Adventures with mica!

I've played with various types of mica for years, mostly because they sparkle and I like that.  However mica powders and mica flakes are not a patch on mica tablets or sheet mica!
I ordered some a couple of weeks ago and have been playing.  You can see the results below:

Looks like a stained glass window

 Mica is a rock, and when it arrived it was in a relatively thick sheets (like mount board thickness).  I was surprised to discover it didn't snap when I bent it, I wobbled it and eventually took a pair of scissors to it!
When I ran my thumb nail over the edge I found it was easy to de-laminate various layers, until they became super thin. and even more flexible.

You can see some minor de-lamination in the sheet above

The piece above is alcohol ink dripped onto glossy card stock as the substrate.  Unfortunately, you can't see the reflective quality of the mica in the photo's.   I peeled off a thin sheet of mica and stamped it with StazOn ink.  So far I haven't had much luck with other inks, but that is experimentation for another day.  After stamping, I glued the mica sheet to the substrate with Glossy Accents and once dry, I cut it with craft scissors.

Reminds me of ice!

I then tried embossing it in a folder.  The piece I embossed was almost full thickness and I was absolutely stunned with the result.  The various layers de-laminated where the embossing was and turned the whole thing into a beautiful mirror like finish.  Unfortunately it was too thick and reflective to see the substrate, so I carefully peeled off a layer.  It isn't as easy to peel whole layers once they are embossed.  There is a tendency for it to split away, but you get some lovely pieces that can be used elsewhere.

Close up of embossing and de-lamination

This piece is also alcohol ink on glossy card stock, with a layer of embossed mica over the top.  The stamping was done after it was put together and I added some blue dewdrops to finish it.

Thanks for looking and back to the experimentation!

Little Daisy is bright today

Better late than never with my submission to the Sunday Postcard Challenge - Journal on a postcard!

I used a sample tube of paint I received from Liquitex in Quin Magenta and mixed in some Golden fluid primary yellow and primary cyan.  I also mixed some Slow Dry medium into the magenta, before I applied it.

This is amazing stuff I think, the acrylic paint stayed open and workable for about 40 minutes!  In fact it wasn't the best idea to try it when I was in a hurry to finish it :)

My beautiful garden

After the background I pressed some white gesso through a Dylusions stencil to make circles and squares, stamped some checks in Archival Monarch Orange and Deep Purple, before stamping my crazy lady in Deep Purple also.
The flowers were drawn with Posca pens and the text is a cheap rub-on I bought in a kit at the Pound Shop!

Why worry...

Orange is a great colour and it's hard to be unhappy when you are looking at such a cheery colour.  This is the challenge at Take A Word this week.
I have made a simple piece with orange as the primary colour

I sprayed the card stock with sunshine yellow Dylusions spray ink.  Next I stamped the background motif with Versamark and rubbed over with Perfect Pearls Blue Patina and Perfect Copper before spraying with hair spray.
Next I stamped the lady (who reminds me of Maid Marion in the old Robin Hood series) in black StayzOn Ink.  Next came some doodle string hearts and some rub on lettering.

Thanks for taking a look.

Steampunk notebook!!

Life has been hectic lately with not enough hours in the day.  However, you can never be too busy to play with art supplies!  This notebook cover is something I made a few weeks ago but had not photographed until today.

I haven't put the pages inside or applied the binding yet.

I see steampunk in there!

 This started life as a hard back, spiral bound notebook from Sainsbury 21 x 15 cm.   The rest is all from my art supplies.  I started out withe steampunk sections.  Most parts are made with grunge paper with a little plastic used for the gears and some half dome pearls for bolts.

 Various layers of paint, washes and dry brushing give it a metallic look. The final dry brush layer was silver paint, which you can see has hit the high spots.

The 'metal' strapping is actually grunge paper with the holes made with a hole punch.  The punch pieces are then used in other areas as rivets.

Inside the front cover is a page from a 1931 edition of Punch with a phrenology head stamped over it.  The edges have been given a faux burned effect and I stamped some 'blotches' in a rusty orange colour.  The circle around the eye is Golden Iridescent Bronze - gorgeous paint.

The back of the book inside cover is the same except no circle around the eye and the outer back cover is plain 'rock'

Thinking happy thoughts.

The Three Muses have the theme 'black and white stripes' today.  Unfortunately I wanted to work with bright colours, so did both - black and white stripes surrounded by a riot of colour!

