ERASABLE PEN & WATERCOLOUR

 I thought I made a brand new discovery but it turns out that it's been a known fact for a few years but I just never knew about it. Oh well, it works brilliantly and I hope this is a first for you! I used an Erasable Gel Pen to do my simple drawings, then coloured them using various watercolour products (Karin Markers, Boku Undo Shadow Mei watercolour paints, Distress Watercolour Pencils and some cheap student quality paints from Amazon). Once the colouring has been done, it is as simple as using a heat gun on your painting and the heat from it will erase the lines. How I worked out that it would work (and thought I discovered this new trick that no one knew about), the description of the pens was that the friction of using the eraser on the end of the pen created heat which erased the lines. So I wondered if my heat gun would do the same, it did and it worked perfectly. I have used my Pentel DX 0.28 Black Gel Pen to roughly define some of the images too. I've added some of the drawn pictures below so you can see the before and after and a little video that hopefully shows the drawn lines disappearing.

"The gate"

This is how the sheep above started out.
Just a circle-ish shape drawn with the
erasable pen and some grey colour from
my Karin Watercolour Brush Markers.


The grey has been blended with water and black
blobby heads, ears and legs have been added.

The sky and grass have been added. 

A white gel pen was used for the eyes and then the
heat gun was used to erase the drawn purple
lines from the sheep. A few squiggles have
also been drawn on the sheep using grey Micron pens.

"Cactus"

After colouring the shape, the background was
added. This one was painted using just student-grade
cheap paints from Amazon.

This video shows the drawn purple line around the
cactus being erased with a heat gun.

"Live your story"
(To colour this piece, I used the set of Boku Undo Shadow

Watercolour Paints. These are a very dark and moody set
of  highly pigmented E-Sumi watercolours.)

"Break"

You can see you don't need to be a skilled
artist to do this technique! I really like the
simplistic style.

"A dot going for a walk"
(This one was coloured with the Distress Watercolour

pencils by Ranger.)

All of the purple line is the drawing just before
erasing with the heat gun. It makes it easier
to see what image you are trying to create
with the drawn line rather than just winging it.

This is the alternative, just painting some blobby
shapes. A visual of the end product helps me.

A simple line drawing.

"Focus"
(I love how this one turned out!)

Another very simple drawing that can help
with your painting before using some
fine black gel pen to roughly outline your lines.

BUBBLE BACKGROUNDS

 This class is all about creating bubble backgrounds. There are various ways to do it and it can be a bit messy but the fact it can be done on both atc size pieces of card or watercolour paper or a larger sheet is excellent! There are loads of videos on Youtube showing how to do this technique and you can use acrylic paint, food colouring or, as I did, Distress re-inkers and liquid watercolours. Another quick way to build up your background stash of papers/cards.

"Live simply"
(The vase is one of my hand-drawn ones using
watercolour for the vase and the Pilot G-Tec C4
bleeding gel pen for the floral stems.) A piece of
textured paper was used for the tablecloth.)


"Dance with your heart"
(The heart is a stamp that was stamped on shrink
plastic, shrunk and then coloured with alcohol
ink on the back for the colour.)


"Sticks & Stones"
(The bones are made using the Ranger QuickCure
Clay in a Finnabair mould.)

"Bloom"
(Another of my hand-drawn florals. The golden
leaf die-cuts are from a piece of chocolate
wrapper that was too pretty to throw out. It 
was attached to a piece of double-sided adhesive

sheet then die-cut and attached.)


"Vision"
(Another of my hand-drawn, translate: quickly
scribbled, botanical pieces that was drawn with
the Pilot G-Tec C4 coloured gel pens that can
be activated with an aqua brush to get the
colour to bleed. I call them my plane crash pens
and the girls know what I'm talking about
immediately. Plane crash = Pilot bleeding.
Yes, dumb I know, but they remember it now.)

