel Journal with EMW {by Floss Nicholls}

I was excited to be introducing Mags Woodcock's first set of mini stamps that she created and so I thought, as they are all based on travel, that I would create a journal that I would take on a journey at some point...I knew straight away that I wanted to use the stamps to make interesting feature pages and each in a multiple way. 

So the very first thing I did was to rip some paper to create the pages/signatures and a slightly bigger piece for the journal cover.

I had originally planned to use colours that would represent Mags in her 'true rusty' style that she is renowned for, but when I chose my paints I automatically discarded the oranges, yellows and browns because I was drawn to these three PaperArtsy fresco finish beauties (Blood Orange, Front Door, and Copper) I started making some collage fodder by stamping onto the gel plate knowing that these pages would get ripped and stripped into panels and segments.  

I folded the pages in half and measured and punched the holes for binding to start with. My thinking behind this was because I wanted to use infusions to colour a few pages the liquid will pool/puddle in the creases and holes rather than lying flat...I used Rusty Car and Just Walnut Dye Stain Infusions.

I 'rough sponged' the heavier paper that was to become the cover using PaperArtsy fresco finish Front Door and let that dry before using Just Walnut Infusions to add interest to the surface.

 

The plastic bag I used to protect my workbench had natural wrinkles and folds in it where it had been stored in a pile. This added wonderful texture to the paper where I left it over night so that the depth of the puddles would dry naturally.

I loved how the random plastic folds etc created lighter and darker areas. 

I then slotted the dyed pages amongst the blank and music pages.

I painted some close weave calico cotton using Fresco Finish Chalk acrylic paint leaving some areas unpainted.  I used this to stamp onto and pull a few prints off the gel plate too.  My idea behind this was to be able to create tabs or attention to detail on some of the feature pages.

I used The mini rubber stamp EM149 using Ranger Ground Expresso Distress Archival Ink on printer paper, tissue paper and the painted calico to give me a selection of different choices for the title words. The Ground Expresso was a nod to Mags' rusty browns and was softer than using a stark black. I needed to use my stamping platform for the calico especially as the weave, even though it was fine, made the fine lettering difficult to print.

When stamping the Mini Stamp EM148 onto the gel plate I liked to leave one half without paint rolled onto it so that I could transfer what comes off the gel plate when you press the stamp into the wet paint and stamp it further down the plate to leave the arrows without the background colour...(for those of you who are new to gel plate printing this is so that the colour you lift the print off with shows through heavier in the clear section.)

 

 

One technique I like to use when I have got paper that has been dyed using PaperArtsy infusions is rubber stamping with bleach...you must have your windows open (wearing a mask is advisable) to do this.  I pour a little bleach into a shallow glass dish; you only need a small amount.  There are two ways of doing this...using a flat brush, paint a small amount over the surface of the rubber stamp and press it onto your page or smear a little onto a paint palette and stamp the rubber stamp like an ink pad.  When you first press the bleach onto the paper it does not show straight away...it has to react with the pigment in the paper, hence why it works best with inks and stains and not acrylic paints as they generally sit on top of the paper. I used rubber stamp EM145 for the bleached detail on this page ad EM149 and EM146 for the added details. PLEASE NOTE...You must thoroughly wash your rubber stamps after you have used this technique to not only clean your stamp but to preserve the rubber.

You can see how using bleach creates a softer effect than using paint or embossing powders as it becomes part of the page rather than something stamped on top of it.  The heavy weight of the paper did not allow the bleach to penetrate through to the other side.

I used Mags Woodcocks Mini stamp EM149 to do the same on the right hand page here and you will see how I picked out a few of the words I printed onto tissue paper to add some of the written detail in for interest.

When journal making I like to add detail through where you stitch/bind the journal together. So after moving the other pages to one side I 'over' stamp where the pages would be joined using part of the rubber stamp EM146, this is so it can be seen from both sides.

 

I then added bleached and collaged detail to the page that would sit over the typed stamped words.  I like the way the bleach is not one solid colour but is somewhat diffused.

When initially tearing my pages in preparation of making my journals, I always leave a few intentionally longer or bigger...this is so that I can create pockets or flaps or margins to tuck other papers into or stitch for further interest. I often use paint to stamp with...make sure you wash your stamp straight after though!

Tearing and sticking in parts of the gel prints made some interesting feature pages...tucking some under the margin fold and then over stamping areas gave the page more attention to detail.  I'm sure that when I come to use the journal I am likely to gesso or white paint an area over the music page opposite to write or art onto.