When my day is dismal, I create my own happy place

Here is a double page spread in my art journal.  It started out as a series of pencil doodles and then before I knew it, I was doing stripes.  There is no logic or rational behind it, it just is me having fun.

Pencil drawings then over drawn with black fine line pen, then some black paint and some black felt marker.  Once all the black and white was completed, I pulled out my Inklensils in lemon, orange and red and randomly coloured the background.  After wetting the colours really popped out and I felt a rough day become bright and cheery.

Next came some stamping in Archival Monarch Orange, Memento London Fog and StayzOn black.

My two favourite stamps are the Reality Check and the flying pig.  I love my barmy stamps!

Thanks very much for taking a look and I hope my journal has brought some joy to your day too.

Thinking about gardens

I've just returned from the garden centre and can't help wishing I had a cute little garden to plant up.  The fact is I don't, I have a balcony, so I decided to make my own little garden for the Sunday Postcard Art challenge this week.

Butterfly's are early this year!

 I bought a packet of little bows today and couldn't help thinking they looked like butterflies, so they are!  I began by spraying the card with water and then with Dylusions ink in London Blue and Cut Grass.  I rolled over the top with a paper towel which transferred some pattern and also some colour.

Once it was dry I used a baby wipe to remove colour through a flower stencil and then stamped some grasses and small flowers using London Fog Memento Ink.

I finished up by attaching the buttons and the bow and then drawing a trail for the butterfly using a Sakura Gelly Roll pen in clear star.  I love these pens.

Thanks as always for taking a look, it's much appreciated.  Check out the other art at SPA.

Shake your tail feathers

Today's challenge at Sunday Postcard Art is 'chevron'.  Work has been so busy this past week that I haven't had much time to play with any art, so today I continued with my exploration of translucency.  I'm still having fun playing with various weights and colour of tissue paper and also translucent paints.  I also bought some new matte varnish today too, so tried it on the orange tissue paper which bleeds horribly - good result with hardly any bleed.

Do my tail feathers look big in this?

Today piece is a collage worked on 300 gsm card, starting with Golden Titan Buff and when dry I stamped little spots on it with Archival Ink Coffee.  Next came the chevrons, which I hand cut from a vintage Punch magazine before painting with Golden Nickel Azo Gold.  Once dry, these were collaged to the base.
I found the image of the bird on the web and printed it on white tissue before adhering it to the base with fluid matte medium.

The text is printed from my computer and coloured with Tea Dye distress stain.  I applied another layer of white tissue paper across the bottom of the card before distressing the card edges with Distress Ink in Vintage Photo.  I then went around the edges again and applied a rough dab of Golden Iridescent Bronze paint.

Thinking of Spring

Today at Take a Word they challenged us with 'Botanical s'.  It seems so long since there were beautiful spring flowers, so here's one I created.

Time to smell the flowers

 This is an ATC (2.5" x 3.5") backed on to thick card stock.  The background is plain honey coloured paper that I stamped using Versamark and the polka dot stamp from Hero Art, using Bridal Shower embossing powder before heating.

The small framed stamp is actually a large stamp with four different flowers that I cut down to a single bloom and coloured using Inkensils.  Once it was coloured I stamped over the image with a crackle stamp using Archival ink in Pale Ochre.  I wanted the image to have some gloss so I painted over it with Golden Gel Medium in Gloss and left it to dry.

Across the bottom is a strip of Tim Holtz washi tape and  the text was 'Sweet Tulip' on my computer.  The faux bow and the brad were bits from my stash.

Thanks so much for looking, it's always appreciated

Mind the Gap!

The theme at Three Muses this week is 'Transport'.  I decided to do another page in my art journal to celebrate the London Underground!  I don't live in or near London so always look forward to a trip on the 'Tube' whenever I'm in London.

Stand Clear of the Doors

The background of my page is a journal page coloured using red and blue water based oil pastels.  I smooshed them up with an almost dry baby wipe to spread them a little.  Then I found a photo on the www of a fast moving train through a tube station.  In Photoshop I dropped the opacity to 50% and printed it on high quality art paper.
Using a splotchy background stamp with Archival Pale Ochre I stamped all over the newly printed image :) before I rubbed all around the edges with Stormy Sky Distress ink and glued it to the background.
Next came more distress background stamping in a crinkle design using Deep Purple.  (sorry about the technical terms: splotchy, smooshed and crinkle)
The Tube station names were stamped in Archival Coffee and the Underground and Mind the Gap are using Distress Ink in Barn Door.  The Union Jack is stamped in Chipped Sapphire and the red is barn door hand coloured using a nib rubbed on the ink pad.

