PaperArtsy Blog Summary of Topics 16-19 {Curated by Alison Bomber)

2016 Blog Summary: Jewellery, Making Marks, Leaves & Die Cuts

Today's curator is Alison Bomber and she is looking back on Topics 16-19: Jewellery, Making Marks, Leaves, Die Cuts. I love how Alison weaves a post together, so make sure to read between the pictures! You are in for a treat!

Leandra

Hello everybody.  Alison here from Words and Pictures to share some projects which really caught my eye from a selection of the inspirational topics offered up here on the PaperArtsy blog throughout 2016.  I had a year of work which took most of my attention, so I missed a great deal of what went on in Craftyblogland.  This summary post was a great opportunity to catch up with some of the amazing pieces from the PaperArtsy designers, as well as the creations offered up by the challenge participants inspired by those themes.

It's been a strange year for me creatively, as I've had to spend so much time away from my craft desk, often travelling with quite a limited craft stash.  It's not true to say there's been no creativity.  I'm fortunate enough that my "day-job" is also creative, but it's in the sphere of words and performance rather than physical/visual creativity, and it does take up most of my energy, physical and mental, so I've definitely been missing the crafting side of things.

Still, it was interesting to see what supplies made the cut for the travel stash (bearing in mind luggage limitations on aeroplanes).  Amongst other things, I travelled with a couple of small journals, so art-journalling featured quite often, and Come What May was one of the page spreads which got me into the zone, even though I was stuck in a fairly soulless hotel room.

Being away from home for long periods, crafting became a solace and a retreat.  It was very clear that, when I did get a chance to play, my crafty mojo kept leading me to my happy places... blue/brown or blues/greens, crackle and texture, the play of light, and elements of nature. So that was a different sort of learning, telling me something about where this crafty journey wants to take me.

Given all the travelling, it's appropriate that my Wanderlust Travel Journal from back in January was one of my favourite creations this year - making my own marks, travelling in new ways with some of my much-loved elements - but I never really got a chance to follow it up at the time.  I'm hoping that this coming year I'll get a chance to develop that understanding in new ways.  

After the tumultuous political events of 2016 and with the uncertainty of what's to come in 2017, I think my engagement will have to be with the natural world not the political world if I'm to keep my sanity.  I'm more than ever inclined to retreat to my craft room and stay there so, with luck, there'll be more crafting creative time for me this year... we'll see!

Topic 16: Beads, Jewellery, Dangles, Charms

After a fabulous inspiration post from Darcy, this was one of the themes I really wished I'd been around for, if only to try something really different.  I always love working in 3D, as well as creating things which have some sort of movement to them, and this topic really brought those elements to the fore.  There were great projects all around from the PaperArtsy designers and the players.

I really love these Textured Lockets by Dounia Large.  The tiny book text in the background really appeals to me, and it was fascinating to see the results of Dounia's trial experiments with layered glazes over the Grunge Paste flourish. The final finish looks just like an ivory relief.  I also love the illuminated manuscript colours of the triangular niche in the second locket.  Together they look like old medieval jewellery - a brilliant "time-travel" project.

As I said, I really enjoy pieces which have light and movement built in, and these Dellow Dangles by Lauren Hatwell certainly hit the mark on that front.  The painted acetate means there's a glowing translucence which must be lovely as the dangles move.  I love the teal/green colours, and those tiny sparkly glitter accents are a perfect touch to just provide a bit of colour contrast and an extra zing.  So from the medieval to some very up-to-date quirky jewellery!

As well as the inspiration from the PaperArtsy designers, there were so many delightful and inventive creations from the challenge participants.  Do check out this fabulously sculptural mobile from Tapeva, and Deb Wainwright's shimmering paperclay heart, but the project I've chosen to highlight here is Etsuko's gorgeous divided hanging.  I simply love how she's used her paperclay beads to create a space within the layered collage - brilliant!

