Darcy Journalling Month 1: {with Eclectica Stamps by Designer Darcy Wilkinson}

Hi everyone, Darcy here. It has been crazy busy for me just recently. I have been working behind the scenes with Gillian to bring you all these new and fantastic blog posts. I have also been working on my new stamp collection and samples. Today I will show you some of my new stamps in action on  a journal page. 

As a new feature on the blog I will be bringing you a journal page each month, showcasing new products and exploring lots of techniques. I would love it if you could play along, and explore these ideas with me, and share with the link tool at the foot of this post how you have explored this month's ideas. So you can prepare, I shall tell you in advance roughly what products I plan to use. Also this challenge will remain open for a whole month, so you have plenty of time to join in. 

Each month I will be using this square sketchbook. Of course you can use any size that you feel comfortable with, but I can personally recommend these books as the paper is ideal for wet media. So without further ado here is my first journal page. 

I began with masking tape. I used a wide tape so that I could rip the edges and make it rough, I did not want straight edges. This tape is very grabby, and if you stick it straight to paper it will rip the paper when peeled off. To avoid this you need to de-stick the tape by patting it on your clothes a few times. 

I added a few strips in a random grid. You can see I only used the central part of the pages. 

I then mixed up some Grunge Paste  with 3 colours of Fresco paint. Lake Wanaka, Spanish Mulberry, and Eggplant. I applied the 3 colours over the grid, in random order and in different thicknesses. Next I stamped into the paste, I chose quite well defined, blocky stamps. Using a fine script at this point would not work as the sanding later would wear away a more delicate design. So I chose Squiggly Ink Mini 15 and Ink &Dog Background 4

I carefully peeled off the tape and left the paste to dry. 

Now to add some layers of paint. This might seem excessive, in all I used 14 layers, but you need the many layers to add as much interest as possible once you start sanding back. My first layer was to completely cover the page with brushed on Space Cadet, this was dried, and then a layer of Snowflake was applied with a brayer. 

The next 2 layers are firstly Sage and Green Olives brushed on, and then another layer of Snowflake is brayered on. 

Then I added some bright colours, choose this layer carefully as this will be the main colour that shows through. I used Pumpkin Soup, Autumn Fire and Claret, these were brushed on  and then a final layer was applied with a brayer. The final layer is neutrals, a lot of this layer will disappear but small amounts will remain so it is important that they are neutral. I used Nougat and Mocha Mousse. Let all layers dry between applications. 

Now to sand back and reveal. I rubbed really hard over the grunge paste areas with sandpaper, then I switched to a damp baby wipe to rub back the painted areas between the paste areas. Keep in mind your very first colour, as soon as you see that starting to show through then stop rubbing, go any further and you will rub through the paper. I was keen to use this new stencil, Fade Horizontal I knew it would give the pop of colour that I needed. However I did not want another layer on the top, so I slipped the stencil underneath the page and carried on rubbing with a baby wipe. Now as you rub, the pattern of the stencil appears like magic. (Note this technique is not my invention, I have seen many people use stencils and found objects in this way)

Here is half the page done, you can see the transformation on the right side. The photo cannot show you just how scrummy the middle/grunge paste areas are. But they feel wonderful to the touch. Grunge paste sands back beautifully to a really smooth finish while still retaining the texture. 

Just look how using the stencil as a rubbing, underneath the page is so effective. Here you can now see all the colours from all the layers.  The whole page now looks like a wall in a roman villa, with those warm oranges. The raised tiles in the centre are like bits of old broken moasic. 

Now to add the focal images, i wanted to use the idea of a little girl, holding a bunch of flowers and letting them blow away with the wind. I drew this head and hand, cut them out and then filled in both with black. You could use black gesso or Little Black Dress. 

If you would like to play along, you can download this image from THIS LINK. 

