2021 Topic 13: Tiny (News) Print with ESA {by Jenny Marples}

    2021 Topic 13: Tiny (News) Print

Making a scene from non-scene type images is a clever stretch of any stamps. Jenny has been experimenting with some of Seth Apter's new stamps and made a fabulous wall of words. She's got some great tips for making your stamping look metallic and creating more natural looking foliage and flowers.
~ Keren

Hi everyone, it's Jenny (Pushing The Right Buttons) with you today, and I'm here to share with you a new journal page that features images from one of Seth Apter's new releases. 

I am a huge fan of Seth's designs particularly because they are so often based on the architectural and structural features he sees around him every day in NYC. Looking at them from a different perspective they could also represent things seen in and on buildings in other parts of the World, like a cottage in rural France for example...

This piece begins with the edge of a torn piece of manuscript and some PaperArtsy Grunge Paste, all designed to give the feel of the side of a rustic building.

Apply Sand, Stone, Heavy Cream and Chalk Fresco Finish paints in layers (working from dark to light) with a spatula to blend the manuscript and Grunge Paste together.

 

Seth's 'The Alphabet' text stamp from his new ESA25 stamp set was the original inspiration for this whole piece - to me the way the letters and surrounding tiny text have been grouped look like uneven brickwork.

  

Repeat stamp 'The Alphabet' (minus its title section and final line) using a pale grey permanent ink, knowing the uneven layer of Grunge Paste beneath will give the stamping a worn feel by missing parts.

 

Use the grouping of the letters as a guide and draw around them with a permanent marker (black or dark grey are perfect for this). I would suggest practicing on a piece of scrap of paper so you can work out what you want your 'bricks' to look like.

 

 

Add some shading to make the bricks look more realistic - I used a watercolour pencil along the bottom and left-hand side of each brick, blending out the shading with a water brush. At this point you can reapply patches of Grunge Paste to break up the pattern a little and tone down the lines around the bricks if they are too prominent with some more paint.

 

This second stamp from Seth's set immediately reminded me of window shutters. To recreate them start by applying a thick layer of Grunge Paste to a piece of card. Allow it to start to dry a little then push the stamp into the paste to create an impression. Two hints; first, if it doesn't create the right impression use a wet spatula to smooth out the paste and try again. Second, make sure to spritz your stamp with water before plunging it into the paste and wash it as soon as you've finished to remove excess paste.

 

 

When the embossed paste has dried paint it and then re-stamp with a contrasting permanent ink (I used a white StazOn Pigment pad for this). You can make a 'mount' for your completed shutters by drawing brick shapes on a slightly larger piece of card, painting them with the same paints as the main wall. It's worth painting the centre of the mount too since some of it may show when your shutters are glued on top.

 

Older walls often have metal ties inserted into them to prevent them from pulling apart and ultimately falling down! Another of the stamps from Seth's set is perfect for recreating those. Try clear embossing over your stamped 'ties' to give them a metallic look.

 

 

With the building 'constructed' it's time to add some prettiness and colour. One place to start is with Kay Carley's stencil PS080 which helpfully includes little butterflies and dragonflies as well as the grasses and flowers found in a rural border. Use a mix of green shades for a more realistic feel.

After starting with the stencilled greenery you can make it even more 'wild' and unstructured by dipping a wooden skewer into the various green paints and adding pointed lines over the top. I also added extra detail to the flowers following the positioning from the stencil.

It's often only when you get to see the 'almost complete' stage of a project that you can take a step back and consider if it needs any adjustments. In this case with the walls looking too grey I went back over the edges with a little more Grunge Paste and followed up by adding patches of the Sand coloured paint.

The window panel was glued into its final position, a little over from where it was originally planned.

 

To help draw the eye around the finished page a little better, a couple of the tiny butterflies were stencilled in place using a mix of the Claret and Grape paints. You can draw in the tiny details like the antennae with a fineliner pen.

I found when it came to stamping the phrase 'found and gathered' from Seth's stamp set it didn't quite fit around the flowers. To make it work I stamped the first two words independently of the third, moving that one a little further over to the right.

