2020 #5 Mark Making: Dream with ELB {by Chris Dark}

2020 Topic 5: Mark Making

Sometimes the simplest techniques are the best, and Chris has gone old school..literally, using an item we often associate with school; the wax crayon. She has made beautiful marks in so many different ways - it's like a mark making reference book!
~ Keren 

Hi everyone, it's Chris here with you today sharing a card for the mark making topic but what is mark making? I think I've always thought of it as any kind of marks put down on a surface to make art which of course includes stamping. There are so many ways to make them too using a myriad of tools, mediums, patterns or textures. Mark making is the descriptive term for all of these and you only have to look at prehistoric cave paintings to see our long history of enjoying it.

I've built my card front with layers of mark making using brayering, paint splattering, infusions sprinklings, babywipe wiping and wax crayon resist ​incorporating stamping with ELB30 by Lin Brown which has some beautiful accent stamps.

I've also incorporated some of the gorgeous new green Fresco Finish Chalk acrylics in Willow, Spring, Beanstalk and Gumboots which work so well together. For a bit of contrast I also added in some hints of Mustard Pickle,  Bubble Gum and Sherbet.

The wax crayon created a resist, I doodled lines and dots around the edges of my piece of Smoothy (heavyweight) cardstock.

The next layer is a mix of all the green paints with Olive Tree and Rusty Car Infusions on top which I also brayered into the still damp paint. I allowed the paint to dry a bit more before rubbing back a bit at the edges to reveal the white marks from the wax crayon.

A layer of stamping in paint with the beautiful text stamp from the set.

Another layer of paint stamping. 

Some of the accent stamps with the darkest paint which give a glass-like effect due to the transparency.

More layers.

At this point I prepped another piece of card to stamp the leaves to cut them out. 

The leaves are glued over the stamping underneath. I added more accent stamping in pinks, splatters of paint and more mark making using paint pens.

Sentiments are cut out and added with extra marking around them.

The skeleton leaves are beautiful and although associated with autumn, stamped in pink they remind me of my Acer which has pink edged leaves in spring. 

I love splatters and the random effect of them.

I hope you'll join us in this topic, I spent a very enjoyable time creating my layers and love the depth I got from the different kinds of marks, stamping and the different tools I used to make them.  

Thanks for joining me today, I hope you have some creative time yourself.

Chris x

Blog: www.sketchingstamper.blogspot.co.uk
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/christine.dark.7
Instgram: @chrisd999
Pinterest: https://uk.pinterest.com/cdark4163/

PaperArtsy Blog Summary of Topics 1-3 {Curated by Leandra Franich)

Blog Summary: Transparent Art, Hearts, Wax Crayons

The week ahead is a time to reminisce as we look back on the topics this blog has explored during 2016. 

Tonight's curator is me, Leandra! In fact, I am curating a few of these posts over the next few nights they are so much fun. Often I am crazy busy for extended periods, and this is the perfect time for me to go back and properly remember, study and appreciate how talented our bloggers are.

I know my year has been the more challenging than I expected. 2015 was pretty stressy for us so I figured 2016 would be a doddle. Wrong! Breaking ties with NZ (we sold our house) was a wrench as we didn't really want to endure. All the the kids seemed to be going left right and centre over the country and inter-country as they settle into adulthood, be it a new school, new university, or a Gap year. The house was either loud or quiet, depending on who was home! I could not keep track of who was supposed to be where and when! Business-juggling seemed harder than usual. Lots going on, I guess we were growing but knowing when to add staff isn't easy. Then all the political turmoil with Brexit (and then Trump). I guess the unpredictable nature of 2016 has been quite an unsettling thing for us all in many ways. It there is one thing 2016 has been its unpredictable. I quite like the unexpected, so I think we just need to continue to be flexible as 2017 unfolds with all it has to offer!

Tonight I'm sharing my blog post picks from Topics 1-3: Transparent Art, Hearts and Wax Crayons. Grab a Christmas day treat, and enjoy!

Leandra 

Topic 1: Transparent Art

It does take a bit more planning when you work on a clear surface, be it the ink or colouring option you select, or just figuring out how to disguise the attachment method you will use! None of that seemed to phase our bloggers, and here are just a few highlights from that wonderful Topic in January.