Topic 17 : Making Marks

Making my own marks is something I have done more of in 2016, starting out with inspiration from the Everything Art Wanderlust course (though the handmade book I shared above was almost the only thing I managed before work/travel went bonkers), and something I'm determined to continue developing in 2017, so this was a fascinating topic for me.  It's a real leap of faith, I find, to dare to put your own mark into the artwork.  Kudos to all those brave enough to share their mark-making for this theme!

There was a stunning masterclass in mark-making with "tools" from nature from Ruth Mescall as she created her Inky Cards.  Just take a look at the array of grasses, feathers and twigs she used to create her backgrounds.  There's such energy and spontaneity in the inky markings, and the combination of that with Sara Naumann's stamps works just perfectly.

I was blown away by the Abstract Flower Garden created by Anneke de Clerck, from that initial application of Grunge Paste to the whole page - so smooth and perfect, and then brilliantly textural once she started making marks (yes, those background flowers are carved into the Grunge Paste) - to the zing of the foreground flowers contrasted against the subtle tones of the textured background.  A really amazing page spread.

Again, there were many, many great contributions from the challenge participants.  Don't miss Sue the Iron's uplifting happy page or Sarah Anderson's wonderful layered florals, but if I have to pick only one project to highlight it would have to be this fabulous pair of ATCs from Saraccino.  They have texture and depth, and I love that she's included her own handwriting, for that really personal mark-making touch.

Topic 18 : Leaves/ Autumn

Another glorious inspiration post from Darcy and another topic I wish I could have been around for.  The colours, shapes and textures of autumn leaves are art in themselves... taking that inspiration from nature resulted in lots of fabulous projects.

This Birdhouse by Bracken Sparkes is charming.  I love how she's created the whirl of leaves spiralling around the house - so clever - and the layered wood slices make the perfect base for the birdhouse.  And in this photo you can just see the addition of the cute hedgehog snuffling around the bottom of the steps - such fun!

Sue Carrington created the perfect autumnal vintage frame with her Sculpted Leaves.  The tissue paper stamping provides such great detail on the frame itself, and then the layers of colour built up over it and those incredibly beautiful textured leaves give this piece a really haunting atmosphere of autumnal melancholy and nostalgia - simply brilliant!

There's another array of fabulous leafy work to choose from amongst the challenge participants for this topic.  I enjoyed the real leaves decorated by rsgmutticreates, and I loved Craftyfield's gorgeous real-leaf-stamping, but whittling down to one, it has to be the glorious colours and movement of Pavla's wonderful journalling page.  The Infusions give the perfect illusion of autumn mists and forest foliage.

Topic 19: Dies Cuts/ Masks

 

I definitely go through phases with die-cutting.  I'll go for months without thinking of using them and then I'll have a sudden flurry where I simply can't do anything without them!  There was lots of inspiration during this fortnight for making use of your die-cutting machine all the time.

And if it's inspiration you're after, how about this jaw-dropping dimensional Time Machine from Darcy?  Seriously, my jaw dropped!  I love the painty layers and mark-making on the layered die-cuts, and the bird-stamped acetate creating a window pane in one of the frames, and the construction reminds me of one of those extraordinary Heath Robinson contraptions.  Simply outstanding!

There was also a glorious piece from another of PaperArtsy's stamp designers.  Jo Firth-Young knocked it out of the park with the layered leaves and florals of this joyous Seedhead Triptych in uplifting shades of pink and orange.  As well as making great use of the die-cuts, her post was also full of tips about colour-combining and gelli-printing ideas.  Inspiration galore!

Perhaps unsurprisingly, there were lots of challenge entries for this topic, and again it was almost impossible to single out favourites from the wealth of skill, imagination and beauty on offer.  I recommend a trip to see Irena's charming patterned acorns, and Sam21ski's perfectly composed page, but the project I fell head over heels in love with was this trio of beeswax panels from Hazel Agnew - the texture and subtle beauty of these entirely won my heart.

It's been a real pleasure to catch up with just some of the extraordinary artwork filling these blog pages in 2016.   And thanks to all this inspiration, I do have a project bubbling which combines all four of these topics - but I confess that time has got the better of me again.  You'll just have to keep your eyes peeled over at Words and Pictures for that creation to make its appearance!

