2023 Topic 9 : Lynne Perrella - Designer Focus {by Mags Woodcock}

Hi everyone

Mags here with you today.

I've been having fun with the topics and theme for this quarter's blog posts. As usual I couldn't decide which to go for, so incorporated them all. I love creating art dolls and Lynne Perrella's stamps are ideal for this. With tons of gorgeous detail and beautiful faces, it was a difficult to choose which stamps to use. In the end I decided to create a 3D doll with wings, so Lynne Perrella Stamp sets (LPC042) and (LPC041) were the obvious choice. I also wanted to use the colours Leandra had chosen for the master wheel, there was a pretty Aqua and the other two colours created a flesh tone and pale rust, ideal for my idea. The over-arching theme for this quarter is transparency and I had a few ideas for incorporating this, the main one being recycling a used plastic bottle and creating acrylic skins. More of that later.

I love how my art doll turned out, I call her Rusty Rosa as she reminds me of a Spanish princess with her terrarium crown and layered, textured skirt. I had so much fun creating her wings using Paperartsy Fresco Finish Pearl Glaze (FF53) and Crunchy Waxed Kraft Paper (WKPA5), it's an easy technique and uses up those leftover baby wipes from cleaning the rusty tray. If you follow me on YouTube you will know all about my rusty trays!

My initial idea for creating Rosa's skirt was to use wire or chicken wire , unfortunately this idea didn't work. As with a lot of creative ideas, we rethink and adapt and I think that my second idea of using a plastic juice bottle turned out better. I may create a second art doll using the other stamp in the set along with a different shape bottle, but for now, lets concentrate on Rosa.

I love using texture and rust in my projects and was keen to combine fabric with both, so Rusting Powder (RP45) and Grunge Paste (GP190) were going to play a role here. I also liked the idea of film-transparent look to her wings, so Pearl Glaze might work to create an acrylic skin to combine with or sit over the stamped wings.

The starting point was to create my colour wheel. There is a downloadable colour wheel in the PaperArtsy People Facebook Group files. I printed it on a sheet of A5 heavy copy paper. I fell in love with all the gorgeous colours it created with just 3 Fresco Finish paints.

Next I chose a split complimentary colour scheme, this being the PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic-Aqua Duck egg (FF199) as my Primary colour with the 'split' of the two tertiary colours at either side of the orange directly opposite. These shades are created from Butter (FF129) and Candy Floss (FF70). Its much easier to see this explained in the photo below. 

It was now time to create the doll and her skirt. I usually start with a prototype for projects such as this, it makes it easier to plan and change direction if needed. So I stamped out the images from  Lynne Perrella stamp set (LPC042) and (LPC041) that I wanted to use on medium weight cardstock. As you can see, there are lots of fabulous details in the stamp which were going to be useful later.

Creating the skirt base for my doll was fairly straight forward, I measured and cut the clear plastic bottle to the correct height. It was at this point that I realised some adjustment to the arms of my stamped figure would be necessary as the skirt wouldn't fit at the waist with the arms so close to the body. So I removed the arms from my prototype and fashioned extras to see how they would work as movable limbs. This was an added bonus, created out of necessity.

It was at this point that I could see the potential for creating added details on the doll as well as creating some fabulous textures on fabric to contrast with the clear plastic of the skirt base. I still wasn't sure how I would bridge the gap around her waist, but that would become clear later.

 

Now that I had a firm idea how the basic structure of my doll would work it was time to create some of the more exciting parts of the project. I had always had a firm idea of how I wanted the skirt and wings to look. As it turned out, my original idea for the wings would need to change slightly, but we'll come to that later.

To create my doll's body I stamped onto heavy weight water colour card using Ranger Archival ink  (Jet black) and a stamping platform. At this point it is important not to remove the stamps from the platform. I then coloured the face, legs and arms of the image with the flesh coloured paint.

Once completely dry, you can place the painted card back into the platform and repeat the stamping to add any lost details back onto the image. Fresco paints being so chalky accept ink beautifully, and it dries fast on the paint too!

It was now time to move on to adding some interest and texture to the fabric from which the skirt would be made. I gathered a selection of cotton and natural fabrics.

