Desert Sky

Posted: June 23, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: desert dream, Stamped Landscapes | Tags: , , , | 7 Comments

After creating some gel printed landscapes I was inspired to return to another technique I enjoy: creating landscapes with scenic stamps. Sometimes I combine scenes to create a new landscape or stamp additional elements, other times I stamp a single complete landscape as shown in this ‘desert dreams’ stamp. It was released a few years back but this is the first time I’ve inked it. Before getting to the stamping I created the painted background which included a two tone blue sky and two toned desert floor. I smooshed distress inks on my glass mat, spritzed water over the ink and swiped the watercolour panel through to pick up colour.

Once the panel dried I did the stamping in a stamp positioner so I could build up the colour and picture bit by bit. I started by inking the cacti with crushed olive and peeled paint markers, the distant foliage with rusty hinge and the foreground foliage with peeled paint and forest moss. I spritzed the stamp but also used a paint brush and occasional spritz on the panel.

You can see my finished design doesn’t contain fine details but the overall feeling is a hot day in the desert day among some bold contrasting scenery. I finished the card with a sentiment from the PB ‘Faith.Hope.Love’ set.

To see more scenic stamping take a look at these posts: Arbors, Pumpkins, Fields of gold and Beloved view.

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Craft Roulette

Posted: June 21, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: garden variety, Penny Black | Tags: , , , | 10 Comments

I had the opportunity to participate in Craft Roulette on Friday night. If Craft Roulette is new to you (as it was to me until a month ago) it is a live crafting improv game show hosted by Mary Gunn every Friday night on Youtube. She has a different guest each week, sometimes more than one, and they craft together. Every week the parameters for the card are different as the wheel is spun four times, once for type of card, then colour choices, a theme and finally a random element.

I was delighted to see familiar names from this blog pop up in the live chat; thank you so much for joining in. Although I could not respond to all the chat I went back and read through it yesterday and was so encouraged by your kind words. I know some of you stayed up very late to watch!

The wheel was pretty kind on Friday night and none of the parameters took me too far out of my comfort zone. The card style was MATCHBOOK ( I needed a refresher on that), colours were RED +2, theme was MORNING and the random element was SPLATTERS! You know I love splatters.

I chose to create a background sunrise, add some red and green flowers (PB garden variety) then add splatters with water at the end. My three colours were red + green and yellow. The evening was very enjoyable; Mary is a hoot, the viewers on live chat were the loveliest and being live on the interwebs was not as daunting as expected. I might just attempt my own live creating on youtube from time to time.

As the challenge unfolds, viewers are encouraged to make a card following the same parameters. Some viewers watch and create as the show progresses but most make and post their cards after watching the show. Everyone has until Sunday evening to submit their creations. The cards are all shared during the show the following week. Contributors are entered into a few prize draws at the end of the show. So you see, Craft Roulette is a happening place, full of fun and inspiration and worth checking out on a Friday night. To see how I created this card you can watch the replay here.

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Fern gel print journal page

Posted: June 18, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: Art Journal, gel press | Tags: , , , | 7 Comments

Another art journal page today which is unusual for me. After noticing there was a fern growing beside one of the drainpipes off my roof I had to try gel printing with one of the intricate fronds. I made a card with a fern gel print too but carelessly I let it leave the house before being photographed!

To gel print a leaf or feather I use a two step process. I apply paint to the gel plate; I used blues and greens and the large 12″x14″ gel plate. I lay the fern frond as flat as I could on the plate and then took a print; once again I used rice paper. The first pull picks up all the surrounding ink leaving a white empty frond shaped space in the middle. I carefully removed the fern which reveals the print of the frond still on the gel plate. I took a second pull, laying the paper down in the same place so it picked up all the detail of the fern. You can see a video of the same process in an earlier post.