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I hope you've enjoyed this retrospective of personal favourites.  Honestly, I could have showcased hundreds more!  Huge thanks to Leandra and Darcy and everybody who contributes so much to offering up this incredible resource of ideas, tutorials, tips and techniques.  Long may it continue, and happy 2017 everybody!

Alison xx

Blog: Words and Pictures

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2016 #19 Oriental Beauty {by Lesley Ebdon}

2016 Topic 19: Die Cuts

Hi Everyone, it's Lesley here tonight and I'm delighted to share with you a canvas I created using one of my favourite Lynne Perrella stamp sets. There are many different die cutting machines available, manual, electronic, programmable, etc., but I just have my trusty Big Shot and a tonne of dies that rarely get used these days so it was nice to put them to use for a change. 

I adore Lynne's Oriental images and I decided this was also the perfect opportunity to use some beautiful papers/card I bought about 10 yrs ago when I first started crafting. In fact you could say these papers and some Oriental wood backed stamps were what started me on my crafting journey (obsession?). I hope you enjoy my project.

I started with a deep sided 8” x 8” canvas and a selection of papers and card....I also pulled out a selection of dies.

Using the square and rectangle dies I die cut sections of the papers I wanted to feature on my canvas. A fair bit of juggling about ensued before I was happy with the placement and stuck everything down with gel medium. I didn't bother with the middle as I knew I was going to cover it up.

I used a beautiful leafy die and a piece of sturdy card to create a stencil, mixed a coordinating green from the Frescos using Chartreuse and French Roast, applied it with a stencil brush and followed this with a thin patchy wash of Nougat Fresco Finish. I wanted to mute the colours of the background slightly so the main feature would not be overpowered by them. I then applied a Versamark Ink pen to all the edges of the diecut pieces and heat embossed using gold embossing powder.

Next I stamped the Koi image from LPC25 all round the deep sides of the canvas using White Fire Metallic Fresco Finish.

LPC25

Now to concentrate on the main feature image. I used the cabinet dies to cut a large background piece from the red card, edged it with the Versamark and gold embossing and the smaller cabinet die to cut from a lighter coloured designer card. I stamped the beautiful image onto Tim Holtz tissue and painted it on the reverse with PaperArtsy Fresco Finish.

Leandra has a fab video on how to paint on tissue with the Frescos .......pity I didn't refresh my memory by watching it again because I forgot the final stage of painting the image with white which makes the colours pop more! Never mind, it didn't turn out too badly, lol! I tore round the image, having first 'drawn' round it with a wet brush and then applied it to the smaller die cut with matte gel medium. I have to say the TH tissue is very tough and even well soaked with water it doesn't want to tear. I finished this piece off with the gold embossed edge and then adhered it to the other layer before fixing it to the canvas.

I then created a masterboard by roughly brayering the Fresco Finish colours I wanted and using some of the smaller stamps from the set. Next I die cut loads of the teeny blossoms, delicately sponged the edges of them all, shaped them a bit and layered them together.

After die cutting the branches I positioned everything where I wanted them on the canvas and stuck them all down. The final touch was the little bird which was given the Treasure Gold treatment before being stuck to the canvas with heavy gel medium.

Well there you have it! I thoroughly enjoyed making use of just a few of my dies, especially the blossom and the leafy spray and although I was sad to finally cut up those gorgeous papers it does feel good to have put them to use at last, lol! I hope you like the final result and I can't wait to see what everyone creates for this limitless topic.

Lesley

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Thanks for joining us Lesley, this is so pretty, calm and restful. Your selection of papers make a beautiful backdrop to the die cut shapes. Well done for cutting and edging all those tiny flowers, such patience! ~Darcy

We would love to see how you interpret this Die Cuts topic by linking what you make to our 2016 Challenge #19: Die Cuts, 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 Die Cuts link will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, Oct 16th 2016. The winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.

2016 #19 Time Machine {by Darcy Wilkinson}

 2016 Topic 19: Die Cuts

Hi everyone. Darcy here with a teeny,tiny assemblage that somehow ended up reminding me of an odd looking navigation instrument, which led me to thinking of it as a time machine. 