My first pick is this amazing beauty by Keren Baker. A very poignant piece that brought to Keren's mind the tragedy in Paris of late 2015. Representing (in Keren's words) 'the beauty evidenced in the way people stood together amidst tragedy'. 

The simplicity of the piece, and the heartfelt sentiment hit straight to my heart. The horrific events in Paris were a night of fear for Mark and I. We watched the news in horror. We have a deep love for Paris and her people, we are fortunate to visit every year for a wonderful scrapbook show 'Version Scrap', and frequently have visited too on family trips.

However, our horror on that night went somewhat deeper. The week before Ella was sitting in the outdoor seats of the exact restaurant that was first hit. And the night of the attack Courtney was in Paris just along the road from that same area. Her group managed to get to their nearby hotel. It was an anxious night for us all as the horrific events unfolded. We all seem to see things more clearly after an event such as that. I think there are so many parallels in this gorgeous piece Keren made. I love it.

I hope you didn't miss Anneke's icy cards. There are lots of clear mediums out there, but glass bead gel is something super-special and I particularly loved this piece! Anneke has such a gift for layers of elegant simplicity!

I adored how Liesbeth made these 'jewels' with shrink plastic, check it out here .  

Not only was colouring from the reverse of a shiny surface a popular past-time in the transparent art fortnight, but the whole act of shrinking them just accented the depth to create amazing jewels. A gem of an idea...see what I did there!!

Topic 2 : Hearts

With such a broad topic, perhaps some of these ideas might help you along with valentines crafting? If not go back and take a look at the rest of the topic, I really wanted to show you everything! Space does not allow!!

I loved this canvas by Wanda. She kicked off the new topic with simple elegance. The flowers by Darcy sit perfectly on top of the textured background, and I love the pale heart in the centre, and that the flowers are red, not the heart. What a fantastic 'New Home' gift this would make! You can see the process here.

I adored The amazing details in this project by Chris Cresswell. Not only were the colours striking, but the textures, floating elements on wire, and sheer number of techniques she managed to fit into one project was mind boggling! What a masterclass!

Lucy Edmondson reminded us how Fresco Chalk paints stick to anything, even glass! I love how she  managed to emboss with gold INSIDE, yes INSIDE the bottle, and then she put paint on top for a fabulous contrast! It is great how painting the interior allows the exterior layer of glass to act as the perfect gloss top coat. And, shrink tags to embellish the bottle too!

Next up for something completely different! Karen Daniell treated us to a textile treat. Stamped and coloured fabric was sewn together patchwork style. After the pic below she added lace along the joins to separate the borders. It turned out fantastic! All with JoFY stamps.

Topic 3 : Wax Crayons

I knew this topic was going to be a pleaser, and lot of people were stuck on a wax kick for months after this!! It really is an enjoyable way to collage!. Get yourself a meltpot (yes they are still available), dip, scrape, layer, zap, job done! When you start to play with inclusions, colours, then the excitement just builds until you go wax crazy - and that's the best kind of crazy!

My first pick is this wood block by my buddie Lin Brown. She seems to master every craft she turns her hand to, and encaustic is yet another that she has all the gear for! I love the trapped layers, stencilling and copper embellishment above the door. Lin always seems to nail placement and composition so perfectly!.

Tracy Scott dripped, flicked and splattered wax like a posessed woman! 

Sue Carrington was stamping onto tissue and creating amazing layers along the way too. 

It is fun to look back on what our genius bloggers have shared with us over the course of a year. This year seems to have zapped by in a blink, but at least the blog remains as the perfect reference tool Don't forget to save the posts that float your boat on pinterest. No excuse now, you'll hit the New Year with a dozen ideas to crack on with!

Leandra 

2016 #3 Gelatos Notebook {by Anneke de Clerck}

 2016 Topic 3: Wax

Hello everyone Anneke here.

I'm happy to be back here tonight with a blog post about Faber-Castell Gelatos.

In case you're not familiar with the Gelatos, these are creamy sticks infused with brilliant and rich colors. You can blend them smoothly without water, just by using your fingers, that's how soft and creamy they are! 

I love working with Faber-Castell Gelatos. They come in lots of awesome colors and they are very versatile, perfect to use on backgrounds, to color images, to stamp with...The fact that they are water-soluble makes them ideal for all kinds of techniques such as drippage, water coloring, reverse stenciling...The possibilities are endless. Because of their tiny size they are suitable for art-on-the-go as well. If you never worked with Gelatos you definitely have to try them if you get the opportunity. 