A close up captured the metallic shimmer of the copper...

I love adding little tiny bits off the edges of gel prints for page borders...stitching into this and adding accents of Mags' PaperArtsy rubber stamp EM148 gave an otherwise blank page a nice starting point...it's always easier to add to a page that has already been started...in actual fact I do find it hard to know when to stop when journal making...when does the journal stop being made and the filling it with art start?...now that is a very good question!!!

adding more attention to detail using the calico and stamping straight onto the page...

Pressing lightly, both with part ink stamps and in paint made subtle background pages...

So, even though I have shared numerous pages with you, without a video here, it is very difficult to show the whole finished journal...there will be a video that you'll see on the PaperArtsy social pages and a full slower reveal on a reel on my Instagram page. I will announce that in my stories this week so watch out for that if you want to see the whole thing.

It would not be my art work without some kind of added machine stitched details...on the margins

Or the pockets...

or by hand on the tabs...the black ink was marking out where the stitching was to go...I use a Pilot Frixion pen which disappears when heat is used and so with a quick blast of the heat gun all ink is gone.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this blog as much as I have enjoyed making it and using the new stamps...this is just the beginning of what will be a fun journal to work into...oh and a cover to still decorate when I know the date I will use it.

Floss Nicholls: Mixed Media Artist and Tutor

Website: flossWORKSHOPart 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/floss.workshop.art

Instagram: floss_WORKSHOP.art

I'm scheduling classes for March and April shortly...If you are interested in a doing a mixed media in person workshop (East Sussex UK) 

 please drop me an email...info@flossworkshopart.com

NEW PaperArtsy Products: Fresco Paints {January 2021}

Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics

January 2021 New Product Announcement

 

Finally, after what seems like months and months we finally can announce the last paint family from our restructure that started in July 2019! Whew. 

 

We have 22 colour families of 6, plus we have 3 glazes, Pearlescent and Metallic sparkle glazes, Frosting Glaze for on acetate or glass, Drying retarder, Crackle Effect  4 metallic paints and then of course the Tracy Scott (bright colours x 20) and Seth Apter (subdued colours x 24) Series too! Toot Toot!

That's 132 colours in the Core collection + 44 from Seth and Tracy = 176, plus the 12 extras is 188 all together. I never thought when we released the first 12 we would end up with this many.

 

These minty greens are fresh and crisp. They are perfect with the purple blues we announced in October 2020, but also look marvellous with Corals, which is the main direction I have taken for this post! 

Here is the close up shot of the newest family

I've created a few projects to share with you, and as some new stamps also dropped this week (you might have noticed) I thought I would pull a few of those out too! It would be rude not to!

 

1. Collecting Shells

 

I loved Raquel's new stamp set which is a journaling background, which sat perfectly on this 8x8" card. I smooshed it into watery puddle of Verdigris on my Craft Sheet, and stamped it 4 times around the edge of the card.IT can be used as one big block, or trimmed or stamps and then trimmed to use the words/ numbers as you wish.

 

 

Then the leftover paint was blended in the middle and Peppermint stencilled through Raquel's new square stencil.

 

 

Grunge Paste was scraped down one side quite thin, and the Sara Naumann stamp, was gently tapped onto thinly smeared splat of Forest Paint on the craft sheet, then pressed into the GP. You need to set that aside to dry for some time before sanding it back, and then the words become clearer and sharper.

 

 

The shell was stamped onto Frosty Painted card, which also had the script above stamped in snowflake on it.

 

 

It's nice to have a bit of stamping in the background too. I have to keep things vertical and horizontal..it's just how I like it to be! The dots are from the new Sara Naumann stencil. I applied them Sara's way, rubbing GP through the stencil with my finger!

 

 

Here's a close up of that GP detail. Love it!

 

 

 

2. Fleury-Fly

With this being Raquel's first release in a year I had to paly with her stamps. I only intended to make one sample, but by the end of a relaxed afternoon of playing I had 4! Not bad for me!

Again, from my same Verdigris puddle I made another background directly onto Heavy Smooothy, this time with Sara's stamp from ESN49 (shown above). I kind of wanted some structure, so I kept printing it until I had the look I wanted. And yes I had some left over GP from the sample above, so that go used up too!  It's a pretty cool effect...

 

 

I painted up some green and coral card scraps, and stamped the flowers and leaves a bunch of times. I could have done it again and layered the flowers again in side these -that is what they are designed to do after all! But I didn't ! No clue why!