The first strip of muslin had some stencilled letters and numbers added using Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black ) and a sponge. Lynne doesn't have any stencils in her PaperArtsy designs, so I used a  PaperArtsy Stencil by Sara Naumann (PS271) which tied in with the numbers and letters on Lynn's stamp designs.

I had some tea-stained cotton in my selection, I taped the stencil to the fabric to mask off any area where I didn't want Grunge Paste, but also to make it easier. The paste was easily applied with a palette knife.

Whilst the Grunge Paste was still wet, and with the stencil and tape removed, I placed the fabric in a plastic tray and sprinkled over a generous amount of Rusting powder (RP45) onto the wet paste. Once the paste was dry it was easy to brush off any excess powder and return it to the pot. The fabric was given a generous sprinkling of white vinegar to activate the Rusting Powder and left to develop overnight in a well ventilated room.

I was in love with the end results. The texture and rust was wonderful.

I had an idea for creating the wings for my doll using baby wipes. To continue the rusty vibe, but at the same time clean the plastic tray used for the rusted fabric, I cleaned the tray out with a couple of wipes and set them aside.

 Once completely dry I tore them into small pieces ready to use on the wings.

The next stage was to create the base for the wings. I had run out of acetate sheets, so had to improvise, thankfully I had a huge amount of laminating pouches sitting unused in a box. I stamped the Butterfly image from stamp set LPC041 on the inside of the pouch using  Ranger Archival ink (Sepia) whilst it was still wet I used a cotton bud to smudge the edges of the wings outwards slightly for a softer look. Once passed through the laminating machine the image was indelible.

Once I had cut the butterfly wings out with sharp scissors, it was time to add the texture, rust colour and transparent elements. I laid the wings face down on a sheet of PaperArtsy Crunchy Waxed Kraft Paper (WKPA5)  I laid several torn pieces of rusty baby wipes onto the wings and used Paperartsy Fresco Finish  Pearl Glaze (FF53) as an adhesive to attach them. Gradually building up the layer and leaving the frayed edges overlapping the edge of the wings. Brushing the Pearl glaze well past the edges of the wings and baby wipe, onto the Crunchy Waxed Kraft Paper  creates an acrylic skin. I made sure to repeat this several times, drying between layers. The rusted wipe layers took quite a long time to dry, so I suggest to leave it overnight at least.

Once all the layers were completely dry, I gently and gradually pulled the wings from the Waxed Kraft Paper. I started in the middle between the two wings and this seemed to work well. Once removed from the paper, I pulled tiny bits from the Pearl Glaze acrylic skin at the edges if it was too uniform. I love the way it gave the wings a ragged look at the edges with wispy fibres running through. They were almost done but needed a bit of detailing to tie them into the rest of the project colour wise. A few dots of coordinating paint added the finishing touches.

Crunchy - Waxed Kraft Paper

Looking at my selection of rusted fabrics I wanted a softer coloured piece but with texture too.

I remembered I had brayered some leftover paint from the project onto a section of muslin, this was ideal surface to add texture to.

I love to add burn holes to paper and wanted to try this idea with fabric, so here was my chance ! It worked a treat. I used a incense stick and made sure I worked on my glass mat with a very wet cloth next to me, just in case.

I now had all my elements completed, it was time to bring them all together.

There were quite a few twists and turns with this project, some through necessity, some through artistic choice, but in the end they all added to the finished look of my art doll.

My original idea for the skirt was to have a full skirt which covered the plastic bottle, but as I worked on the layered skirt I realised I liked the transparent underskirt showing. The arms on my doll had to be adapted, this added an extra element. As you will see from the following photos, the wings also had to be adapted from my original idea. All these things could be seen as problems to overcome, but I like to see them as the project evolving and improving.

It was time to create the layered fabric skirt. Remember those rusty baby wipes from earlier ? I teased the edges of two a little to create a wavy edge and ran a gathering thread along the top edge. I repeated this with all the strips of fabric I had prepared.

Once I had all my layers gathered it was time to glue them to the bottle. As I said previously, I had planned on a full skirt, but I liked the idea of the underskirt showing. This tied in with the theme and added another visible transparent element. I tried various adhesives and discovered that Fabri-tac worked the best, it gave a strong bond with a shorter drying time than others. I started at the bottom of the skirt and worked my way to the top, finishing with a full circle of the painted, burnt muslin. I also added some scrunched up Crunchy Waxed Kraft Paper between the layers for more texture and contrast.

