2023 Topic 5 : Tinged Blue {by Ellie Knol} with Gwen Lafleur stamps

Hi everyone,

Ellie Knol from PAPER-STAMPS-COLOR here with you today.

Of course I've been enjoying some creative time lately. This topic 'Tinged Blue' had me thinking about mixing PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic (Surf's Up, FF146) with a neutral color, PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic (Mud Splat, FF61)
 

So first things first: as I wanted to share the mixing of the colors to be the initial step, I stamped with these mixed colors and also created some prints on the gelliplate to get me started. By exploring the colors and products normally gets me into a creative flow.
 
Beware: I did change my mind all through the project (not a problem for me as now I have a lot of stamped fodder left for future projects!)

Especially making the bottles a little see-through was sort of a challenge. 

This home-decor piece turned out quite different to what I'd envisioned, but I enjoyed every step of creating it. I hope you will read through the post and enjoy the techniques and use them as inspiration.

I went with the flow: you'll see! 

How did I get the white-washed effect on the tiny bottles? What substrate did I use to make them, and how did I get them rounded like a real bottle? Read on... 

I was not sure what type of project I was going to create, but I chose to play with the beautiful stamps from Gwen Lafleur; bottles and flowers - Gwen Lafleur stamp set 25 (EGL25) and stamp set 27 (EGL27). 
I was sure this combination would tickle me into a project I would enjoy making. I also chose to use Gwen Lafleur Mini Stamp 122 (MN122) for some texture.

Gwen Lafleur stamp set 25 (EGL25) 

Gwen Lafleur stamp set 27 (EGL27) 

Gwen Lafleur Mini Stamp 122 (MN122)

Why did I choose these stamp sets for this theme? I guessed the blue would be nice for the bottles, and the brown for depth. Their mixes open other windows. For texture the mini stamp will do!  

I ended up with 6 color mixes; eight colors to choose from now. I was tasked with using a 'neutral' color, so Mud Splat was the direction I went in.

I mixed PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic (Surf's Up, FF146) Up and PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic (Mud Splat, FF61) onto cardstock, and also painted it onto cardstock to be able to pick out the most suitable mix to stamp images with for the project at a later stage.

This is artsy happiness... (or PaperArtsy happiness).

I also created some prints on the gelliplate to get me started; maybe I will use them as a background?! Or for texture?! . 

Having all the collage materials and prints ready, I took the plunge to decide on the type of project: an altered embroidery hoop to create a window (and frame) for a home decor piece. 

I ended up using the 50/50 mixes to stamp with; not brown, not blue.. it almost looks like a browny green.

What will the backdrop be? Will I use a background from the prints, or a picture from a magazine or calendar? I had a look through my stash... making them visual and taking a picture of it makes the decision easier. 

Here we go.. the fun happens now: combining and assembling all the elements.

... stamping all the flower images with Memento Olive Grove ink... 

.. tearing strips from the gelatine prints because I need some texture! Decoupaging strips of the gelatine prints to the inner circle of the frame gives a quite unpredictable and textured feel to it.

Then painting the outer frame of the hoop: I painted it with PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic Mud Splat. and then went on to create a window window grid, the bottles would sit on part of this.

What else do I have to create? 

Oh, yes the bottles.... 

Remember: I stamped quite a lot of bottles on paper with the paint mixes, but bottles are transparent in real life.. how to achieve that?!

First step was to find some transparent sheet with a satin surface in my stash; that might be the solution. Stamping onto it was easy; the paint dried pretty quick! 

BUT : The substrate is not visible on the background.. what now? 

Follow the pictures and you''ll find out how what I've learned!

PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic (Snowflake, FF15):

I've got myself some fancy vases now: 

I stamped the flower images onto a sturdy watercolor paper. The ones that I picked, were then colored and fussy cut. I colored these images with water diluted paints to get a watercolor effect. Arranging them into the 'vases' was a delight all on its own.

A few more pictures ... 

Reflections of the sun?! While making pictures the sun decided to appear on part of it through a window...

Can you tell I LOVE the outcome of this home decor piece? It was a happy process! 