I had an absolutely great time doing this piece and will probably add more to it as time permits.  I love this stamp set, it's by Indigo Blue if anyone is interested.

The Grand Tour

The Challenge at Three Muses this week is Steampunk!  It is one of my favourite subjects but this time I have gone less industrial and more romantic with the Grand Tour.  I'm still trying out some new techniques but I'm happy with how this came out.

Dreaming of the Grand Tour

Starting with heavy card stock I die cut one of the short edges using the Tim Holtz Steampunk On The Edge die.  I then painted the cogs in Burned Umber and the rest of the card in Lumiere Halo Rose Gold (not used this for a while and forgot how much I love it).

Next I stamped the lady's face on high quality card and coloured her with Promarkers then stamped a few cogs around her face in both Distress Ink Rusty Hinge and Archival Ink Coffee.I trimmed around the hairline and then used Distress Ink in Rusty Hinge to colour the top and side of her face to help blend her into the background.  After gluing her to the background I stamped more and various cogs to represent hair.

Next I stamped the metal globe in StayzOn Metallic Gold and when it was dry I over-stamped with the quote in Archival Coffee.  I used a couple of other stamps from the Grand Tour plate.
I decided I didn't like the cogs in Burned Umber so I coated them with texture paste, painted them Burned Umber again and then dry brushed them with Iridescent Bronze.

What hasn't come out well on the scan or the photo's is the fantastic glow that comes from the Lumiere paints, Ah well, such is life :)

Thank You Mum

It is Mothers Day in the UK today and Sunday Postcard Art have challenged us to create art about mothers.      Imagine the job description to be a mother?
- 7 day week, 52 week year, no sick leave, no vacation, no pay, minimum 18 year contract!

My tribute to mothers everywhere:

Thank You to Mothers everywhere

Starting out with 300gsm card stock I applied Americana paint in Butter, Spa Blue, Mint Julep Green and Indian Turquoise blending them slightly.
Next came stamping of flowers and leaves in Archival Sap Green, followed by a damask background stamp also in Sap Green
Both the stamped and typed words used here were inspired by my Mum.  She always always there, loving, patient and definitely quirky! (this is where I get it from I guess).  The clockwork lady is stamped on coated paper and coloured with Promarkers before being cut out and glued to the background with Golden gel medium.
Finally I edged the card with a Glaze Jelly Roll by Sakura and die cut a small heart from a scrap from another project.

Thanks for looking and if you are a Mum - pat yourself on the back!

This old heart of mine

I was so excited when I was asked to host at Take A Word this week, that I immediately started the concept drawing (such a child).  I hope you get some inspiration from the piece.

Heart in my art

Starting out with 300gsm water colour paper and using a fan brush I applied light strokes of white gesso.  Once dried I made three very weak washes using distress ink re-inkers in Milled Lavender, Tattered Rose and Old Paper. I applied a tiny bit of Old Paper, and then much more of the lavender and rose.  (The gesso acts as a resist).  Once dry, I applied some glass bead medium in patches over the gesso.  While the medium was drying, I cut a heart from rusty metal (it's real metal and real rust) and, cut the heart in two.  Using a Crop-A-Dile I punched the holes and applied large grommets.
Next came some 'industrial' stamping with Black StayzOn, the stamps are all circuit boards and warning signs.  Then I laced the two sections of the heart with some soft apricot ribbon finished with a bow.

 Several more layers of the weak distress wash, each one dried before applying the next, then a drop of  undiluted re-inker over the beads.  Next came some stamping with swirls using London Fog Archival Ink and then Golden Iridescent Bronze was dry brushed over the beads.
The words were printed on my computer and edged with Tattered Rose and the small hearts were painted with Golden Iridescent Bronze and punched with a small heart punch.
Finally, I dusted the edge of the whole piece with Pumice Stone distress ink.
Thanks so much for looking and your comments.

By the light of the silvery moon...

The challenge at Sunday Postcard Art today is moonlight, and anything about Halloween is always a challenge for me.  It was late last night, the darkness all around and rain hitting the window pane when I was overcome by madness and my creation was born.....

Step away from the cleaning fluids now!

I didn't know if the idea would work but gave it a try.  I have a Paper Artsy stamp of a ruined monastery with a ghostly figure and I decided to try to stamp it with bleach on midnight blue card stock.  Yes, that's right - bleach!

