Koolaid ATC

I've had some koolaid around for ages to try on paper. Today I decided to experiment with it. I wet an ATC size piece of watercolor paper and applied pinches of koolaid through the middle. Then I added Twinkling H20's to the rest. I salted the whole thing. When it was dry I scraped off the salt (it really sticks to the Twinks) and stamped with Ranger Archival Ink. I liked the color and the effect of the koolaid application.

Texture

I experimented with a technique created by Zeborah Loray. I started with a piece of heavy mat board and spritzed it with Radiant Rains. Then I slathered on a thick layer of Golden Extra Coarse Garnet Gel with a palette knife. It's hard not to put down a thick layer because of the size of the stones. I spritzed again and applied the Opals on the gel.

I'm still familiarizing myself with the colors of these products, somy color combinations are a little iffy. But I like the texture this created. I think I could have gone a little lighter on the Opals to take full advantage of the Garnet Gel's texturel. Next time I use Garnet Gel I'll apply the Opals like I would a pinch of salt.

Bleach & Paint Brushes

I had some friends over today and showed them how to do the bleach technique I blogged about earlier this week. I didn't have enough water barrel brushes to go around so I got out CHEAP Prang brushes that came with watercolors years ago.

Well.....

Turns out they were natural bristle. They disintegrated right before our eyes. I was amazed at how quickly the bleach ruined them. Just ate 'em right up!!! And if that wasn't bad enough, the chemical reaction between the bleach and the dissolving brush kept the paper from bleaching out. So we not only wrecked the brushes, we wrecked the pictures!! Here's a before and after picture of the brushes.

So if you get cheap brushes for this technique, make sure they're also synthetic. Or use a Q-tip with a pointed end. They're available in the cosmetics aisle, along with that other useful craft tool, the cosmetic sponge.

My Drawings

I've been drawing since I was a child. My drawings started out as likenesses of things in the outer world. They have since become images from my inner world. Here are two examples. The first is highly pigmented markers on watercolor paper. It was done over the course of several days in May of this year. The second is acrylic paints on a grocery bag. It was done several years ago over the course of a few weeks.



By clicking on the pictures you can see the detail up close and personal!

I framed the grocery bag art. It became the first piece of my own art I hung in my home.

Bleached Flowers

I got two great flower stamps designed by Zeborah Loray for After Midnight at the St. Paul Expo and decided to try them out today using a bleach painting technique. The first one is just stamped, embossed and bleached. The second one is stamped, embossed, bleached and colored with chalks using a water barrel brush.

I went back then and glazed the flowers. I glazed one leaf of the chalked flower with Diamond Glaze from the bottle and realized I didn't like how thick it was looking for such a large application. Plus, it had bubbles in it. So I switched to Golden Self Leveling Gel and brushed it on the rest. I like that much better. I've never tried to brush on Diamond Glaze. Maybe that would have worked. You can see the difference if you look at the larger version of the picture.



I used a sheet of black cardstock from The Paper Company Black & White Value Pack. Got it on sale at Michaels.

I use bleach straight from the bottle. I gave up on a gel bleach pen. I couldn't get results with it. To keep the bleach from bleeding outside the lines, I heat emboss the image in the color of the paper I'm using.

I haven't done that for a long time. Sometimes it's nice to go back to the simple techniques.

Wood Heart

I've been cleaning up my studio to make room for all the products I bought from After Midnight Art Stamps at the St. Paul Expo. I found a bunch of wood shapes that I've had for ages. Can't even remember why I bought them. I wondered if it would work to use Opals and Fantasy Film on them. I gotta do something with 'em!

I smeared the wood with my Versamark pad and coated it with black Opals. Then I melted it with my heat gun and added the Fantasy Film. Here's how it turned out.

I had one problem. After it cooled the Fantasy Film separated from the Opal layer. Perhaps I didn't use enough of the Opals. Probably should have done more layers so it could get more molten before I applied the film. I used Crystal Lacquer to reattach it and it's been fine since.

What I like about this is how light it is. It would make a good card embellishment.

Inchies

OK, I did it. I went smaller. I participated in a couple swaps of 1-inch x 1-inch squares. Fun format. Unfortunately, my scanner never picks up the irridescence of the pieces.