Creating this project made me realize how even more paint colors can be derived by mixing them. The sky is the limit as to what is possible. 
 
The bottles make me happy!
I LOVE colored glass! I collect green glass bottles: I have quite a few in my collection; so the stamps are right up my street. I just wish I had such an outstanding view through my front window, lol. 
I'd love to hear what inspired you and of course I'd like to see what you create! Share with us in the PaperArtsy FB group! 

Artists need to have their hands dirty! Have a good artsy day... 

Ellie Knol

The light outside changes the colors to its full glory!!

Blog: http://elliecreahoekje.blogspot.nl/

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2023 Topic 03: Focus on Seth Apter {by Floss Nicholls} with Seth Apter Products

Hi everyone, It's Floss Nicholls from the PaperArtsy team here with you today...

I've been enjoying some creative mark-making layering time since being presented with the theme "tracks" and coupling that up with the designers Seth Apter and Gwen Lafleur. It had me thinking about how we set ourselves goals/targets and have good intentions especially at the start of a  New Year and how by mid February I overhear how some have given up whatever goal they set etc etc la la la...often me included...and so as this blog post was due to come out around the end of Feb I decided it'd be good timing to make a small journal to record milestones/prompts or goals to put you (and me) back on track...it's also perfect timing for the start of the hundred day challenge for those of you who take part in that...so I do hope you'll enjoy what I've been up to this time and maybe make something similar to record your progress in...

I was thrilled with this session's focus being on Seth Apter as I totally admit to being a bit of a 'Sethaholic'. I love grungy layered mark making and all the worn scribbly bits it entails. Adding Gwen Lafleur into the mix would definitely allow me to have more fun with layers! 

The inside pages are gel printed using PaperArtsy fresco finish paints on recycled cartridge papers and layered and stitched tissue papers. I thought it would be apt to use colours created by Seth and use his recent ESA33 stamp set with Gwen Lafleur's new EGL34 stamp set to add complimenting detail to some mark making layers.

So the first thing I did was grab a selection of colours by Seth Apter and paint them on some scrap paper...I knew it was going to be tough to limit my colour palette as they all work well with each other.  I normally limit myself to three colours but this time I thought I have a few pages to play with...I knew once I started which colours would fall into place...

    Can you guess the colours I've selected before I list them?

I wanted to use quite rustic muted colours though several of them would also allow elements to "pop" when using the contrasts. PaperArtsy fresco finish acrylic Paint colours by Seth Apter: Venice Blue, Turquoise, Green Patina, Terracotta, Heavy cream, Desert Bush, Smoked Paprika, Mud Splat and Squid Ink.

I started using my gel plate, brayer and rolling a strip of PaperArsy fresco finish squid ink acrylic paint and making marks using ESA33 stamp set. I blotted off the rubber stamp onto a roll off sheet/previous gel print to make the most of the paint.

I did the same with EM48 and PaperArtsy fresco finish Heavy Cream acrylic paint making some really fun marks.

  

I really love to over-stamp an image to create texture...remember to let this layer dry before adding another layer of acrylic to pull your image which helps to add depth to your print.

Another great way I enjoy adding texture to a gel print is to roll through partial stencils over the top of what you have already rolled onto your gel plate whilst it is still wet. I used PaperArtsy fresco finish desert bush acrylic paint and Seth Apter Glyph grid stencil here.

Whilst my rubber stamp was still wet, I stamped it on another gel print to build layers and make more interesting marks.

Have fun using the stamp sets that you enjoy working with to make a few different pages. Here I stamped the gel plate first then waited for it to dry before rolling through a stencil, doing this will lift some of the stamped areas making it less uniformed...I let that layer dry too before adding a thin layer of acrylic to pull the print.

Sometimes gel printing goes smoothly...other times not so great!!! It happens to the best of us so don't be disheartened if it all goes terribly wrong like mine did...I used way too much paint for the tissue paper and it ripped and got stuck...yep I was a bit miffed as the layers under there were going to be amazing...but it was just not meant to be...

I rubbed the tissue paper mess off with my fingers as it was completely stuck...and started again paying more attention to the amount of acrylic I applied for these layers on the delicate tissue paper.

