Showing posts with label Techniques. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Techniques. Show all posts

Sunday, 28 February 2021

2021 Topic 3: The Creative Laboratory {Topic Intro}

 

 2021 Topic 3 - The Creative Laboratory

 
Hi everyone, Keren here introducing The Creative Laboratory!

Experimentation with a laboratory feel is the gist of the topic tonight. Is it all about the wonderful 'eureka' moments you can get when combining products and techniques? Or could it be projects with a chemistry or laboratory vibe? Well, it can be both! In the spirit of experimentation, we're going to do something a little different. I'm combining some cool science-y themed projects along with a list of different PaperArtsy products (and more) and some links for you to explore and experiment along with us. Treat this as a reference post to maybe come back to when your mojo has gone missing or you're just in the mood for a little experimentation of your own.

We're beginning with the laboratory idea and the newest Hot Picks on the block which are a collaboration with Dounia at HQ who has a science background.


Sara Naumann has some stamps and stencils that were based on a vintage chemistry textbook she'd found.


Searching on the internet for interesting pieces of art, I came across this artist's impression of the periodic table.


I love these overlaid symbols over the portrait. So very cool.

Source

This is a clever piece of art, called Atomic Love


How about some laboratory styled art?


Now from the laboratory style, to the experimental. We've got a look at lots of different products and tools with some ideas for how you might use them via links to some of your favourite PaperArtsy designers and bloggers.

Stencils:

One of the PaperArtsy designers well known for her use of stencils is Tracy Scott and this example is just beautiful with so much depth.








Techniques Using Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics:

These awesome paints are used in so many projects and renown for their quality, highly pigmented formula, being environmentally friendly and because they're water based, they're easy to clear up. Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics and Lutradur Fabric create a really amazing effect, as Chris Dark explores in this blog post and has me itching to get my hands on some.








Crunchy Waxed Paper:

Helen Chilton combined painted, scrunched and embossed crunchy waxed paper in one project, and the paper provides amazing texture to your projects.

PaperArtsy Blog




Rusting Powder:

Fancy really having some experimentation? Have you tried PaperArtsy Rusting Powder yet? Sue Carrington tried out rusting fabric (amongst other things) and the post is a fabulous introduction.







Infusions Techniques:

Infusions came to market in 2017 and have been a real favourite ever since. This first post was their grand introduction and contains a video or two from PaperArtsy showing lots of ideas. This project is a sumptuous art piece by Lynne Moncrieff.

PaperArtsy Blog

Introduction to PaperArtsy Infusions

Infusion Resist

Infusion Stencilling with Nikki Acton

Stamping With Infusions with Amanda Pink


Grunge Paste Techniques:

Who doesn't love Grunge Paste?! You can paint it, use it through stencils, push texture into it, and as Nikki Acton did here, use it in combination with Infusions. What an an awesome textural effect!





 


Techniques With Tools; Acrylic Blocks:

PaperArtsy has some great clear acrylic blocks. How often do you use your blocks or mounts to do technique based projects with? Ellie Knol created a concertina journal (including a technique using clingfilm (or saran wrap), but thiss project was using colourwash and spray mists and leaving an acrylic block over the top whilst it dried. Intrigued? Follow the link!

PaperArtsy Blog

Mirror Image Transfer Using Acrylic Blocks

DIY Stamping Platforms Using An Acrylic Block With Kate Yetter


Embossing Powder Techniques:

One of the real 'magic' techniques is using embossing powder and seeing it change almost instantly. Miriam Grazier produced a triple technique project using embossing powder. Such amazing effects!

Brayer Techniques:

With one of the cutest and niftiest brayers around, PaperArtsy has come up trumps whether you're wanting to brayer a quick background or use creating gel prints. For an introduction to some useful techniques, check out the blog post and the first two links which are videos by Leandra.







Hope you've enjoyed this look around the topic and it's inspired you to get experimenting.