To attach the large print to my art journal pages was a little tricky. I cut it in half and worked one side at a time applying the matte medium to the page not the print. I will do the opposite next time. Rice paper is thin which makes it less bulky but I had to be careful not to use too much glue. When I made the card (which is gone!) I applied a thin coat of matte medium to the gel print and immediately pressed a piece of cardstock down on the rice paper and put something heavy on top. It worked well.

Thanks for joining me this week as I went off in card-less directions. I have enjoyed your encouragement and thoughts in the comments. If you are free tonight at 7:30 EDT and want to see me creating live online for the first time I would be thrilled. I have no idea what I’ll make; it all depends on what the wheel spins for me!

Gel print city journal page

Posted: June 17, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: Art Journal, gel press, Waffle Flower | Tags: , , , , | 5 Comments

Continuing my week of gel prints you might see a resemblance between yesterday’s projects and todays. I posted large cityscape projects yesterday made by masking areas of the gel plate with paper rectangles cut from stiff magazine paper. Some of the masks had little shapes cut from them with dies. I used the magazine masks over and over on several prints and experiments so by the end they were covered in paint and way more interesting than they started out.

Rather than save the masks or throw them away I turned them into a city scape art journal page. Once again my scraps are prettier than some of my prints! Every time I brayered a new colour onto the gel plate I lay the rectangle masks paint side down so they ended up picking up paint, pattern and texture while occasionally letting a bit of text or photo show through.

The background sky was done with distress sprays, a few blues and a black (listed below) spritzed over the open spread to cover the top half of both pages.

Once the sky was dry I arranged and rearranged the ‘buildings’ so I would have contrasting heights and colours across the scene. Some of the tiny shapes die cut from the masks also had paint on them so I used a few as doors on this scene. The windows are all cut outs revealing some of the prints underneath. I used matte medium and a Tim Holtz collage brush to glue everything down then decided to outline the shapes with gel pens to separate them a little more.

This art journal design was one of those rare ones that turned out as I imagined it might. Doesn’t always go that way!

I mentioned a couple of days ago I am appearing on Craft Roulette Live Improv show on Friday night. I’d love to see you there if you are free. You can hop on the chat and say hello. The details are here and here

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Gel print cityscapes

Posted: June 16, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: Darkroom Door, gel press, large stars, Stencils | Tags: | 11 Comments

Yesterday was coast line, today we are back to the city. I hesitated before sharing these as I am still experimenting with the technique but I think these two panels are good representations of what I am aiming for.

These panels are quite large; they are printed on rice paper from a 12″x18″ pad. My gel plate for these is 12″ x 14″ so it was tight on the edges and sometimes I didn’t get it lined up exactly. With gel printing not getting things lined up exactly is part of the charm in my opinion. I initially bought the rice paper for painting but it was the perfect size for large gel prints so I tried it and liked it.

My technique for both these panels was the same. I began with a two or three colour base layer then every time I printed over the top I lay rectangular pieces of thick magazine paper over sections of the panel to mask ‘buildings’. Some of the rectangles had little squares and rectangles cut out; I used the Waffle Flower ‘color combos’ dies for that.

The tall panel has gold stars in the sky created using the Darkroom Door large ‘stars’ stencil but other than that I didn’t add texture to the layers. I plan to do more of that as I keep experimenting.

My plan wasn’t to make one rather dark and the other light but that is what happened. Both feature gold paint but in the lighter one it has showed up as a sheen in the photograph and distracts a bit from the ‘buildings’.

The process is enjoyable but takes some planning and thinking because any surface that I want to preserve has to be masked on the next and subsequent layers. Sometimes I get it right, sometimes not, but I’m still happy with these abstract cityscapes.

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From the ocean or the shore?

Posted: June 15, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: gel press | Tags: , | 11 Comments

Today’s gel prints are inspired by aerial views of parts of the West Australian coast. I haven’t been there but the views I’ve seen on youtube show these colours. These panels are roughly slimline card size but they are not made into cards yet because I’m not sure if I want to send them or display them. I think a very slim black strip with a sentiment could look good but I can’t commit to it yet. I’ve already started worked on a larger similar print so I might be able to part with these ones.