Before I could stick her in, I needed to get the placement of my border. I inked up one of the borders( new stamp alert ) and using black Archival ink I stamped the border all around both halves. Because this border stamp has fiddly bits I knew i couldn't cut the whole thing out. so I stamped again onto smooth paper, coloured in the blocky parts and cut those out. I used Hey pesto, Green Olives,Limelight, Beach hut and South Pacific.  

Once stuck in place you get the fiddly bits from the lower stamping matching up with the cut out painted bits. The 2 pieces of the silhouette were glued in just behind the border. 

I know painting faces can be daunting for a lot of people, which is why I have left her as a silhouette, but she does need a little colour. Here is a nifty technique for colouring in stamps that are small and detailed. Not everyone loves painting details with a one hair brush, and some people may be put off using intricate stamps. But if you paint the background first then the job is almost all done for you. I randomly painted this piece with Pumpkin Soup and Autumn Fire, dried it then added Snowflake with a textured brayer. Then I stamped my images (new stamp alert)and just dabbed on some contrastng colours into the spots. 

I cut these out, turned them over and using an embossing tool over a mouse mat, I made them slightly domed. They were then totally perfect as centres for these fabby prima flowers. You get gazillions of them in a tube, well ok maybe not gazillions but you do get lots and lots, enough to keep you going for ages. Really they are such good value. I glued on the flowers with glossy accents and added my favourite decoration... white dots. 

Now for another stamp,(new stamp alert) that is too fiddly to colour in. I stamped it onto the page to get the frame in place, then I blobbed lots of colours together and let them dry. This is a great way to add patterning to an image that you could not do by colouring it in with a brush or pen. 

I stamped the hanging basket of cog-flowers, and the small heart onto my painted paper, cut them out and glued them to the stamped frame. 

Now to add lots of flowers, in the girl's hand and blowing across the page. 

(New stamp alert)

These flowers were all coloured the same way, by stamping onto a painted/stencilled background, cutting out and gluing into place.  You can see I also mixed in more of the Prima flowers. 

Here are the leaves (new stamp alert) being made, I painted Limelight and Hey pesto, let that dry and then I stencilled with Green Olives, using the same stencil that is in the background layer. It really is such a simple way of decorating stamped images. 

I continued adding flowers blowing away from the girl, more stamped images (new stamp alert) and more prima flowers. 

My final addition was some text (new stamp alert) I painted Space Cadet, Pea Coat and Limelight onto Smoothy card. then I stamped the quote using Snowflake. I cut this out and glued it to the page,then using the side of an old credit card and more snowflake, I added some lines around the text. 

One final photo. To finish off the edges of the pages I rubbed on a little blue and purple from my Portfolio pastels. This is important to frame your piece and to 'ground' it in place, otherwise it looks unfinished and almost like it might slide off the page. 

I hope you enjoyed seeing this process, and I would love to see you using some of the techniques, why not grab a journal and join me each month as we fill our books with stamps,colours and techniques. 

The plan is to use similar products for 2 months and then change, so if you gather supplies to make this page then keep them handy for next month too. All the new stamps that I used will be available to buy from the official launch at the Stevenage show on Feb 9th, where I will be demoing.They will be available to trade customers from the start of February and so available in your LSS from February onwards. 

Ideas for you to explore this month:

• masking tape texture resist
• Grunge paste, tinting, stamping into
• Painted layers, rubbing back, sanding back, wiping back
• Stencil texture (rubbed through from behind)
• Silhouette (cut your own or use the one featured)
• Stamped/ painted flowers/ Foliage/ Borders
• Portfolios pastels (or crayon/ pencil) shading

See you next month, Darcy x

If you would like to join in then please link up how you were inspired by the techniques presented above using the linky below (this is a separate link to the weekly PA challenges). This journal challenge will remain open for a whole month, and will end the day before my next journal page. Please follow the guidelines below, and enter your journal page to be in with a chance of winning one of my brand new stamp plates. 

• This challenge is to show how you have been inspired to action by this month's example make sure in your blog post you explain what part or technique prompted you to create a page of your own. 
• Make sure you have your journal page entry linked up by 5pm (London time) February 21st 2014. 
• Winner will be announced the following day.
• There will only be ONE draw, ONE winner. You may link up as many times as you like but each name will only go into the draw once.
• Please don't feel you need to copy the example exactly.
    