I began by selecting lots of die cuts, I used several dies by Seth Apter. I made sure that I had 6 of each shape, once glued together this gives a weight similar to greyboard. 

Once glued I left them to set for a while and then coloured each side using my gelli plate. I used Seth Apters set of limited edition PaperArtsy paints. 

When printing I keep a piece of scrap paper next to me to clean off brushes, brayer and stencils. this paper is always useful, I decided to stamp onto it using the border from EDY12.

 EDY12.

I then used this paper to cover a large wooden cotton reel. Extra paints used here were Zucchini and Limelight. 

I then built more detail onto the gelli printed shapes. These two both have images added from EDY17

 EDY17

I love the tiny dot texture on the flower, this was simply achieved by dabbing the paint with kitchen towel.

On the other side of the square stack I added a butterfly from stencil PS029. 

Here I added dots and doodles to one of the pieces and stencilled a word on the final piece. 

I then used Stazon to stamp birds from EDY10 onto acetate, this was glied behind the rectangle stack. 

EDY10

When I first glued the die cuts together I had played around with arrangements, as they were to be set at odd angles I needed to make sure the composition was balanced. I tried a few different ways and took photos to remind me later. 

Then once all the pieces were decorated it was easy to glue them into place using both glossy accents and golden regular gel. 

This was fun, mainly because I really had no project in mind. I knew I wanted to explore how sturdy the die cuts could be when glued together, so that was my starting point. From there, though, it was pure play. 

Creating should not be hard work and stressful, it should be fun, remember that and just go with the flow. 

Darcy 

Blog: Art and Sole

We would love to see how you interpret this Die Cuts topic by linking what you make to our 2016 Challenge #19: Die Cuts, 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 Die Cuts link will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, Oct 16th 2016. The winner will be announced 2  hours later at 19:00.

2016 #19 Seedhead Triptych {by Jo Firth-Young}

 2016 Topic 19: Die Cuts

Hi everyone Jo Firth-Young (www.jofy.co.uk) here. Tonight I'd like to share with you a post about using die cuts as masks, stencils and embellishments.

I'm still enjoying using my Gelli plates and incorporating masks and stencils, and creating my own from die cuts is so simple.  I have used these to create a triptych of canvas boards Gelli printed with Fresco Paints, stamped and embellished with die cut motifs.

This was quite an organic project - created and modified as I went along.. and it was an exercise in 'keep going until you're happy' and 'walk away, come back and look at it with fresh eyes' type of project.

I started off with a rough sketch in my workbook (where I do all my thinking), and then got to work... (I find it really helpful to have a starting sketch - even if its on a piece of scrap paper because sometimes you can lose your way on a project and its good to go back and see what was originally imagined)

Step One: Planning 
My plan was to use foliage design dies and cut coordinating stencils and masks out of PaperArtsy Crunchy paper - this is a great product to use for this because it die cuts well and has a good resistance to moisture so is perfect for using with, and resisting paint. 

I chose dies that cut a solid (but still delicate) shape because the Gelli plate I wanted to use is from the Petite packs and is quite small - 2x3 inches.

Step Two: Preparation
I taped the three 5x7 canvas boards together on the reverse to keep them stable while working - this was important because I planned to print across the gap from one board to the next.  

I chose various Fresco colours from the pink side of the colour wheel - Sherbet is quite a cold pink but is warmed up by the addition of Coral and Tango - and who doesn't love a bit of the Bubble Gum pink!.

Step Three: Gelli Printing  
I began Gelli printing using the small rectangle from the Petite packs, and Vanilla Fresco Finish Paint. Each time I loaded the plate I made one print and then a second 'ghost' print - this creates different depths of colour. I would also print with different orientations of the print - sometimes landscape, sometimes portrait, and below you can see how several of the prints bridge the gap between the boards tying them together.  

I rotated the triptych 180 degrees between colours, and stamped rectangles so they covered parts of the layer beneath.