STAMPING FOAM & STENCILS

 Many years ago when I worked at a scrapbook store, a new product came out that was another way to use your inks to create a different background depending on what you used it with. It was a stamping block that when heated, could be pressed onto a surface which left an impression in the block which could then be inked up and stamped onto paper or cardstock. Simon Hurley has re-released this product so a new group of crafters have been exposed to this magic find. You can press the heated foam into so many things to create a pattern to be stamped and in this class, I used only stencils to create my impressions. Embossing folders also work really well as does lace, a pile of rubber bands, mesh from a produce bag, a small pocket section on a child's pair of jeans, virtually anything that will give texture will work.

"Do what you love"


"Fake people"

"A little weird"


"Live gently"

"I need to unwind"

"Shine your light"

WINGED THINGS

 I have a few different metal cutting dies that create wing shapes and the girls requested a Wings class to get some ideas on how they can be used. You don't necessarily need to have a person with wings, it can be anything that mimics a body shape (or not!). You can even cut off the wings from an existing insect or bug cutting die and use the wings from another source to go on the body. I have included in the sample images below, an ATC I started to make that used a rib cage for the body and some black wings that were painted with shimmer paint to go either side of the image. A die-cut heart shape or stamped also works well with wings. Leaf shapes also make wonderful wings and work well with any botanical-style imagery.

"Make things happen"

"Steampunk"

"Proof"

"Light tomorrow"

"Once an angel"

"Style"

Leaf shapes can be used for wings.

You can also use part of a body for the torso and
add wings.

SANDED EMBOSSING

 For this class we'll be pulling out the sanding paper/blocks to sand over the raised high points on embossed, coated cardstock or paper. The card/paper to be sanded must have a different colour core so you can then re-colour it to make the high points stand out. Your choise of embossing folder also matters as one that has lots of open areas doesn't show off this technique to its best advantage. I prefer to use the 3D embossing folders for this technique. I used a combination of the following, mirror card (white core), watercolour paper that had been watercoloured previously (white core), and black-coated Kraft card (Kraft core). You can also use various ways of adding colour, Distress Ink Pads, Oxide Distress Ink Pads and on coated paper (mirror card), you can use black paint but that needs to be treated a little differently as you don't want the black paint to dry before wiping it off. The idea of the black paint is you want it in the crevices, not over the whole thing. 

"Just one life"
(This is gold mirror card, sanded and painted
with black paint that is wiped off moments
after painting it on.)

"Attitude"
(This background is watercolour paper that
was sanded and Distress Oxide Ink
applied over the sanded areas.)


"Consequences"
(I love this quote. 😉
Smoosh background, sanded, Antique Linen
Distress Oxide Ink then clear embossing
powder over the inked areas.)

"Don't forget to fly"
(Another embossed, sanded background with
black paint.)

"Choose happiness"
A simple stencilled background with a leaf
embossing folder, sanded and ink applied
over the high points.)

"The scenic route"
(Black Kraft core paper, embossed, sanded
and inked in orange and yellow Oxide Inks.)

NEUROGRAPHIC DRAWING

 Neurographic Drawing was something I've been drawn to as I've noticed it more and more popping up in my feeds on FB and Insta. A description I found on Google says it is described as a technique that comprises drawing freeform lines or 'neuro lines'. These are meant to enable the connection between the conscious and unconscious, gaining access to the inner self by using a specific algorithm or method. I found it extremely addictive and very meditative as you aren't consciously thinking about what you're doing, you are just doing it. You can add colour, or not, doodle within the shapes, or not, add extra lines, ribbons, circles, dots, whatever you choose to do. I used a combination of watercolour paints, watercolour pencils and Pilot G-Tec C4 coloured gel pens to add the colours. The lines were done with Pentel DX 0.28 and Sharpie Super-fine black marker.

This is my cover for Technique Book #31.
The size is 20cm x 15cm (8" x 6") so is a fair
bit larger than the atc's that follow.


"Creativity"

"Disturb"

"Stop overthinking"

"Perspective"

"My path"

"Simplicity"

Finally, a card I made using an Elegant Writer Calligraphy pen. This pen is a black chisel tip felt style pen that bleeds when activated with water into gorgeous shades of grey, blue, mauve and pink.