Closing eyes, dreaming big...

Today I created for you a joyful tag with mixed media painting and drawing.







 It’s created on the cardboard piece which was left over from one of Finnabair products (maybe mechanicals?). So instead of throwing it away I started with thick layer of Dina Wakley Media Line white gesso and then applied some random papers and bits of newspapers using gel medium from Dina’s range again. I love that gel medium as it also creates a very good surface for application of inks, sprays and any wet mediums. Here is work in progress photo just to confirm that there is nothing like clean desk when creativity hits!

This tag was a gift for a work friend who was leaving due to end of the contract and asked me to do something for her. I decided to make a dreamy girl with closed eyes so it’s all left to interpretation.
















Drawing was done by using combination of Neocolors II and Inktense pencils and again white gesso. To manage smaller elements and all details I used my beloved Posca pens in white and black.
I imagined her hair in some sort of chaos but still in shape and after building small buns with Noecolors I used Bombay India Inks in Aqua and Teal to draw same sort of snail shapes. By adding a little bit of water spray, then letting it dry and then repeating process I built layers of her funky hair. In this project I used Neocolors in two ways- wet and dry. Wet for more full background result (full colour on hair) and dry for volume effect (thick lines on her hair). Playing with Neocolors is such fun!:)

Finishing touches were stamps and distressing edges with Adirondack Dye Ink Pad in black. I also added bits of jewellery for her earings and wrote some thought in my messy handwriting style.
My girl left me now but will stay happy with my friend - so she is in good hands…

Hope you like her too!

Big hugs...

Honorata

'Old School' 3 -Salt!

Hello!
Another old favourite inky technique today, although this time I've only used bits of the background created on my final piece! My finished creation is this page...

The bright red poppy heads are the product of todays spotlight technique: Salt backgrounds!
Adding rock salt to wet ink is a great way to create fab texture and interest, and it's really simple too!
Step1: Prepare! The is messy, so put your card down on a wipe clean surface.

Step 2: Spray! (or drip...) Any drippy ink will work for this, acrylic inks, ink sprays, stains, you name it. I knew I was going to use the result for a poppy head, so I sprayed in just the one colour. You can go as bonkers with the colours as you want!

Step 3: Reactivate the inks with a little more water so the surface is nice and wet...

Step 4: Add on the rock salt...

Step 5: Spray with a little more water to make sure the salt has a nice wet bond with the surface..

Step 6: Now you can go one of two ways. Leave it to dry by itself, or blast with a heat gun. Drying naturally gives nice results...but for the impatient.....Blast with the heat gun!

Step 7: Once ALL the ink is dry, wait until the cardstock and salt is cool. It's really quite surprising how hot salt gets! Once cold, rub off the salt...

Step 8: Admire the fab textures and design the salt creates!

I then cut circles from my salty background, and added seed beads to the centres to give me my poppies.

I typed straight onto an old book page to give me my title...

Which was very apt, because I wanted to doodle my way around the rest of the piece, no stamps at all. I was a bit hesitant about letting go and creating the stems and leaves of my poppies, so really needed to believe in myself!

I *think* it worked, but need a lot more playing about until I'm confident!
Have a go with the salt, its a really nice technique!

See you soon,
Trish xxxxx

Old School 2: Shaving Foam Backgrounds

Hello!

Part 2 of my ''Old School techniques revisited" series!

Today..... Shaving Foam Backgrounds!

Yes, we've all played about with this technique in the past, I think it's about time we tried it again!

This is my finished piece....

Just LOVE the swirly colourfulness going on!

Right...refresher time..here's how you do it!

Firstly, squirt some shaving foam onto a paper plate...

Paper plates are brilliant because you can just bin the whole messy lot when you're done. If you want a bigger print though, you'll need to find something bigger! You really need the cheapest shaving foam you can find, nothing posh with fancy bits added, no need for them. This can was 26p from Tescos!

Next, smooth it out so you have a flat-ish surface...

At this point you need to restrain yourself from going all 'slapstick clown' and shoving the resulting pie into someones face. Unless that's just me.......

Next, drip on some inks. I've used a combination of Bombay inks and Daler Rowney inks, but I'm sure any drippy ink would work. Experiment!

Using a skewer, drag the inks into each other. I've just used a simple design first..

Take a bit of card (I've found the thicker the better, and NOT coated!), and place it on top of the inky mess. Gently press down so all the surface touches the inks..

Peel it off....

