Matchbook Ephemera Folio with ESA {by Tracy Hickman}

I needed somewhere to keep die cuts and ephemera for an upcoming Seth Apter Art Workshop so I created an accordion folio with craft and glassine envelopes  for storage.  using every stamp in Seth's new 3 set release for PaperArtsy, (ESA49), (ESA50) and (ESA5)1.  Below is a close up of the decorated matchboxes that house ephemera on the folio's cover.  Coming up: how to bleach fabric using stamps!

I knew I wanted to dye fabric with PaperArtsy Infusions for a rusted look.  One of the stamps in PaperArtsy Eclectica - (ESA51) by Seth Apter was calling out to be used with bleach on this rusted fabric scrap.  The compliment to rust is blue and this trio of Paper Artsy Fresco Chalk Acrylics in Niagara Falls, Jade and South Pacific created a gorgeous ombre blend as a backdrop for a new favorite PapterArtsy stamp in Eclectica - (ESA51) by Seth Apter that created an abstract snowy scene.  Infusions in Green Man and A Bit Jaded were added for depth and pooling around the embossed marks.

The leaf stamp in Eclectica -ESA 49 inspired the cover and color palette to compliment the teals and rusts.  I used PaperArtsy Infusions in: Green Man,  Olive Tree  and Slimed to stamp 3D "trees".  Using the smooshing technique with Infusions and water on a craft mat on some creamy watercolor paper I embellished with embossing powder using that fabulous script stamp in PaperArtsy Eclectica ( ESA49) by Seth for texture.

A close up of Infusion stamped trees sewn together (love how the infusions created these perfectly imperfect impressions, a stamping technique I'm looking forward to using more!)

When you need immediate gratification and don't want to wait for real rusted results, PaperArtsy Infusions in Rusty Car can come to the rescue.  I dyed this natural cotton canvas fabric in a water Infusion bath, dried thoroughly and attempted my first bleach stamping experiment.  Placing just enough liquid bleach to cover the bottom of a small dish, I stamped into the bleach, shook the stamp once to shake off any excess liquid and placed on the rusted fabric like a normal stamped impression.  The results were SO worth my apprehension  and can't wait to try this again!

Some additional stamping using PaperArtsy Eclectica sets (ESA49), (ESA50), (ESA51)  by Seth Apter that were used to decorate the inside craft envelopes and draw your eye to the abstract small paintings that are the focal point covers to the glassine envelopes you'll see next.

I developed the layers of these mini abstracts on craft paper in 3 steps..... Layer One is a combination of 4 PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics in this order:  Fuzzy Cactus, Heavy Cream, Teresa Green and Terracotta brayered up and down, left and right, one color at a time.

Midground Stamping for the Second Layer came next using many of the stamps from all three stamp sets using only black permanent ink and Distress Oxide Ink by Ranger Industries in Peacock Feathers.

Finally, Step Three concentrated on focal stamping using both black and white embossing powders to highlight this layer and add texture.  Using a limited and similar palette unified the pieces and helped tell an abstract story centered on mark making.

The final pieces below mounted on both sides of the glassine envelopes.

The finished Folio cover with a nod to landscapes which I love.  The moon stamp in PaperArtsy Eclectic ESA50 by Seth Apter was stamped on vellum and embossed, placed behind a metal eye piece to cap off the trees on top of the matchbook ephemera drawers..  The word ART was created from several of the word stamps and placed on tiny vials to hold rusting or embossing powders.

A peek inside the front cover, craft envelopes to hold die cuts and papers,  I intentionally kept these fairly simple to not fight with the square abstracts on the glassine envelopes.

4 flip envelopes to hold more ephemera and be a gallery of inspiration to show how to use stamps in different ways, focal points, edging and layers…

Brayered Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics add great texture behind background stamping in ink and embossing powders on the upper stamped layers for depth.

Love this focal stamp from PaperArtsy Eclectica - (ESA51) by Seth Apter, it would look great colored in with Mattints which I may come back and do.

You can see that same stamp here, this time used in the midground and stamped in Peacock Ink. This creates a subtle backdrop to “Make Memories”, the fabulous round word stamp, one of three that can be found in each of the three Eclectica Stamp sets.

I'm looking forward  to using this postmark and script stamp above to make vintage ephemera and seemed a perfect addition for this Ephemera Folio.  The above squares measure about 4.5" but these stamp sets have so much flexibility with a range in scale, they would be great used on  larger panels for framing and fabulous mixed media art.

Hoping you found a nugget of an idea in here somewhere.  Creative Wishes to all!

Tracy Hickman

@anonymouse.palette

Mini album with Seth Apter Products {by Etsuko Noguchi}

 

Hi everyone, nice to be back with you again

Etsuko here with you today.

This year on the blog, we have free reign to do a deep dive into PaperArtsy product ranges of our choosing. For this post I have been exploring Seth Apter's products. Today I'm looking forward to sharing with you what I figured out when I made the mini album with Seth Apter's stamps.

In this post, my theme is how to create a mini album using Seth's stamps in a fun and effective way. Please take a look.