Now back to the art doll, who needed some arms. I backed my doll with PaperArtsy Grey board (GB03) for strength and created some arms from card which I had painted with  leftover paint from colouring the stamped image. As you can see I made the arms long enough to overlap the shoulders.

I used a Cropadile to punch through the shoulders of the doll and added rusty brads to allow the arms to move.

My doll was now ready to be dressed. She fitted into her skirt easily and I started to add some fussy-cut elements to her arms and legs. These had been stamped onto leftover painted paper.

The next step was to add her wings. This is were I encountered a problem. Her wings were too big to fit easily on her back. I tussled with this problem for quite a while before deciding to bite the bullet and cut her wings in half.  It was the best decision !

Once I had decided to make the cut everything just fell into place. I glued the top half of her wings to the back of her body and the bottom half onto her skirt at the waist. Strangely enough they still look connected, even though they aren't.

I was very happy with how Rosa was coming along, the transparent elements fitted with the theme and I loved all the rust and texture. It was time to move on to the finishing touches, so my Spanish Princess was ready for her coronation.

I wanted to add some little details to Rosa's underskirt, so tiny fussy cut numbers from the stamped images were just the thing. I used gel medium to make sure they stuck well to the plastic.

A few extra fussy-cut elements were needed, I added shading to the edges with a soft pencil, smudging it out with a cotton bud.

The last  two elements to add were her crown and butterfly belt. I stamped the girl with the  terrarium from stamp set LPC041 onto acetate using StazOn Ink (Black), I adjusted and cut the acetate to fit Rosa like a crown and attached at the back of her head. The stamped and painted  butterfly belt bridged the gap between the body and skirt.

I really loved creating Rosa and who knows I may create a sister for her using the second image in the stamp set. I had fun playing with the Pearl Glaze to create the acrylic skins on her wings and I've found a new use for those unused laminating pouches that I have so many of.

I will definitely be using my Grunge Paste and Rusting Powder combined on fabric again, I love the effect and texture. Rosa will be taking centre stage at Christmas in our house, atop one of our many decorated trees. I may just create some matching Christmas decorations too. I can imagine a rosette of fabric with a face in the centre. I would love to see any projects inspired by Rosa, so please share them in the PaperArtsy People FaceBook Group.

Have fun and happy crafting

Mags

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2023 Topic 8 : Master Wheel - Double split complementary shade {by Floss Nicholls} with Seth Apter stamps

Hi everyone

It's Floss with you here with you today.

I've been having fun playing in my journal with double split complementary colours this week using the 2023 Topic 8 colour combo: Aqua Duck Egg FF199, Candy Floss FF70, Butter FF129 and adding Little Black Dress FF19 to gain shades of the of the many combinations on the colour wheel.  With this quarter's transparency theme in mind I decided to use apertures through the page as there's nothing more transparent than an open window and so I created lots of holes to peek through. I really had to be mindful where I placed designs so that they'd work over two pages...here's how I got on...

Naturally, it's difficult to show all four of the pages I created in one 'finished project photo' when working in a journal, so let me explain what I did and why I did it, working up to showing you the outcomes over four pages...

I was excited to start using the new Seth Apter mini stamps EM73 and EM79 along with his ESA35 stamp set, EM52 and the EM40 stamps as I knew that I could create some great textures and features with these.

Before I started working in my journal I needed to look at what this topics colours; butter, aqua duck egg and candy floss would make when mixed together to choose which combination I would use.

I liked the option of the double split complimentary selection as I could add more interest by having more colours involved that I knew would work well together having both impact and subtlety. I chose number 6 on my wheel as the base colour and matched it up with the two segments either side of it's direct opposite. The diagram below in the middle picture of the top row will show my choice.

A more detailed explanation of the double-split complementary colour wheel and the benefits of using this selection written by Keren Baker can be seen either here... 2022 Topic #8: Split complementary or also beautifully explained by Dounia Large here 2023 Topic 08: Master Colour Wheel - Topic Introduction. Both are well worth a read.