Now we need to remove all the excess foam! You will get the best results if you scrape it off all in one go, so try and use something a little wider than your card. I have used a bone folder here, but things like long rulers work just as well.

Scrape the foam off in one movement, dragging your chosen implement in one direction across the card.

Then admire your design!

You can also go back to the foamy mess and do a little more pattern making...

This time I have created swirls and circles with the skewer on top of the lines already made. The result from this looks like so....

You can also take multiple prints without messing about with the design in between...

With these three prints, the one on the left was the first 'pull' from the foam. I went straight back in with more card to produce the middle print, then the print on the right is the design created when going in for a third time. As you can see, the inks get less the more prints you pull, but the designs are fab!

I chose to use the middle print from the three above in my final project.

The ink swirls are great, with no mixing or muddying of colours..

You can add stamping over the top of the design...

I used a bit of another print for the dress of my Stampotique figure...

I must warn you though....once you start you can't stop. I now have a big stack of prints all ready for use!

The other thing you need to know is that it's messy...very messy! Make sure you have a lot of paper towels on hand to wipe up after yourself!

Have fun,

Trish xxxxx

Spots of colour!

Good morning, Gez here in a rather wet & windy part of England today!!! 

Gosh, we're having some rain!

I am excited to be sharing an on going project with you today that will just keep growing & growing!

If like me when I get new supplies I can't wait to try them out... I have decided to catalogue them and keep them altogether on a metal book ring...

I've got 4 tags to share with you today using some of my favourite products from A sprinkle of imagination.

First of all I stamped a brand NEW stamp from Stampotique Originals, (it's from the Circle Cube by Daniel Torrente) Vicki stocks lots and lots of their stamps and can order any that you see online. I have used an Archival Ink Pad for stamping which are both water and fade resistant and a Sakura Pigma Micron pen for labelling.

I managed to fit the circle stamp 8 times onto one tag as you can see using various products.

On my first tag I have used acrylic paints, sometimes it is so much better to see the paint on cardstock rather by just looking at the pot or tube as you get a better idea of the finished look when it's dry.

This is true of all the different products, so I went ahead and had great fun using Distress Inks,

 Bombay India inks,

and also, 

 Inktense pencilsby Derwent

Here is my finished swatch...

 for now!

I can keep on adding to my ring and so on!

Thank you for calling, Gez

Drippy and wet.....

No, not me personally!!!
Hello!
I have an messy inky background technique to share today, the background I used to make this...

Make sure your work surface is covered, and put gloves on if you don't like getting very inky!
We need to prepare the surface first. As we are going to be using lots of water and ink, the surface needs to be sealed, so give a chipboard square plenty of gesso layers to begin with! I wanted a little texture and pattern on the background, so got out the texture paste and the stencils......

(Yes, I know, white on white makes for a great picture.......)
Next, get out your inks! Now, you can use any ink for this technique (paint too), but I much prefer acrylic inks. They dry to a permanent finish so you can layer them without any mixing and muddying of colours, which is a very good thing! The other benefit is that I find they are much more light fast than other spray inks can be. I like to look at a project months down the line and for it to still be the same colour as it was when I made it!
So....drip on a drop of ink...

Then spray with water. As you play about with this technique, you'll get a feel for how much water you want on the surface. I would say, start out with a little bit at first, then you don't drown the project! You can always add more....

Now tilt the surface so the inky water moves about...

Move it about until you're happy, then dry it off. Add more of the same colour to fill in some gaps....

Again dry it off. Drying in between layers not only stops colours mixing and running, it also stops the surface from getting too waterlogged!
Second colour...

Add the water...

This time I added a little more water, and let most run off to colour a larger area..

Dry off again, and add another colour...this time I used red to complement to yellow and pink...

Once that was dried, I thought it needed a 'pop' colour.....turquoise!

Squirt on the water...

Let it run off....

Add more if you feel it needs it, then dry off for a final time...

Once it it totally dry, you will notice the colours lighten slightly, you can see this if I put a finished pic next to the just inked pic above..

For some reason, the red seems to lighten the most....weird....
Anyway.... I did a little printing and stamping on the background...

I also painted white circles, and melted white UTEE for a splattered look...

Because the background is so busy, I wanted the focal image to stay black and white...

My 'go to' Stampotique girl, with added text stamping in her dress!
Lots of messy detail, and a nice way to play around and make some backgrounds!
Have a nice Friday everyone!
Trish xxxx