Before starting the project, I first prepared these Seth products. The stamps are the latest ones released earlier this year and the colors are Seth’s originals.  I used most of the colors for gel printing by Seth's colours. It seems to me that Seth weaves stories by making stamps from things that inspire him on his walks and travels. I share that feeling and wanted to enjoy creating my works using these stamps. The paints I used here were PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics - Glacier Ice, Niagara Falls, Fuzzy Cactus, Heavy Cream, Steel Grey, Rusty, Kiwi Gold, Tomato and some more. Fabulous stamps were Seth Apter's stamp sets 43, 44 and 45 (ESA43, ESA44 and ESA45).

First I used gel plates to make the base of the album and the collage papers. The first painting I did, that Seth showed in a video, was to use opaque colors and then lightly dab transparent colors on top of them. I used black and white papers and printed them alternately until I had a paper of a color I liked.

In addition to the two-colored paper, I also prepared some washi papers, added paints with  water and printed it using the same gel plates. I used these for thin tape and coloring points.

This time I decided to make a simple rectangular mini album in the √2 golden ratio, using a collage technique made from gel print papers I had made previously. The diagram above explains how to create the √2 golden ratio rectangle used here.

Draw the diagonal of the square, and use the diagonal as a radius to draw an arc that is tangent to the extension of the base of the square. Draw a rectangle that encloses the resulting figure. This is a √2 rectangle. Dividing it will create a smaller √2 rectangles (from book - Balance in Design). I tried to base the collage on this method, but I didn't use it for everything. When I overdid it a bit, or the colors didn't work out, I just relied on my usual eyeballing to fix it. Using this √2, the actual dimensions of the rectangular card are 3 inches high and 4 1/4 inches wide.

These six cards were my first attempts and after some trial and error I eventually created the following 12 pages of cards.

I created 12 rectangular cards, as described written above, 3 inches high and 4 1/4 inches wide using Smoothy (Heavyweight) A4 white stamping card and collaged the gel printing papers on them top. From the 12 collaged cards I chose this card as the cover of the album. I used 'CLASSIFILD' from ESA07 stamp set.

Now, let me give you a brief introduction to each page. The gel printing papers were used almost as is, and variations were added by stamping with ink or embossing powder. The technique and Seth's stamps used will be shown in the enlarged photos below.

On this page, I added some leftover pieces. The embroidered fabric, stamped paper, and textured wallpaper used for paint stamping. The metal 6 is made by embossing foil using a cutting die and then coloring it in a vintage style with alcohol ink to create numbers and letters, which I use whenever necessary.

The marks shown here are from stamps and Seth’s printed tissue paper, and I love the Damask pattern stamp on the right-hand page and I think it will come in very handy.

Here I printed the letter X onto fabric and stitched around it. Also I embossed it onto wax papers with embossing powder then I glued them over the collage.

The last page. The photo is a little dark and hard to see, but the grid on the left page is made of bronze powder. You can see it in the enlarged photo below. I used light pink gel print paper for this whole page.

For the spine, I chose a simple vintage-style card.

I mainly use Seth's new 3 set stamps here, but I chose this CLASSIFIED for the focal point because the words stand out. I used Seth Apter stamp set 07 and 44 (ESA07 and ESA44). Ranger Industries Archival Ink (ground espresso and jet black) with Distress embossing powder (Lost Shadow).

I used Seth Apter Mini stamp EM45 with Distress embossing powder (Lost Shadow). The green lines were made by painting Green Patina onto washi paper and ripping it into thin strips.

PaperArtsy's blank tissue is thin but strong enough that it doesn't wrinkle easily, making it a great product. It also goes great with stamps and Mattints, so I use it whenever I get the chance. Here I used the ESA35 stamp with white embossing powder on blank tissue paper. I took the photo with the light shining on it, so the tissue paper looks white, but you can't really tell from the outside. Satin Glaze seems to be good for adhesion.

From here on, I will introduce the products, which are made using the same techniques. I used stamps are ESA43 and ESA18. The former used Archival Ink jet black with Lost Shadow embossing powder and the latter used mixed whitish powder.

Stamp is ESA34 with some Red Ink.

Stamped ESA43 with bronze powder on the Vellum paper.

Stamped ESA45 with Seth's Baked Texture the altered page.

Stamped ESA45 with Archival Ink jet black with Lost Shadow embossing powder. The photos below show the products used above.

I decided to make a fabric hinge to hold the 12 cards in the album. To match the colors of the album, I diluted Bougainvillea with water and dyed some off-white fabric, then dried it and it turned out a great color.

I stamped the EM69 stamp all over the dry cloth using Destress Ink Vintage Photo.

I rip a piece of hinge fabric to the width of the card, attached it between two cards with double-sided tape, and then joined two other cards together using a sewing machine.

I wanted to dangle something from the back of the album, so I tried out a lot of different things but nothing seemed right. I thought a simple thing like a branch would be good, so I bundled together some hemp string to make a branch, then wrapped embroidery thread around it and made it like this.

Since I made the width of the hinge fabric a little wider, the cards didn't hang loosely together, so I connected them tightly with backstitching like this. This completed the project.

 

In most cases, when I make an album, I emphasize unity and create one or two master boards, then insert photos and stamp images to create a flow. However, this time I wanted to try a √2 composition, so I made a collage using printed paper. There were some pages that were disjointed, but I enjoyed the process. I would like to use this experience to create more creative works. If you would like to create abstract works using Seth's stamps, please share them with us on Facebook, PaperArtsy people, or Instagram. We look forward to seeing you.

Thank you so much visiting.

Etsuko xx

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