2019 #6 Fish: Fish Dreams with Zinki Art {by Etsuko Noguchi}

2019 Topic 6: Fish

Well you are in for another doozy of a post from Etsuko. Her creativity knows no bounds! Today she has stamped clay and coloured it perfectly with Fresco paints, made the most beautiful background-plaques which evlove into the most beautiful wall hanging. Anyone would LOVE this in their seaside dream home, I am sure! ~Leandra

Hi everyone, it's Etsuko My Favorite Things with you today, and I'd like to share with you Wall Hanging 'Fish Dreams' using clay and fabulous Elenazinski Art Fish stamps ZA31.

My husband loves the sea and who has a hobby of fishing, until a little while ago he went far and caught fair size fish but now he plays at a nearby fishing grounds. I thought this is a small gift for him.

Elena's fish stamps are very fun and interesting. So I chose one of the sets, and made the project with the fish as the motif.

First I made fishes using polymer clay. Polymer clay is easy to make a shape and can be stored for long if you don't bake.

I made all the fish shape by the stamp set ZA31 and baked it in a 300 degree oven for 10 to 15 minutes then after cool down I applied white gesso.

Next I made the background to become a pedestal according to the size of each fish with the Heavy Gray Board. And I added three small blocks to fix whole shape.

I using Grunge Past, Art Stone and White Crackle Paste for the texture of each block then finished with White Gesso. Media Crackle paste is always satisfying make a big crack. I used matt soft gel from the top because it was easy to peel off after cracking.

Also I used Grunge Paste around each block and embossed it with some stamps and added some textures.

These fish were all the same colours, first I was filled with Smurf all over these fish, painted watered Inky Pool then I dry-brushed by Snow Flake. I did not use any other color than blue that I wanted to make it simply.

Applied blue Neocolor to the rim of each block add water and dried it I applied Treasure Pewter. I then connected those blocks with wires. (This photo shows the top)

(This is the bottom.)

The bottom of the blocks had a paper beads fringe. 

I used Fresco Paint - Smurf, Blue Lagoon, Inky Pool and Snow Flake with PaperArtsy Brayer and stamped Seth Apter Mini EM35 stamp.

I added some beads and connected it with a wire.

Also I made the hanger with driftwood and made a title with inkjet shrink plastic.

This is the finished project. 

I wondered what to make this time but this wall hanger is just in time for the coming season,

and of course I made it fun.

The finish size is 39cm (length) x 29cm (width). The difficult part of work was the layout so I added small blocks to free space and solved the problem. (Portion with seashells.)

The Elenazinski Art stamps are suitable for deep engraving and stamping on clay and texture paste. Why don't you try and make something fun? I'm so looking forward to seeing your fabulous creations.

Thank you so much for visiting.
Etsuko xx

Blog: My Favorite Things
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2017 #4 Garden View {by Emma Godfrey}

2017 Topic 4: Doors, Windows, Architecture

It's so lovely to see how designers work with their own stamps, and tonight Emma shares ideas with her recently released stamps. She also shares the art of using infusions in a deliciously clean and simple style to produce pops of vibrancy which contrast perfectly with white space... 

Hi everyone Emma here.

It's great to be back here on the PA blog tonight.

This project is a piece of wall art - and I'll be honest, using my stamps with this topic initially left me a bit stumped. However it didn't take too long to come up with the idea of using my circle stamps as window frames. I was also limited with what supplies I had on hand - but then again, sometimes that can be a good thing.

The frame I've used was a Mossebo frame from IKEA, and it comes with a handy internal segment which allows you to use it as a box frame or a normal frame - and for this project I used it for both!

I love making these flowers up with stamp set EEG22 (stockists list here).

I design most of my stamp focal images to be open so that you can stamp them onto patterned papers, book text, or backgrounds you make yourself (as I've done here with the Violetta Infusions and some of the Fresco Finish paints). The white flowers were overstamped with...

MN23

...which is another great way to use them - lots and lots of options!

As I mentioned in the stamp release blog post, I've cut my circle stamps (from EEG23) up so that I can use them separately. To cut out the insides of the stamped circles on my background I find it easiest to punch some holes into each centre with a pokey tool, then rough cut a circle out, before then cutting it neatly.

Layering everything up was my favourite bit ... deciding what to put in each of the windows and adding a little bit of sparkle (of course).

I've been playing with this flower idea using the other new Infusion colours - and I can't tell you which one is my favourite, as they're all gorgeous. I think this idea could work really well for cards too ... and Mother's Day is coming up so that gives me an idea ...

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Wow, I love this Emma. I think you are right...sometimes not having all your stash to hand forces you to be resourceful, and this has worked a treat! ~ Leandra

We always hope that you  learn something interesting from our blog. Our bloggers deeply appreciate your comments so much, so please take time to let them know you've been inspired! Why not join our challenge by blogging your interpretation of the current topic and link it here?