If you want to create along with us while we explore this topic, please share your makes on our social feeds so we can follow along. Instagram @paperartsy or why not join us and post in the PaperArtsy People Group on Facebook. Make sure you tag us in your contributions, we love to see what you get up to in your creative world!
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Wednesday, 21 July 2010

Sparkly Bits is WOYWW

I have had a crazy few weeks. The kids seems to get socially hyperactive at this time of the year, and I decided to tackle the garden and grow some veges. Plus we have been really busy with designing and all the usual stuff going on here at PaperArtsy Central. Courtney had her prom a few weeks back, and I must put up all the piccies. Been trying to do that for what seems like forever. Anyway, my most recent desk activity is as follows. Sparkly Spritzing.
This year I have been really enjoying finding out about Crafty Notions Sparkly and Dye ink Sprays. The colours of the dyes and the micas are really surprising - the kind of colours where you find yourself doing a little internal squeal of excitement!  Over the last few days I have been making samples of all the colours we have in stock to photograph for the on-line shop, and for our display boards at shows. Here's the scrumminess. Millie and Ella helped and it was not only fun, but surprising how the colours were so different to what i expected from the label description. They really need to package these things with spots on the bottles.
People often ask what is the difference between these and other sprays out there. I am no expert as I really haven't played with loads of UK based products, so can't really compare those but I did sell and use Glimmer Mists a lot in the past couple of years. We decided to switch due to a change in supplier resulting in a price point too high for the UK market. Plus at the same time, the UK market seemed to provide a wide range of alternative sprays.  I do like the extensive range of on-trend colours in various hues available from Tattered Angels, and I like how they release new groups of colours regularly, but at £6-7 a bottle it's too much to expect people to pay. 
I also like that they had colour spots on their bottles...and so that is what prompted me today to add colour spots to all our CN stock, plus all the class-sample bottles I have. It's not hard, just get some white-spot stickers spray, let dry, then stick to your bottle. This is going to make it so much easier for people to see what they are buying at the shows!
When using the CN sprays, the first thing I noticed was the binder in the spray seems to allow the mica to be suspended in the liquid, rather than float on top so if you dab off some excess liquid with a paper towel, you only take away the excess liquid leaving lots of mica with the dye. If there is no binder in a spray the mica seems to float on the surface of a sprayed puddle, so if you dab off excess, all the mica ends up on your paper towel. A binder should also prevent the mica rubbing off when the product is dry. 
Ohh check out my rectangle 'spots' showing the yummo colours inside the bottles!! 
I think any mica spray product can clog, if the mica is not evenly dispersed in the liquid (ie well shaken) before you spray,  then either the fine nozzle or the sucky-up tube will inevitably block. You do need to hold the bottle upright, and keep shaking frequently as mica can settle quite fast, and you don't want a concentrated amount of the particles to go up the tube and get stuck there. If you use your sprays infrequently, and the liquid totally dries up in the mechanism, then you could have difficulty kicking it back into action again. Usually a soak or rinse of the spray mechanism in warm water will loosen any stubborn particles that may have blocked tubes and nozzles. Sometimes you just have to admit defeat and buy a new mechanism, but if that is not an option, then try decanting what you need into a Ranger mini mister, the spray action of those babies produces a perfect mist!
So after today's effort, all these bottles have moved off the workdesks and onto the shelves ready for purchase.
So its not just the sparkly ones that I'm all excited about, don't overlook the 2 that look to be the most boring - the Black and White Matte Sprays. Don't be deceived! I call them magic sprays because, well these guys are a different animal altogether. I have no idea what is in the product, but they are a LOT of fun, and can instantly fix disasters. 

If you make a backgrounds that is way to busy, and you totally overcooked it? Take a mask/ stencil, place it over the background, and spray the matte black or white on top. Or don't use the mask, just spray, then dab at it with a paper towel. The busy background is instantly toned down by the black or white. Simple. 