This evening I'll show you how I made a notebook using those cute creamy sticks. 

Let's get started.

I did all the coloring on the booklet with Gelatos. I used Lime, Green Tea and Spearmint for the grass, Cotton Candy, Acqua Dolce and Blueberry for the sky, Blood Orange, Bubble Gum, Tangerine and Guava for the flower and Squid Ink & Coconut for the shading.

For the covers I used 2 pieces of PaperArtsy heavy grey/white board, tag 9 size (17,8 x 9 cm). As I had the intention to bind the little book with my Zutter Bind-It-All I decided to punch the holes first. To start I applied an uneven layer of gesso on the covers with a flat brush. Priming with gesso creates a super blend-able surface for the Gelatos and the gesso 'marks' provide a nice texture once colored.

Next I started the coloring. I first made some scribbles at the bottom with the lightest green color and blended this immediately with my fingers. I continued by adding darker green colors on top, starting from the right hand side (as I wanted the shadow on that side).  For the sky I started with Acqua Dolce, then added darker colors. Gelatos blend perfectly by using your fingers or some tissue paper. A damp brush works well too but the water takes away some of the color. As I love bold colors I prefer the dry method. It is easy to create an ombré look by using different shades of the same color.

Gelatos do react with water so they are perfect for what I call the "take off technique" = creating patterns by taking off color through stencils instead of adding color.

I've layered the Tim Holtz Layering Stencil Schoolhouse over the covers and used a baby wipe to remove some of the color. This technique works so well with Gelatos. When peeling back the stencil I'm always surprised.

Next I added some stamping by using the spiral stamp from the EEG07 set. 

I did the stamping with Versamark and heat embossed the stamped images with WOW embossing powder 'Opaque Bright White'.

Another advantage of the Gelatos: you can stamp with them. Here I used Blackberry to add text from the EEG14 set. The small dots are from the same stamp set and were stamped with Archival Ink 'Cornflower Blue' and overstamped with Snowflake.

I stamped the smallest flower from the EEG14 set 4 times with Archival Ink 'Jet Black'.

I did the stamping on gesso-ed paper. I colored one of the flowers with Gelatos, did the blending with a nearly dry brush. I again started with the lightest color and continued building up layers and shading with darker colors. To finish the flower off I added some white accents with a Sharpie.

I arranged the flowers on top of the front cover as shown. 

I layered the orange flower on top of a white one, made the white one slightly larger by cutting it in half.

For the inside pages I used cream colored cardstock.

I did the binding with my Zutter Bind-It-All machine using 1/2 inch black wires.

 

I decorated the inside of both the front and back cover with green handmade paper.

This notebook fits in my handbag easily, I'll carry it with me wherever I go :)

I'm fond of making small books for all sorts of purposes. I will use this one to write down ideas, quotes, to do lists....I do love the size of the heavy grey/white board, it's perfect for a notebook. The board is sturdy so very suitable to be used as covers.

When making books I'm always working on both covers at the same time. This helps me to end up with two approximately equal-looking covers.

To bind single sheets of paper this kind of spiral binding is ideal. If you don't own a Bind-It-All, ask a friend if you can use hers. Or you can easily replace the binding by using metal rings or ribbon.

If you never made a book before you certainly have to try it, this one is so easy to do! Or dig up those Gelatos and start scribbling, I would love to see what you come up with :)

Have fun creating!

Anneke
somefiddlingonthekitchentable.blogspot.com
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I think the first time I saw your work you were using gelatos, so I always, in the back of my mind, associate you with using them a lot! The colours of gelatos appeal to me as they are always so bright and fun, and what a fun idea to layer Emma's flower that way to make it look bigger and quite different! And yes you have also reminded me I have a bind it all hidden away and a lot of wire too! Thanks for the inspiration Anneke! ~Leandra

We would love to see how you interpret this Wax topic by linking what you make to our 2016 Challenge #3: Wax, on this page HERE.

All of our bloggers love to see your twist on their ideas,  particularly if you were inspired directly by their post. 

All links go in the draw to win a £50 voucher to spend on products of your choice from the PaperArtsy online store. The 'Wax' link will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, February 21st. The winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.