The current topic link will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, March 26th 2017, and the winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.

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2016 #12 Fabric Wall hanging {by Liz Borer}

2016 Topic 12: Fabric

Hi there everyone, Liz here again with some ideas about decorating fabric with stamps, paints and PaperArtsy Infusions.

I've decorated different pieces of fabric in different ways and then used the designs to make a Wall hanging. I'm not going to spend much time telling you how to make the hanging itself because I feel that this is more about ideas and inspiration for you to test and try in your own way.

This face is a design that I created using copyright free images. I then photocopied it and printed it onto printable fabric. I painted the design using PaperArtsy Fresco Chalk paints which I mixed with Matte Glaze. I used this mixture for 2 reasons: it makes any colour of paint more translucent, but more importantly in this situation, it stops the paint spreading through the fabric to places where it's not wanted.

The background was coloured with PaperArtsy Infusions (A Bit Jaded and Violet Storms) again, mixed with Matte Glaze. I added these colours randomly around the face , adding a little water if needed, and blending them together on the fabric . What was interesting about doing this was that although the infusions were already mixed with the glaze they went on spreading and changing to give a lovely mottled background.

To stamp a repeating design onto fabric I drew a grid on paper with a black pen so that I could see it through the fabric, and stuck the fabric over the grid so that it didn't move . I used EEB07 to stamp the design.

To create a repeat design I stamped the main image first, using the grid to ensure that each image was correctly placed. I then added more stamped images, masking the previous image. By doing this I could create quite a complicated design.

I actually made two pieces of fabric with repeated stamped images. One of them I stamped

.. with HP1506EZ

 ...and HP1304

But I did not colour them, creating a simple background. The second one I painted, mixing the paint with matte glaze as before to create a colourful fabric.

The next piece of fabric was coloured with Infusions. I shook the colours randomly over the fabric and then sprayed water over the fabric. In places I used a wet brush to encourage the colours to spread and mix.

Once the fabric was dry I painted a coat of matte glaze over the fabric to seal it because I wanted to use embossing powder and it tends to stick in the weave of unsealed fabric.

I then treated the sealed fabric just like paper and stamped and embossed the design, using a platinum metallic embossing powder. 

Stamps used: EEB08.

More Infusions, but this time through stencils.

I attached the stencil to the fabric using low tack glue on the back of the stencil. Using a stencil brush I applied matte glaze through the stencil and then sprinkled Infusions randomly over the stencil. I found that if I used the stencil brush again in a pouncing motion I could blend the colours before removing the stencil. I did try this with water instead of matte glaze but the water tended to bleed under the stencil and prevent a crisp image.

Here I've used a different stencil and different colours but the same technique. After I dried the first pattern I replaced the stencil and repeated the pattern to make a larger piece of fabric.

Once the fabric is dry, cut out the design leaving a border of fabric which can be frayed or hemmed depending on what you want to do with it.

I painted this dark fabric with matte glaze to seal it. I then stamped and embossed using an embossing powder that stays sticky for gilding. I then applied gilding flakes in the normal way. As you can tell, I am more or less using fabric in the same way I would use paper.

Even after the fabric is sealed, some tiny pieces of gilding flakes will adhere in odd places but I liked the effect.

The Wall hanging was made using a piece of firm grey fabric as the backing,  and also the same dark fabric to create borders top and bottom through which I intended to thread wooden bars to use as supports. I started the hanging by laying out the various decorated fabrics to find out where I wanted to place them. 

In this picture you can see the other pieces of stamped fabric which I left unpainted. To create a neat finish I hemmed the fabric where it would be on an edge, and then I sewed the base pieces in place. After that I added the rest of the decorated fabric and lots of different lace by sewing them all in place.

Here you can see another stamped and embossed design.

The butterflies were also stamped and embossed onto the piece of fabric coloured with infusions. The fabric had been sealed with glaze so I just cut them out. If you have sealed fabric with glaze, then it won't fray - handy!

I suspect that I will return to this piece in a few days and add more decorations. I think it would be nice to add some fabric flowers but I haven't decided yet . Sometimes I find that I need to leave a project alone for a while before I do anything else. I hope this has given you some ideas about decorating fabric and inspires you to find out lots of other techniques. 

Bye for now, Liz.
Blog: Decorative Delights

Liz this is like a masterclass in colouring fabric! Those infusions techniques are fascinating. So many different ideas, and the wall hanging is a sampler representative of them all. What a perfect showcase! Thank you. ~Gillian

We would love to see how you interpret this topic by linking what you make to our 2016 Challenge #12: Fabric, 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 Fabric link will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, June 26th 2016. The winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.