 

I loved the way the translucent terracotta worked over the other paints especially on the tissue papers...

I started to add stamped details for interest to the gel prints using stamp set EGL34.  I chose Ranger Archival Dusty Concord and Ranger Archival Ground Expresso inks to do this.

I then decided to play with the face stamps...I printed ones with and without colour accents as you can see from the image below.  The colour accents were made by printing the faces on to the gel plate using Ranger Archival Ground Expresso ink and letting that dry.  I then painted lips eyes etc in PaperArtsy fresco finish smoked paprika and letting that dry before rolling a little PaperArtsy fresco finish turquoise acrylic and letting that dry too before rolling PaperArtsy fresco finish desert bush acrylic paint to pull the image.

 

Have some fun with tissue papers as well with these techniques as they are handy to stick over pages throughout the journal. I used roughly 2/3 of an A4 sheet for my page size and folded that in half to make a slim journal.

I started ripping a few tissue pages.. see how they look good on/over other printed pages.

The "tracks" theme comes into play...I wanted to use boxes to note the days I had completed my goals...I have yet to decide whether to stamp, write, doodle, zentangle or put a number into them when I use the journal...either way I decided to stitch the page using a thread that matched the Ranger archival dusty concord ink I'd used on other pages. I made 50 boxes (10 x 5) and as they were stitched the reverse of the page would have the same.

You can see the stitches under the tissue layer I added on the left here. It was the reverse of the EGL34 quarter fan stamp

I used ESA33 and The Glyph stencil for the background paper and EGL34 for the details. I inked the edges of the face insert before gluing it in with Ranger Archival Dusty Concord Ink.

Ripping the edges made the pages more rustic and the same size ready for stitching it together.

I use a folded piece of paper to mark where I need to put the binding holes and place it in my binding cradle to safely push holes through all four pages together so they are aligned.  I used six holes spaced evenly along the paper and used two and a half times the height of the spine in thread to bind the journal together.

I like to use embroidery floss to bind the pages together. I coat it in beeswax for protection and strength.

I had no intention of using Seth Apter's ESA21 stamp set when I started out with this project, but after using his ESA33 imperfectly perfect stamp in clear embossing powder I thought a play on those words would be fun so placed imperfect on the top and thought hhmmmmmm what if I... 

made the same colour as the rubber stamps...which I did manage using the colours I'd already picked out...and if I cut them the same ish as they are cut in rubber that would be fun...so I did.  Then I thought hhmmmm imperfectly perfect...imperfect is I'm perfect if you add spacing and an apostrophe...so I added a flap over the top doing exactly that...look out for my reel to see how that worked out on PaperArtsy stories and in my videos.

  

I love to use embossing powders to finish details and so ESA33 leant itself to the journal cover title with "always be yourself" using Seth Apter's Emerald Creek baked texture embossing powder in rustic indigo. I particularly like this powder as it is not so shiny but also not matt dull, it is broken with tiny flecks of white in it so I thought suited my colour palette.

I added a large eyelet so that I could thread a sari silk ribbon through it to keep it closed.

...and then I added more torn layers throughout and embossing details to finish it off.

Now the fun really begins as I use the journal to fill my goals and intentions, list my prompts and record my thoughts.

I enjoyed making this journal, though I wish I had not put an eyelet on the front cover. I had originally thought I was going to put two ties on it to tie in a bow on the side but I decided I preferred the way it looked with the ribbon wrapped around it.  There is plenty of space inside for me to write my journalling prompts and list my challenges and record the dates or progress I make to keep me on track with my intentions...I hope this has inspired you to have a go at mark making and adding layers to pages. If you don't own or use a sewing machine use embossing powders or drawn lines... or maybe even weave paper to create a grid.

I look forward to hearing how you get on... and hope nothing gets stuck to your gel plate!

Kindest wishes Floss x

Facebook: Floss Nicholls aka flossworkshopart

Instagram: floss_workshop.art

I teach small classes of up to six from my workshop in East Sussex UK. I have quite a few mixed media sessions coming up with all levels and abilities catered for...A full list can be seen on my website www.flossworkshopart.com