  You are also welcome to use any stamps/ products / substrates you have to hand, we do not expect you to exclusively use PA products - but of course it is lovely when you do!

Paint Sample Chart

Hi everyone, Darcy here. While messing around with my paints today I decided that I really needed a colour chart. Once finished I was really pleased with it and thought you might like to make one for yourselves. 

I started out by creating a table, just in a word programme, it's really nothing flashy. Actually I wanted to keep it fairly simple, but with a very important element. 

Of course there needed to be spaces for the paint, and a box underneath with the corresponding paint name. However the really nifty addition is the set of chevrons within each paint box.  (Scroll down to near the bottom of this post for a download link)

So why are these chevrons so important? well have you ever noticed that there are similar chevrons on the front of every bottle of Fresco Finish paint?

So we have these chevrons, and it would appear they are covered up with paint? yes they are. When the paint is bottled and labelled up, each and every label has a little paint brushed onto the label. All by hand, wow those PaperArtsy elves work hard. 

Did you know that the paint covered chevrons are actually a cool little tool, there to help you when you are choosing paint? How can that possibly help you may ask..

There are 3 categories of Fresco Finish paint, Translucent, Semi-Opaque and Opaque. You can see these clearly in the photo above. We also use the word 'coverage' a lot with this paint. It is a confusing word,and many people think that it means that the paint will 'go a long way'. However what it really means is that the paint is good at 'covering up' whatever is underneath. 

Take a look at those bottles. On the translucent bottle, you can clearly see the chevrons through the paint. So the translucents, which are the brightest of the colours, have the lowest level of coverage. Then we have the semi-opaque, you can still see a little of the chevrons. Finally look at the opaque bottle, the black chevrons are completely covered up. 

So let's start to fill in the colour chart. Here we have Zesty Zing, this is a translucent and so the printed chevrons show through. This is good to know especially when you are colouring in stamped images. Use a translucent paint and you won't lose the stamped outlines of your image. 

Next we have Chocolate Pudding, the chevrons are still partly visible, this is a semi-opaque. 

Finally the Space Cadet, see how the chevrons are completely gone! Because of this, opaques are perfect for backgrounds. Also if you ever make a mistake with your project, grab an opaque and cover it up and start again, nobody will ever know because the opaques are so good at 'covering up. 

So I filled in my chart completely. Now I can see several things at a glance. 

1. I can see which colours I have and which are missing. 

2. I can see how the colours look out of the bottle, always helpful when picking out a colour for a project.

3. I can see at a glance which colours are translucent, semi-opaque and opaque.

4. I can see at a glance the colour families. 

This final point, about the families, is another nifty tool intended to help you. All the paints are in groups of families of 4. Each member of that family will work in harmony with other members of that family. 

When faced with so many colours it can be confusing knowing which colours will work well together. Using this chart you can easily identify sets of 4 colours that will work in harmony. Each family runs from lightest on the left to darkest on the right. 

I hope you find this useful. Please feel free to download and fill in your own chart. You can download a copy to print from this link:  http://www.paperartsy.co.uk/pdfs/FrescoFinish72.pdf

PaperArtsy also have this new printed paint chart (below) of the 72 Frescos. This is designed primarily to be a 'tick chart' as you collect your Fresco paints. It also indicates which shades are opaque, semi and translucent. 

Due to differences between computer screens, and the difficultly of trying to reproduce painted colours as a printed CMYK version, the colours are not a perfect match. Particularly the darkest and turquoise (blue-green) shades. This is why PaperArtsy elves paint the colour on the labels on the front of every bottle as it is the best, and only true indicator of the colour inside !

When you place an order at PaperArtsy, they will pop one of these in with your order. They are also putting wads of them into every box going out to trade customers (shops), so ask at your local PaperArtsy stamp store for a copy of this chart below.

Darcy x