Frankenstein portrait

Well the lockdown is stretching out far longer than I imagined. I am finding creating and gardening are making it bearable. The weather here in Ireland is still surprisingly sunny. I dont do hot weather so I neglected the garden today and went to the attic where the breeze it cool and I can still hear those lovely summer sounds. Ive been playing with lots of textures using paste, stencils and distress crayons - more Tim Holtz Live prompts.

He uses Idea-ology frames in lots of his demos. I love the look of them but I am always more tempted by inks and stamps when I shop. The packs of frames seem expensive in the UK and I think I would be too tempted to hoard rather than use them. I do have an old disintegrated photo album which has old frame windows. I took the plunge this week and covered it in paste and crayon. I had no idea what I might do with it when I started out. When it was finished I decided I wanted to frame the anatomised head. I cut  the page into two and got out one of my favorite stamp sets, "Cadaverous," yes they are all my favorites. I love the anatomised head and he does remind me of Frankenstein. I also used a prompt from an ephemera pack and made an advertisement for an old imaginary bookshop window, propped up infront of stacks of leather bound dusty books. Everyone creates in a different way often what I make is based on a story in my head.

The backgrounds for the stamped images were made with mixed media paper. I sprayed a little  distress ink stain in frayed burlap and antique paper and then spritzed it with water and blotted the centre to create space for the foot and head.

The images were stamped with embossing ink and embossed with walnut stain glaze and then watercolored with reinker. It makes it easy to wash colour over an image. the gloss repels the ink and it settles into the white spaces.

As well as using the album pages for the first time I used some tiny 'mini metal fasteners' screw heads to attach the booksellers sign. I didn't do much to the images as the frame was so textural and colourful. I left the images simple and understated.

I loved the way the crackle paste worked along with the distress crayons it was fun to do and so forgiving if you dont like a colour it just wipes off and it blends beautifully. There are lots of oil/wax colouring sticks Gelatos, Scribble Sticks and others but these are a joy to blend with and the colour stays perfectly vibrant. I love using them.

My garden will get attended to tomorrow but today I enjoyed the studio. Hope you are all enjoying your creative space and your gardens! Thanks for visiting and stay safe and creative xox

I think this qualifies as a "A Man Thing," as that is the theme over at Simon Says Stamp this week I am linking up with their Monday Challenge.

I am also linking up with Creative Artiste's Challenge which is Anything Goes.

Back to Nature Autumn tag

I have changed the look of my blog a little so I can use bigger pictures. Pictures are so central to visual work. Today I wanted to experiment with Paperartsy's infusions and grunge paste. I worked on some book pages adhering them to card and cutting out a die from the Tim Holtz Bookplate and tag die. Next I used the paste through a stencil. Once it dried I used a heavy sprinkle and spritz of Slime  infusions.

By the time I had finished the text has almost disappeared. I love the range of colours that the infusions create. The texture paste  highlighted this effect as the colours pool and swirl around the patterned surface. I did use some distress ink in olive and forest moss but most of the colour comes from the infusions. I added very little to this as I wanted to allow the texture and colour show through.

I used some gold and terracotta embossing powder to create a defined edge. I die cut some tiny leaves from the Tiny Tattered Florals framlits set  and finished off with some dark brown Autumn plants from my garden.

This tag is partly inspired by the challenge over at A Vintage Journey where they prompt you to use natural objects, colours and themes this month. It is hard not to be conscious of nature at the change of seasons so much shifting colour and form in the garden as everything bursts its borders and dries out or turns rich browns and golden colours.

The tag is finished off with a quote from Van Gogh.

I am linking up to A Vintage Journey where they are challenging you to get  Back to Nature
Also joining in with That's Crafty Forever Autumn Challenge

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

Paper Boat on a Caribbean Sea

I have made things with paper and card since I was a little girl but origami still defeats me. I have tried it often but it really is not my forte - that is probably why I enjoy making paper boats it is the only folded form I can make with any success. When I noticed the May theme for A Vintage Journey was Words and Music I thought I would try a boat and use the song Caribbean Blue by Enya. This song was very much part of my early romance with my husband and I love music and the lyrics's imagery of sailing away to a blue sea.

I used a sheet of vintage music coloured with distress ink and perfect pearls.I also used lots of stencils to produce seaweed, bubbles and wave patterns. Once the boat was folded I stamped with archival and edged the boat with lots of my favorite Emerald Creek/Seth Apter embossing powder - in "Deep Sea" of course!

I decided to use the clean up wipe for making the sail as it was such lovely colours and had a great windswept shape to it.
Hope everyone is enjoying the balmy weather we have had here in Ireland, long may it last.

Simon Says Stamp  is also challenging everyone to make something Inspired by a Song link
A Vintage Journey Words and Music link
Also joining Creative Artiste Challenge #38