I also have a bit of exciting/terrifying news about Craft Roulette; if you want to hear more about that make sure you read to the end of this post.

I also wonder which way you think they should be oriented. The view above appears to be looking from the ocean back to the beach. The view below is from land out to the ocean. What’s your preference? There is no right or wrong of course.

I created these on a large gel plate in a few layers, not too many as I didn’t want to muddy the sandy end. I started with blue acrylic paint in two tones covering half the plate then mustard covering the other. The next print once again had blue but I put some texture marks in it with a homemade ‘wide comb’ edge and added a rusty colour at the other end.

The final prints were to add the white foam and extra blue so I sponged the blue and white acrylic paint onto the gel plate in roughly the middle, took another print and then repeated the sponging. I used a mixture of acrylic paints, some liquitex basics, some decoarts Americana, but in the midst of a gel printing session I don’t always take note of what colours I use and by the end of the session all the colours are out on the table! The cardstock is a lightweight white card, about 60lb weight, not the usual 110lb I use for card bases.

In other news, on Friday evening I will be a guest on Craft Roulette, a live improv crafting game show on youtube hosted by Mary Gunn. I have never created live before and it is improv so I don’t even know what I will be making until they spin the wheel. Pop over to the Craft Roulette youtube channel; you can find out what it is all about, check out old episodes and get ready to watch on Friday night. It is 6:30 MT so that’s 7:30 EST and beyond that you will have to do the math!

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Gel print backgrounds

Posted: June 14, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: Brutus Monroe, contemporary, gel press, perfumed | Tags: , , , , , | 8 Comments

I have had my gel plate out recently and I am addicted. It is what happens when I get it out. Gel printing can be frustrating because some of the prints are a whole lot of nothing much while others are full of pattern, texture and colour. I never know whether the next print will be the former or the latter so I keep on printing. I have a stack of prints sitting around and I decided it was time to cut a few up to make cards. I added some stamping and die-cuts.

This first card is my favourite but I must be honest with you, it isn’t a gel print. It is the scrap paper I cleaned the brayer on! I love how pretty the colours and blends are but I’m a bit miffed that my clean up page was prettier than many of my prints!

To turn it into a card I stamped and embossed the PB ‘contemporary’ stamp in white and added the hello, cut with the PB ‘thanks & hello’

Same deal with this background but embossed with gold and adorned with the PB ‘jumbo joy’ die.

I’m glad to add another card to my very small Christmas card stack. My resolution to add to it every month seems to be a bit off and on.

This background is a recent print and includes a fun thread printing technique I saw on Birgit Koopsen’s instagram. She recently completed a challenge gel printing every day in May. She generously shared all the techniques she tried.

I added flowers from the PB ‘perfumed’ set and a sentiment in white embossing powder.

I guess the title of this post was a bit inaccurate as only one of these cards features a gel print background! Watching beauty emerge when gel printing is so much fun. To glance over at my brayer clean up sheet and realise I have to save it because it looks like a pastel check table cloth is a bonus. To see the pale ghosts of stencils turn up on third or fourth prints also amazes me.

I did not participate in Birgit’s recent challenge as I was busy busy launching the new online Floral Faves class but now the gel plate is out I am challenging myself to post something gel-print related every day this week. See you tomorrow.

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3D Tulips

Posted: June 11, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: Paper Rose, so extra supporting sentiments, tulips 3D | Tags: , , | 6 Comments

My embossing folder collection has grown a bit more this week. I ordered a couple from Paper Rose Studio and tried out the Tulips 3D folder today. After a few experiments with watercolour paper and neenah cardstock I used the same technique on both these cards with different inks.

The green panel above was done with neenah solar white cardstock and the pink below is watercolour paper. As I didn’t end up adding more than a spritz of water the effect is the same on both panels. I embossed the cardstock then used blending brushes to add Catherine Pooler spruce ink to the card above and bellini to the card below. For added detail and shimmer I used delicata inks direct to the panel, shimmer white over the spruce and rose gold over the bellini.