Layer 1: Vanilla 
Layer 2: Sherbet
Layer 3: Coral.... and a 'noooooooo!!!' moment.... I dropped the gelli plate - in the middle of the centre panel in a bright colour!!!!!  
You can see the lines of colour from where the Gelli plate made little prints as it BOUNCED before I could catch it... sigh.  I've included this photo so that I could show you that all was not lost and things can be 'repaired/rescued' - compare the photo below to the photo of the finished project at the top of this post and you can't see this 'oops' at all - you can barely see the Coral rectangle let alone those naughty little bounce marks.  Phew!
So, please don't panic if these things happens to you.... keep calm and carry on!

Layer 4: Bubble Gum - and this was the final layer of plain/solid rectangle prints.

Step Four: Gelli printing with the stencils & masks
The photo below shows the masks and stencils after I have printed with them - you can see where I've placed the Gelli plate to get the prints on the canvas.

On the canvas I tried to print with all the stencils/masks in most of the colours and placed the prints over the existing rectangles so the colour of previous layers showed through or randomly bridging gaps on the surface.

NB I printed with the Gelli plate mounted on to a slim acrylic block

Here is one die cut as an example of the prints that were created. I loaded the 3x5 petite plate with Bubble Gum paint, pressed a piece of bubble wrap onto the gelli to remove some of the paint and then placed the mask in position.  The mask sticks to the paint which means the whole piece can be turned over and pressed onto the project surface to create the print.

The stencil (on left) created by the same die cut and the resulting print (on right).  I would lay this in place on the canvas and press the paint loaded Gelli plate on top.

This is how the triptych looked at this point with the feature die cuts laid on top in optional colours.

I wasn't happy with it - it was missing something... the blocks were too small, they weren't 'tied' together and the colours weren't punchy enough.... what this needed was colour - and you don't get more colourful on this side of the colourwheel than BOUGAINVILLEA! 

Step Five: Brights  
I started using a 3x5 inch Gelli plate to print bigger panels of colour & I went a bit Bougainvillea mad!

The new colour was too much of a contrast and so now I needed to knock it back (are you now realising what I meant in my opening paragraph about what an organic project this was!)

I knocked the colour back by over printing with Vanilla - loading the Gelli plate with paint and lifting some paint off by laying on bubblewrap (breaking up the opacity of the paint and allowing layers underneath to show through).  I did this for all areas with Bougainvillea and the result was a lovely chalky effect.

This is the great thing about Gelli printing and Fresco paints - you can keep adding layers until you're happy, and using opaques and translucents to their advantage.
I was happy with the result.  The background was finished.

Step Four: The details
I chose black for the feature die cut stems because they were so dramatic (attached to the canvasses with 3D foam), and stamped seedheads from JOFY38...

...to soften the contrast between the die cuts and the background.  I painted these in with colours used on the back ground (Bougainvillea, Coral and Sherbert).  I dragged around the edges of boards with a black pencil and softly coloured around some of the rectangles on the background.

The canvasses are connected across the back with sturdy cardboard.

Here's a close up of the centre panel - I'm so happy with all the layers of detail that can be seen.

I chose to work with foliage die cuts but you could choose any designs - simple shapes or flourishes - choice is yours.  I would love to do this again but maybe next time work on a smooth surface - lovely as the canvas surface is because it gives such a nice texture it can also be a little tricky, particularly when stamping directly onto it.  My feature die cut is a large one - measures 9 x 20cm - but you could create a large arrangement by grouping die cuts together.

Have fun and play! (but don't drop your Gelli plate!!)

Jo

You can find me at www.jofy.co.uk
or follow me @jofyjo on Instagram & twitter 

I adore this Jo, and it is also one of my preferred gelli printing colour palettes too!! The chalky effect to tone-back was inspired, and I do love the addition of the brights like Bougainvillea and Tango too! Toally beautiful! ~Leandra

We would love to see how you interpret this Die Cuts topic by linking what you make to our 2016 Challenge #19: Die Cuts, 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 Die Cuts link will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, Oct 16th 2016. The winner will be announced 2  hours later at 19:00.