Having selected my colours from the colour wheel, I then needed to mix them into another wheel using different amounts of little black dress FF19 to create shades of each of the colours.  I found this exercise very therapeutic and would recommend doing this if you ever lose your creative spark and need to get back into your art but don't know what to do. 

I always mix an equal amount of all three colours together when I create my colour wheel to create what can be a more muddy shade. This mix can be seen below on the right hand image with 1+5+9 written inside the box.  I find it useful to do this as I feel that the 'total mixed colour' tends to harmonise a piece of art by pulling all the colours together .

I was choosing between split complementary...

...and double-split complementary, which as you know I went ahead with...

Breaking an empty page is often considered to be one of the hardest thing to do when creating art and so I used ESA35 and a WOW clear matt embossing powder to put some basic transparent texture onto the double page spread.

Then I used a dry sponge to add my first colour onto the double spread; I used the tertiary No8 segment without black for the colour base. I added texture using the dots from stamp set ESA35 using the same colour but with Little Black Dress to add a contrast with it's darker shade. Now the first page was underway...time to turn it over to prepare the other double spread.

I used the section 3 toned mix for the base colour of this double spread.  As you know, I like to add plenty of textures into my art and so I used EM79 and Rangers distress archival ink in Hickory smoke over the other journal spread to add interest to a flat page. Note that I am now going to be working over two spreads simultaneously. 

 

I started laying out some of the rubber stamps and drew rough circles to mark where I was going to carefully cut my apertures out using a scalpel and a cutting mat between the pages.

Keeping the colour wheel to hand, I stamped a whole batch of tissue papers with a selection of the stamps I was using to give me plenty of choice when it came to adding details. (It also gives me plenty of fodder to play with at a later date too!) I painted the reverse of the tissue paper in some areas making sure that my paint mixes matched those on my wheel.

I also painted some block colours and stamped over them using the same double-split complementary colours and stamp sets.

 

Drawing through the holes onto the printed coloured paper allowed me to get the exact shapes I needed.  I use a Pilot Frixion pen to do this as it can be erased easily by gently heating it gently with a heat gun or hair dryer which is much quicker and less damaging to the surface than an eraser and pencil.

Using the apertures from the page that closes over this place your designs and check to see whether they show what you'd like to see through the holes.  I like to hide some of the designs so that both pages are not in replica. 

Having seen how the colours work together through the holes, I thought that I'd like to bring more detail and colour onto the page and so using the Frixion pen once more I traced through the hole to match the opening of the aperture then rough cut a ring to edge finish the hole in another shade.

Now that I had most of the pieces glued into place I wanted to bring it all together.  At this stage I thought a lot of the designs were just floating on the page and it needed tying together.

Whilst I was deciding what detail to add to the pages, I used a scrap piece of paper between the pages so that I could ink some of the apertures that did not have a coloured ring around them. This gave a little more definition and contrast.

Using the little stitches stamp from ESA35 and Rangers distress archival ink in Hickory smoke I added the little crosses to the first page spread...

 

and to the second page spread along with the dots on line stamp from the same ESA35 set using a darker shade from segment 3 of the colour wheel. These were my final outcomes...

Lifting the page slightly will show any areas that need trimming off to make the apertures neater...

I especially enjoyed the challenge of setting the designs behind the apertures as well as at the same time being able to see elements of it peeking through.  I still have not decided if this is 'done' yet.  I think I may revisit it to add some hand stitching to accentuate some of the little crosses but I would need to be super careful with the reverse of the page with the apertures cut out...

It was a fun project to do and colour mixing is always interesting with the amount of colours you can make using just 3 paints...or in this case four.  I hope this has inspired you to cut holes out of your pages and reach for some of your favourite stamps to peep through them!

Until next time, enjoy your creative time

Love

Floss x x x 

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I have several classes going on throughout August and Sept including a mixed media creative wellness tag day on the August bank holiday monday especially for those of you who work hard all week and don't get much time off for weekday classes. (in person in East Sussex UK)

If you need to plan ahead...then I have two full day mixed media classes running back to back on 31.10.23 and 01.11.23...check the website to see the difference between the two days.