To complete the cards I added tulip diecuts from Penny Black (promise me II) and sentiment strips from Paper Rose Studio. I have seen printed sentiment strips from a few companies now and decided to try these. They are printed on slightly glossy cardstock and are designed to pair with die-cut words. There are several copies of each sheet of words or phrases so if I botch the cutting I can try again.

I know tulip season is over but I had to give this folder a try. I also know tulips don’t come in green but I think the spruce one is my favourite of the two.

I appreciated all the suggestions and comments about the alcohol ink panels. I am considering a few of the ideas and will do a video as requested as soon as possible. Thank you for taking the time to enter the discussion; I love hearing from you and gathering new ideas.

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Alcohol ink experiments

Posted: June 9, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: Alcohol Ink | Tags: | 23 Comments

I’ve taken a bit of time in the last week to experiment with some neglected mediums in my workroom. It has been both enjoyable and challenging as I try to remember process and techniques I haven’t tried in a while. These three alcohol ink panels used different combinations of turquoise, eggplant, currant and gilded alloy inks. The panels are larger than my usual card size, more than double at 6″x 9″ and I’m wondering how to use them.

I could cut them up and put them on card bases but I thought I would ask you what you for ideas. They would probably make nice journal or notebook covers.

I used a different type of paper for these. It is made by Nara, I ordered from Amazon just to see what it was like. It was very similar to yupo or grafix white craft plastic which I have used in the past. To create the patterns I used copious amounts of isopropyl alcohol and a hand ink blower to move the ink forwards and backwards creating dried edges and soft diluted ‘clouds’.

If I don’t come up with any ideas right now I may end up cutting circles from the panels to make Christmas cards; the patterns make very pretty Christmas balls. Let me know what you think and if you would like to see a video of any of the above processes.

Before I go thank you so much for your enthusiastic response to the pencil coloured animals. It seems we have animal lovers as well as plant lovers around here which is wonderful. What about lovers of abstract colourful patterns?!

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Animal cards – pencil on kraft

Posted: June 7, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: Cow's it going?, Lion, Pink Ink Designs, Sea Turtle, whale | Tags: , | 19 Comments

Recently I put together a set of animal themed cards as a gift for an animal lover I know. I did not realise how much I would enjoy colouring these animal images from Pink Ink Designs. I own five of these large stamp sets featuring animals and have only watercoloured them up until now. (the one not featured in today’s post is the dragon). Coloured pencil on kraft turned out to be quite effective for the beasts! I used Faber Castell Polychromos pencils and will always recommend them.

The artist who designs these stamps is very talented and as you can see on the whale there are some whimsical details added to the otherwise realistic image. I stamped the whale in cobalt archival ink then coloured with blue, white and black pencils before adding white dots over the top with a gel pen.

The highland cow is a beauty, no added whimsy but plenty of personality. She’s been on the blog before. I stamped the image with papertrey weathervane ink and rusty hinge distress then added colour with pencils (Faber Castell polychromos).

I don’t remember ever colouring a lion before so I had a reference photo in front of me to work out where the shadows were and where the colours of the fur changed. The stamp has a crown on the lion which I didn’t want for this card so I left it un-inked and filled the gap with more of his mane.

The image is stamped in Papertrey ‘classic kraft’ ink and all the colouring is once again pencil. As I worked on these animals I saw again and again the impact of white pencil highlights.

The turtle has also been on the blog before, in watercolour and pearlescent paint. As with the other animals she looks good in pencil on kraft. She has plenty of whimsy in her patchwork shell. Choosing dark blue for her shell was not so realistic but her underbody and fins were inspired by a photo I found.

I’m sure you are wondering what is next for these amazing animal stamps ( or maybe you’re saying enough already, where are the flowers and trees?!) I think each of these animals deserves it’s own art journal feature at the very least, so yes, they’ll be back.

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