 

 

The little butterfly on the green frame looks so cute as an embellishment. A little bit of gentle card bending adds a bit of life.

 

 

I just love the texture that Grunge Paste gives, smooth, rough, tinted, or not. Perfect.

 

 3. Tweet Tweet

 

Again, that watery puddle made quite a few backgrounds! It is interesting how crisp the stamped image turned out too! I find it is abut how you loosen the paint, not too wet, not too thin, and you want the paint to look right on the rubber too. Shiny not sloppy! 

 

 

There is a knack, but once you find the right consistency it is easy.  I stamped the word block in Verdigris, and the flowers at the edges in Forest. 

 

 

 

Then used the same colours to edge the card the same way you would with Distress Ink. (using up the dregs again) This was another 8x8" sample.

 

 

For the birds I stamped them on Frosty painted card in Verdigris, then added colour with the various shades. It was a bit of a hit and miss approach, but chose to ink up in black and stamped over again once dry to add the details. If you look closely you can see that it didn't line up perfectly, but I really wasn't bothered. Cut out and stuck down.

 

 

Added the Little bird words onto one of the frames, and the butterflies at the top to finish.

 

 

4. Butterfly Belly

 

I was using washi tape for a repeat stencilling thing, and so rather than throw it away, I kept tearing it and arranging it onto a piece of card. I painted over it with Mouse Ears, and the block stamp fitted 3 times perfectly from top to bottom.

To make the washi pop a bit, I dry brushed Frosty sand then Peppermint over the texture and it just caught it nicely. A few splatters in the mouse ears too

 

The elements I had stamped and cut our earlier were arranged very simply on top.

 

 

Sometimes it nice to just play with a few stamps and kind of do the same thing slightly differently each time. These cards were all super simple just watery painty play, using up every last drop, and having the lovely focal points to go on top made finishing off so easy. I could sit and make simple backgrounds like this all day every day!!

So now that we have the last family done, we can see the entire Fresco Chalk Range like a rainbow!

Let me remind you ...

1. Bright Turquoise Blues

New: Aquamarine

2. Grey Turquoise Blues

New: Waterfall, Calypso

3. Grey-Green Blues

New: Blue Moon, Marbles, Paua Shell - Jan 2020

Tweaked: Lake Wanaka (barely)

 4. Grey Blues

New: Ice Berg, Wolf Eye, Blue Smoke, Blue Jeans

Tweaked: Surf's Up

5. Bright Clean Blues

New: Summer Sky

Tweaked: Blue Oyster, Smurf, China (Barely), Twilight (noticeably)

6. Purple Blues

New: Cloudy, Crispy Blue, Pool, Azure, Electric - Oct 2020

Tweaked: Blueberry (not much)

7. Blue Purples

New: Periwinkle, Forget-me-Not

Tweaked: Wisteria, Purple Rain (not much)

8. Purples

New: Mauve, Globe Thistle, Grape - Jan 2020

Tweaked: Moonlight (barely)

9.Pink Purples

New: Taro Milk Tea, Byzantium

Tweaked: Sugar Plum, Sour Grapes

10. Bright Pinks

New: Professor Plum (returned colour)

Tweaked: Orchid

11. Soft Pinks

New: Sorbet

Tweaked: Blush, Cherry Blossom, Rose (barely)

12. Coral Pinks

New: Peachy Keen, Scottish Salmon, Blood Orange (returned colour)

13. Bright Warms

New: Cayenne, Red Lipstick

14. Rustic Warms

15. Browns

New: Cloud 9, Sand

16. Neutrals

New: Truffle

17. Greys

New: Elephant (returned colour)

18. Khaki Greens 

New: Lichen, Khaki - Jan 2020

19. Mint Greens

New: Peppermint, Frosty, Verdigris, Front Door, Mouse Ears, Forest - Jan 2021

20. Clean Greens

NEW: Willow, Celery, Spring, Pistachio, Beanstalk, Gumboots - March 2020

21. Fresh Greens

New: Lawn

Tweaked: Teresa Green, Hyde Park (barely), Guacamole, Granny Smith (a bit)

22. Yellow Greens

Tweaked: Chartreuse, Hey Pesto (noticeably), Tinned Peas (barely) 

Here are Seth's 24 colours as they stand, lets put them in a rainbow.

 

And of course the existing 20 shades in Tracy's line...

 

All of the new paints are available to purchase now from our approved stockists. We do not put these items on our website, so if you need to find them, the fastest way is to do a shout out on our FB group, PaperArtsy people (link at the foot).