You know how distress inks are a deliberately unstable ink - this means if they get wet, they bleed/ wick... so if they are applied direct to paper, chipboard, card etc, and then sprayed with the white matte spray, they are instantly softened into a really delicate background. If you use really strong colours like aged mahogany, walnut stain, spiced marmalade directly from the ink pad onto the same surface with a really heavy application, expect some cool bleeding up into the white matte that can be very interesting to watch, and a great way to to create a totally unique background with distress inks.
 Ignore the frame embellishment above, just look at the background. It was victorian velvet and bundled sage applied direct to a white chipboard, then lightly sprayed with the matte white, and excess dabbed off. By dabbing off the excess the colour comes through, but in a much softer way than if it was distress on its own.
But the cool thing is you can still stamp on top of this matte white spray, so here the flourish and script was added, and more distress ink rubbed to the edges, but it still looks muted.
Here is another sample in rustic tones which has been overstamped, the black at the base is archival, but all the rest are Distress inks with matte white spray.
 Here is another made by an ArtsyCrafts attendee (sorry no idea who) in lovely greens with pinks.

So you might like to give it a go, it was one of the fave new techniques we taught at ArtsyCrafts in May and everyone was very surprised at how easy this product was to work with. Remember it is quite thick and creamy, so you do need to shake a long time to get the product well mixed before you begin to spray. Think of it as exercising while you craft!

If you're a WOYWWer thanks for dropping by, do check out what everyone else was up to today here at Julia's place!

Have a great week.

Leandra

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Thursday, 27 May 2010

May 2010 {ArtsyCrafts} Action


Yes another 2 fabulous weekends are over. It's so hard for us and the peeps attending to keep quiet about what we actually made until both events are over, but I am sure you will see from the following pics what a fantastic time was had by all! 
 Linda (LB Crafts) is my partner in crime and the other half of ArtsyCrafts, together we develop these wonderful weekend retreats so we can share with you our ideas with Ten Seconds Studio Metal, PaperArtsy Stamps, and all our other most favourite brands and hottest new products out there. Can you believe these weekend were our 7th and 8th events! We have been doing this for a few years now.
Here is the team, from left Jo, Lynne H, Linda B, Karen and me, Leandra owner of PaperArtsy. This is a pic from last year, we added Linda E to the lineup this year as Lynne H snuck off to New York for a surprise weekend with her hubby.
We tend to be so focussed on the classes, that we always underestimate how long it takes us to set up the shop, but Lynne Howe (when she retires we will have to get her blogging!), Jo Firth-Young and Linda Elbourne set about developing their own unique style of merchandising on the Fri evening set-up, and then Karen had the job of trying to find where everything was Saturday morning. It always looks scrummy by the time everyone arrives though.
 The theme was Flights of Fancy, and we made 3 fantastic items, one was a quicksie, and the other 2 projects were more in depth and took several session to complete. Overall, our weekends are all about techniques that you may apply to many situations, and learning how to use new colour combinations. When participants book, they get an opportunity to indicate their preference, but usually when you see the item samples in real life, you inevitably wish you'd picked something more adventurous! No fear, there are chances for free choice, so over the weekend you get to try one or two things that might be way out of your comfort zone if you wish.
We started out clean and tidy, 
 but boy those girls can craft up a storm! 
Oh look, there's Linda E, bet she led those Shabby Blue girl's astray...have you seen her desk lately?? Well no need to be too tidy when you are on a mission to enjoy yourself is there?
One of my fave technique of the weekend was using a new spray from Crafty Notions on top of Distress Ink. Instant softness, mottled-ness and loveliness! And no hard work at all, just a squirt here and there, hey presto. This (sample above) was created by the hilarious Rita from Spain. She gave everyone the warm fuzzies on Weekend 1, and we learned how to communicate in a mix of Spanish, French and English. Very entertaining.
And how beautiful those BG's looked with a bit of stamping on top using HP1004 and HP1005. Love how the Pink and orange, sunrise people made samples ranging from vivid and bright, to soft and subtle.
Or how about a tissue flower, die cut (grunge flower die), stamped (HP1004) distress-inked and sprayed with sparkles. Love the crumply texture from this technique too. Oh there was soooo much to loooove!!
How coould I forget the ohhhs when we demoed this bit. Ferro paste and stencils work really well together. Who knew? We did of course! another of those.."I wonder...." discoveries. Add some colour and spray and you get yourself one wicked tree. Soft and pale, or bright and colourful, the choice is yours.
So that was the first half of day one, and we had loads more to come!! We really do work hard to give you lots of new fun ideas to enjoy at these retreats!