Here's a reminder of what the finished piece looks like;

 

Take a look at the images in your stamp sets with fresh eyes to see what they bring to mind. It may be something you've encountered on adventures abroad or even something much closer to home. You don't need to draw an entire building or landscape to capture the feel of those surroundings.

Thank you so much for stopping by.

Jenny

Blog: https://pushingtherightbuttons.blogspot.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jenny.marples.73
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/jennymarples73/

2021 Topic 6 Mandala Mix with TS {by Jennie Atkinson}

 2021 Topic 6: Mandala Mix

This blur-ple inspired mandala layered panel is rich with texture and shades of the same tones. Jennie explains so clearly how she pulls her layers together so that the elements don't get lost on each other. I find that really helpful to understand that process. I hope you do too.
~ Leandra

Hi everyone, it's Jennie (Live the Dream) with you today sharing a mixed media hanging.

I have been itching to use Tracy's gorgeous mandalas and flowers in a mixed media project and knew that they would layer beautifully. I seem to be eating a lot of blueberries at the moment (a new diet!) and so instinctively reached for the Blueberry Fresco and decided to give Violet Storm Infusions an outing ...... not one for the faint-hearted! I'll share how I tamed it down a bit later!

I have used three of Tracy's stamp sets along with a matching stencil:

 

TS051

TS047

TS057 (available from stockists list here)

PS210

  

These were my Fresco colours: Blueberry, Concrete, Cloud 9 and Grape. I used Grape for the outside border as it was a better match than the Blueberry. And of course the little pot of gorgeousness: Violet Storm Infusions.

 

To start I experimented a little with my Gelli Plate using Blueberry, Concrete and Cloud 9 to see if I could match papers to a tag I stamped with Archival Ink. 

I find this is a good starting point and even if I don't use what I have pulled from the plate (like the tissue) I have some nice pieces to get started.

I have use an A5 piece of greyboard for the background of the panel. I live to give it a coat of white gesso before layering some text paper which I thought would show through the gorgeous mandala stencil. In hindsight I wished I hadn't torn such straight lines! But overall it does tend to blend into the background once the layering is finished.

The next part of the process was to see if the Violet Storm Infusions would match.  For a while this was one of my favourite Infusions but it can be very dark. This is is how it started but I keep spritzing with water and mopping up and then leave it to dry which always seems to make it a little lighter. As long as you have added a good coat of gesso to your dry board you can spritz it really heavily with water without any damage.

I loved how the violet and pinkish hues came through once it had dried, but once the layering was added it did feel a little blue so I dry brushed some Cloud 9 Fresco here and there where the colour was the darkest. 

I also rubbed a little silver wax around the edges of the stencilling to highlight the texture.

And so to the layering - I always spend some time stamping different elements on the Gelli Plate papers. Looking for lighter areas but which all match as I used the same combination of Frescos. 

I like to ink a stamp and then keep stamping it without re-inking to get different tones. This is quite important when layering as if everything is the same tone the elements will get lost.

Which is what happened to the main flower. I had stamped it on the coloured papers but something was just not working despite the addition of some white lace and a white sentiment. However when I stamped it on cardstock painted with Cloud 9 Fresco it just jumped off the background!

When layering I start with one or two flat layers. These I adhere to the background on an edge which is going to be covered. That leaves the outside edge "floating" without giving the impression that it has been adhered. 

I used the clock stamp to create a smoother edged style to the rest of the elements and also it sat quite beautifully in the lace !

I use leftover pieces of greyboard to adhere subsequent layers. This is more robust than foam pads and still allows the outside edges to appear to be "floating".

I really love the way these colours came together despite my initial misgivings.  The gorgeous stamps gave depth that was possible with just four layers. What I would really like to try is a similar layering but just using the stamps and a masking technique in order to create a single layer of stamping but with a layered effect. I am sure it would work beautifully. 

Also don't be put off by large stamps. They are great for cutting into smaller tags and elements and if you have a die cut machine and a tag die you can work out the area of the pattern you want to use.

Such beautiful stamps and stencils by Tracy which I am sure will become favourites.

 As always thank you for joining me!

Jennie

Blog: Live The Dream
Instagram: @atkinsonjennie
Pinterest: Jennie Atkinson