Deep Sea Collage

The latest paper artsy challenge is "Baked Texture" which inspired me to get out my embossing powders and play. I love using embossing powder. it is like a form of alchemy turning dull grains into molten reflective magic. I love the unpredictable and invisible process of applying virtually invisible Versamark and then coating and melting the granules to discover what will happen this time. Anyone who has visited me much knows I love the new baked texture powders by Seth Apter and Emerald Creek. I only have Deep Sea and Vintage Beeswax but I have mixed in a few of my other powders to create different effects. First I covered the baseboard with a few scraps of sea themed paper and Paperartsy fresco paints in blues and greens. I misted a little dark green from an old ink spray that usually produces big splotches. There are a few dark speckles on the final piece but most of the base colours are not very visible and I didn't take photos, sorry. I was only intending to play a little when I started out. I have include lots of pictures of all the effects and details.

I knew I wanted to use the beeswax and deep sea. I had the blue book spine and the shell and two fish scraps. I tore out several nautical pages from an old almanack. I also inked a piece of seam binding and stamped some text onto it and I used one tiny piece of design tape. I stained and glued down some pieces of the book paper and then applied some rock candy in some areas to create crackle . While it dried I stained and embossed some of the book paper fragments.

Each piece of book paper ended up with a very different look with all the various media used. The top fish is sitting on a piece that had 3 coats of beeswax. The bottom one is on a piece stained with distress stain.

This piece has only one coat of the vintage beeswax. The pale blue under the beeswax is a touch of blue distress stain. You can see the deep sea baked texture clearly here at the top.

All the heating the embossing demanded was too much for the rock candy and some of it flaked off. You can see the effect above in the bottom left hand corner. It just added to the sea texture so it looked quite good. I used a coat of beeswax then a coat of the sea embossing mixture to create a deep blue sea under the bottom fish. The 'Sea mixture" is lots of Deep Sea Baked texture, a pinch of Wendy Vecchi Fern green and Sky blue and a slightly bigger pinch of Ranger Antiquities Verdigris. 

I love the way different elements float and emerge in and out of focus. The different coloured layers all affect each other just like underwater. The Deep sea under the Vintage Beeswax is much greener. The blue area at the top of this picture is  Deep Sea baked texture under the Vintage Beeswax and on top of blue distress stain. It is very hard to describe any collage without using terms associated with water drift, float, swim all work so well to describe the way the elements and layers sit together and move between each other. 

In this section the gilt publishing company name on the old book spine glimmers just under the fishes tail. I had not noticed when I began that the publishing house was called Nelson! The book paper lists the tides and Rear and Vice Admirals in keeping with the nautical theme.

I wanted to use antiquing cream to emphasise the cracks in the rock candy and create a contrast to all the creams, greens and blues. Red Oxide ended up suggesting coral which was a pleasant surprise.

I thought the whole panel was too dark so I added a touch of white. After randomly sprinkling in a few spots I added individual specks of white from a pot of Stampendous Frantage to create bubbles for the fish.


Adding this to:
Paperartsy challenge #14 Baked Texture
Country View Crafts Challenge Sun Sea Sand
Emerald Creek Great Outdoors #ECAUG2018
That's Crafty Animal Magic challenge

Embossed Magic Card

My second embossed card uses my all time favourite Vintage Beeswax embossing powder. This powder adds a yellowy translucent tone that ages any paper perfectly it looks textured and all the bumps catch the light beautifully.

I used the same technique on this card as the robin egg card but this time I used the Seth Apter/ Emerald Creek's Vintage Beeswax embossing powder on the raised embossed areas. It completely changes the tone of the paper. It is much darker and richer looking. The beeswax has a very different effect to the normal clear powder I used on the Robin egg card. it really does add a yellow wax encaustic look. Adding a single layer on the 'Magic Garden' element gives it texture as well as deepening the colour  of the paper.

I was tempted to emboss the little boy but I didn't want every element to have similar tones. I also left the book paper fragment with just a hint of green ink and no embossing. I have had a great time experimenting with the resists that embossing offers Vintage beeswax really is magic! I am off to play with my Deep Sea powder now . . . watch this space.


Im linking this to Paperartsy's Baked Texture challenge

Insect in a Matchbox

As soon as I saw the Entomology stamp set by Tim Holtz I wanted to make a shiny embossed beetle to put into in a match box. I made the beetle a few weeks ago but I wanted to use the label and the matchbox die to make him a box. Finished it today and I love him! The beetle was stamped in black archival ink on heavy card stock and then coloured with distress ink. Once he was dried I did several coats of Seth Apter's Emerald Creek vintage beeswax embossing powder which produced a fabulous hard shiny beetle with texture and depth.

I used a piece of paper from Time Holtz Wallflower pad the plants were just black line drawings so I coloured them with some distress markers. I gave the finished box a coat of Seth's beeswax embossing powder.

It gave the box strength, shine, texture and a rich vintage colour, I love this stuff so much. The way heat embossing transforms is like magic. It is definitely my favourite material to use. It would have to go to my desert Island with me! I finished off the box with one of my labels and the bug was mounted onto another which I filled in with my own 'notes.' The pin is an entomology pin cut down to fit the box. these pins have great golden heads but black shafts they add an authentic touch.

The paper was perfect it had bugs on the design and I folded it so there was a bee on the outside.

I love this paper collection and it was great to find a project that used it so perfectly and its tiny so even in my stuffed studio I can find space to keep it.


Stamp sets used:
Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous "Entomology"
Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous  "Classic #12"
Entomology pins from   Blade Rubber
Good info and demonstration of beeswax powder Here

I am entering this into the As You Like it Challenge which is about your favourite embossing!
also Craft Stamper Magazines Take-it-make-it challenge for June which is anything goes.

Bird tag with Vintage Beeswax Embossing

New stamps and Seth Apter Emerald Creek embossing powders arrived yesterday just as I was unloading all my old stamps to sort out. I could not wait to try the Vintage beeswax powder out and I had to use these little plaques from B Line Designs.

B Line Designs Enameled Plate cube ZTP129E

SSS Monday prompt this week is Ombre so I grabbed a tag and got messy. I used some MT tape of birds eggs and stamped an old prima bird image which I coloured with distress markers. I embossed the edges with a couple of Tim Holts folders and then distress inked the tag in four colours of blue distress, (Chipped Sapphire, Mermaid Lagoon, Salty Ocean and Tumbled Glass). I'm not sure how well the ombre effect worked with so many elements. I photographed it before I used the Vintage beeswax embossing powder.

Tag before embossing

I embossed the whole tag with three coats of Vintage beeswax powder and then added some Deep Sea powder around the bottom edges to darken the blue tones.  You can see the rich dark blue and speckles it created. The whole tag is shiny and vibrant - I love the effect.

Tag after embossing

 The beeswax does give a yellow tinge to the surface changing my blues to a more green tint. This is made more extreme by the artificial light I used as its such a dull day here. The finished surface is stiff and I was able to crack it which ages it especially on the plaques. I finished off with dyed seambinding and gold highlights with Liquid Leaf, Classic.

I think I might become addicted to this embossing powder - watch this space!

I am entering this in the Monday Challenge at Simon Says Stamp:"Ombre" SSS link:
info on Seth Apter's Embossing powders