The gold on the first one is much more shiny than it shows in the scan. I punched the dragonfly from a blank notary certificate sticker I bought in an office supply store.



The shrink plastic tag printed with Chinese characters on the second one is barely visible. The hole in the tag is threaded with curled red wire and a gold bead.



The third one is painted with irridescent watercolors and topped off with sequins stars that don't sparkle at all when scanned. I'll have to experiment with photographs to get the glitz.

Dandelions

I had an amazing crop of dandelions in my front yard this Spring. Flowers blanketed the hillside. They were even beautiful when they went to seed. Don't you just want to make a wish and give it a good blow??



My two new friends, Alex and Sonetta, were my assistants for these photographs. Thanks you two!

Faux Repousse

I was playing around with HVAC metal tape and die cuts last winter. I cut these tags from chipboard and then covered them with HVAC tape.

On Tag #1 I used my metal tools for the designs.

On Tag #2 I used an empty ball point pen and tiny bit of burnt sienna acrylic paint.








On Tag #3 I placed an angel under the tape and tooled the metal before applying Ranger Adirondack alcohol inks.






On Tag #4 I placed stips cut from decorative scissors under the tape before applying alcohol inks. I wasn't crazy about how the tags with shapes underneath turned out. I need to work with that some more. I think it has potential if executed better.




And Tiny Tag #5 I just added this one because it's so darn cute!! Another one of those "little things" I love.

Artist Trading Cards

I like little things. Always have. My artwork tends to be on the small side. Even my scrapbooks are mini-books. So the artist trading card, ATC for short, is a perfect format for me. A little work of art. In recent months I've joined several swaps on Yahoo to get my creative juices flowing. Here are some of my ATC's, including a couple mini-ATC's.

These two are from my "Behind the Window" Series. The one on the right is a mini-ATC.

The following three are from my "Dharma Bubble" Series. Why that name? The colors were inspired by Tibetan Buddhism and the background is stamped with bubble wrap.

I also made three mini-ATC's in this series.

Another swap titled "Bling, Bling Baby" resulted in this ATC. Unfortunately, the scan doesn't pick up the shine. My book journal was made while the supplies for this ATC were still on my work table.

The last swap I did was using paint chips. We could do anything as long as the name or number on the paint chip was visible.

I'm liking this ATC format. But I think I'll go smaller.

Novel Idea Book Club Art Journal

Last year I had the special privilege of being invited to join the "Novel Idea Book Club," which started in 1992. I'm the newest of 10 members. We meet once a month to discuss the assigned book over a meal. At the start of this year I decided to keep a book art journal to document the books we read. I used a plain old composition book for my journal and altered the cover using these steps.

1. Painted with black acrylic paint.

2. Layed down drywall repair mesh tape and lightly sprayed with gold paint.

3. Removed the drywall repair mesh tape and stamped with gold and black acrylic paint.

4. Added a piece of the gold drywall repair mesh tape.

5. Heated sticky back craft foam and stamped a dry image. Added a light layer of gold "Rub n Buff." Stuck to cover.

6. Created letter tiles with paper clay. Painted with black acrylic paint. Added a layer of gold "Rub n Buff." Glued down with E6000.

Smartie Art Bird Mosaic

Some time ago I posted an unusual piece of art on a Yahoo group to which I belong. The question "Why?" followed. So, here's why. When we were young, my sister and I loved Smarties. Several years ago I bought bags and bags of Smarties during an after-Halloween sale thinking I would play a practical joke on my sister. I opened hundreds of rolls of Smarties, emptied them into a big box and wrapped them up as a Christmas gift for her. She gave them back to me the following year. That began several years of exchanges, each involving a creative way to package the Smarties so they wouldn't be detected before they were opened. Thousands of Smarties weigh a LOT, so this was harder than it may sound. The final exchange came when I hot-glued the Smarties to foam core in the shape of a bird. Our elderly mother liked it so much, she asked to have it displayed in the lobby of her senior housing unit and then at the senior citizens center in our small community. It became my first piece of artwork ever "shown."

Smartie Sisters