I made the stamp pad from folded kitchen towel and applied bleach to the pad.  The first couple of attempts were a shambles with either the image being too soaked with bleach or not enough.  I realised it was impossible to get a clean image so I chose one that was under 'done' and used a paintbrush to finish up the monastery, and the moon.

The leaves around the sides and base are stamped in London Fog Gray and StayzOn black.  The moon was enhanced with some very translucent Golden Fluid medium in Zinc White.  The bats are actually swallows from a sea scene but I pressed extra hard on the stamp to make them fatter, voila bats!

There is no texture and I'm not sure this piece will survive very long since I didn't apply anything to prevent the action of the bleach continuing.  If you try this technique, it all depends on the type of paper what your results will be.  When I tried gray paper, the bleach removed the colour back to a pale gold.
Always wash your brushes and stamps quickly to avoid any damage.

Clock Watching

When I saw that the Take A Word challenge for next week was going to be 'Clocks' I immediately knew what I was going to do, until I started to make it.  I didn't like how it was going , so it was dispatched to the recycle bin and I began again, and so happy I did.  The results of my second effort are below :)
If you would like to see a time lapse video, you can see it on YouTube by clicking here.  (I'm only just learning how to record and edit videos, so please be kind :)

Time Flies when I'm having fun

I enjoyed playing with this one, I even got to include some polymer clay for the arms!  If you look closely there is a tiny 'diamond' ring on the 4th finger of the right hand :)

The piece is made of very heavy weight card stock, sprayed with Dylusion Inks and than stamped in many layers with Archival Inks.  The outer clock is from white card stock, dry embossed with a clock and gears design and then painted with Lumiere Halo Blue Gold, then the high points rubbed with Golden Iridescent Bronze.  The arms were from a fairy mold, and the other bits and pieces were ephemera from my stash.

Home Sweet Home

The challenge this week at Take A Word  is 'Tattered'.

I had visions of an old stately home, that was beyond it's best, with  vestiges of former grandeur still visible but now on the tattered side.  I set about trying to recreate my vision in mixed media.

Home Sweet Home

The face image is from Stampers Anonymous coloured with Inktensils and Promarkers, with a light crackle applied.  The coloured 'fabric' is Claudine Hellmuth sticky backed canvas rubbed and stamped with various Distress Inks before spraying with water. Blue distressed paper was stamped with a french blue chandelier and clear embossed before being layered onto silver mirri card, to give the sense of a mirror reflecting into the room.

Back ground card stock was clear embossed before applying a weak wash of Tattered Rose distress ink and drying, then re-dipping.

The lace was white but dyed with Walnut stain distress ink and then quickly rinsed in clear water to fade it.

Fly me to the moon

Last week we went to visit Salisbury and while there, decided to look at the Cathedral.  As I was admiring the stained glass window, I saw the perfect image for the 'Take a Word' challenge for this week - Wings.
I did this postcard size piece for the challenge, but have other ideas in mind for this image from the window.

Wings of Steel

The paint I used as the basic background is Halo Pink Gold by Lumiere, which is beautiful in real life but terribly difficult for me to photograph.   On top of the pink gold, I stamped feathers in Archival Brown, and dragonfly and a small swirl in Archival Magenta.  The wings of the little man are coated with a clear glaze pen by Sakura.  there are other squiggles done with various colours of Sakura glaze pen too.

Wings of Steel close-up

I am just editing a video I took of this being made and I'll post a link here as soon as it's up.

Technique Time

About a year ago I was very interested in card making and decided to take the Jennifer McGuire course called Inspiration Canvas.  It was a great class and I learned lots of techniques, with each being produced on a small heart along with an embellishment in many cases.
As soon as I had completed 80% of the hearts, I watched the rest of the videos, played with the techniques on paper and then gradually put everything away in a cupboard.

This weekend I took everything out of the cupboard and finally finished the canvas!  It's not exactly my style now but I'm glad I did it.  The techniques are still great and the canvas will be a prompt for alternative techniques for things I'm currently working on.

12" x 12" Inspiration Showcase canvas

While I was finalising the remaining hearts and attaching it to the canvas, I realised that I really don't like following what someone else has done.  I would probably have been happier attaching the hearts to swing tags and writing descriptions on the back, but didn't think about it early enough.

Various techniques including resist, dry embossing and stamping with paint

Stamping on canvas, painting with pearl, heat embossing, mica powder and rust techniques

Rosette and Canvas heart

Embossed canvas 

Various ink, stamp and embossing techniques.  'Create' is coated in Glossy Accents

I couldn't resist switching out one of Jennifer McGuire's techniques and replacing with one of my own - rust!