The main project this time was a sampler board with 9 different techniques with metal, terra texture and ink techniques onto a smooth polyester adhesive fabric. Onto that we added metal embellishments, and under we made a canvas as the support.
The different colour combinations and choices everyone made along the way gave each participant a totally unique finished project. 
Hairy terra caused a few eeuughhh ohhh ahhhh's, and when the colour went on top with the magic spray it was a winner technique (below).
And of course we had the new and wonderful 'goop' (aka Inka Gold) to play with. Look at how metallic it can be on black backgrounds, but we also coloured in with it on pearl metal too...yes it sticks to metal, yet rubs off if you get it in the wrong place, so mistakes just don't happen with this stuff! Check it out on black painted terra!
'But the metal is always a new thing for many people at these events, and they did beautiful work, both new and experienced crafters!
This was a really clever idea for a freestyle design with a pointy tool!
And I'm pretty sure this is Sue C's sample..who'd have thought slate metal would look so fab with Mocha kaiserpaint on top?? Love that Kabuka mould! One of my faves.
But when you stamp an image like the bird from SIFF4, and puff the metal, then colour with Inka Gold, you really start to bring metal to life! The depth you can add working metal this way is always stunning for any project.
Evenings are fun too at ArtsyCrafts, and we got our resident comedian Linda Elbourne to show us her special way to make a metal rose using the PaperArtsy dies (stamped Grunge Flower or embossed Scallop flower). 
Here she is doing her thing. Some people stamped theirs with the grunge collage stamp that fits perfectly on top of the die cut. (Tip match the notch in the die with the roman numeral clock petal) and others embossed their metal die cuts with an embossing folder, but everyone ended up with a fab bellie for their sampler board.
So once laid up on their canvases and with the metal bellies made on the Sunday, it all started to come together. The songbird die makes another lovely metal bellie that would be useful on cards or scrapping layouts too.
 
The hardest part was deciding how to lay out all the elements, but once in place each person created their own masterpiece which doubles as a great reference point.
Now this piece above is one of the Pink and Orange ladies starting work on the canvas backing board. Look how scrumptious those colours of Inka Gold looks through a stencil! I was soooo excited by this!
Bonnie on week 1 got the 'teachers pet' award for this discovery. She die cut the song bird, embossed on the dot folder, then she stamped over the top of that the image from HP1005 and sanded off the black from the spots. We were 'well impressed' as we say here in Essex!
And the birdcage was a fun embellishment idea too, the card and acetate were die cut together with the birdcage die, then overstamped with the image from HP1004. We had a trick for painting that that got a few ohhs. Love those ooooo's when you demo! LOL


To finish the weekend we did a new project that is actually made from these picture frames. You can find them here in the webshop.
 
They were painted, and decorated with frames cut from the largest of the square pointy dies. We also ran a size smaller frame die thru the bigshot with metal and an embossing mat on a kabuka or big daddy mould. This method of speed embossing opens up a whole new level of speedy metal crafting when you have one of those big-shot guys to play with!

Here is Karen's birdhouse in sunrise colours (BTW she stayed at the camp-site down the road which we keep hearing great things about. it's only a tenner a night!)
Here's one made by one of our younger attendees Bethany. She was brand new to this whole caper and made great stuff all weekend!

So if you want to come to the next round of ArtsyCrafts we have 2 more events planned for autumn. The Newport Pagnell venue (near Milton Keynes) is booked for October 23/24th, and the Warrington venue is booked for October 30/31. Mark your diary now! Booking opens on Monday June 7th, and you can't book without sending a booking form with payment. Please note, for security reasons we cannot take credit card payment over the phone without a booking form in our hands, so you must send your form in first, and then phone to make payment the next day. We expect both events to sell out fast, so please follow this procedure. Both booking forms will be available online in the next week to download from the ArtsyCrafts link here.
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