MASKING FLUID & WATERCOLOURS

 Masking fluid is a great way to retain white areas on your watercolour paper background before painting it, whether it's a whole background wash or a more detailed scenery painting. ATCs are small, so it's easier to do simplified paintings. So I have chosen to do mainly washes for the background, then fill in some more details with paints after the masking fluid has dried, the painting has been done, and then the masking fluid removed. It's a process of waiting for this technique, as you can't use a heat gun to hurry any of the process up, you must wait for the masking fluid to dry before painting, then wait for the painting to dry before removing the masking fluid. I used several tools to apply the masking fluid and found that diluting it with a little distilled water made the masking fluid easier to spread as it wasn't so thick.

"Dearly departed"
(A paintbrush was used to paint
the ghosts and houses.)

"Simplicity"

(I used a draftsman's ruling pen to

draw the bamboo and grasses in
masking fluid.)

"See beauty"
(A paintbrush was used to paint the
tree, rocks and grass on this atc)

"Saltwater"
(A paintbrush was used again to
paint the seafoam.)

"Live your story"
(A dip nib pen was used to draw this
small bush and grass, so the lines
are very fine. In fact, when I was
doing this, I could barely see
the masking fluid and hoped I
had it in the right place.)

"Choose to shine"
(I used a paintbrush for the dragonfly
shapes and the ruling pen for the
grass.)

STENCIL EMBOSSED BACKGROUNDS

 This is an quick and easy way to add extra texture and interest to your plain-ish backgrounds by using stencils and clear embossing ink. The main thing to remember is that your background must be able to withstand the heat gun that is used to melt the embossing powders so papers like photo paper, Yupo or gloss card won't work for this technique. Also your choice of stencil will have an impact on your final look as the more open areas that you have in your stencil, the more your background will be covered with embossing powder so choose wisely. Watercolour card and heavier cardstock backgrounds that have subtle colouring and not heavy patterns will work best for this particular look.

"Be original"

"Echoes of the damned"

"Steampunk"

"Roots are for trees"

"I'm not judging"

"Adventure is worthwhile"

COLOURED PENCILS & GAMSOL

 Recently I bought some Faber Castell Polychromos colouring pencils to give them a try. I already have several different types of watercolour pencils, Lyra, Derwent, Caran D'Ache, and Ranger Woodless Pencils, but I have no ordinary pencils. I opted to purchase the Faber Castell 60 set as I thought it would give me a wide enough colour range to dip my toe into this medium to see if I liked it. I also bought some Gamsol, an odourless mineral spirit that gives a blended look to the colouring. The amount of pigment you put down and your paper also plays a big role in how your finished product will look.  This is a learning curve for me and I don't consider myself an expert colourist by any stretch. Add in the tiny size of ATCs, 2.5" x 3.5", and the small size of stamps that are needed to fit onto the card, it all just ratchets up the degree of difficulty. But you have to start somewhere so I'll just play. 😊

"Plot twist"


"Flowers don't tell"

"Grow with the flow"

"Stayin' Alive"

"May cause drowsiness"

"Dysfunctional"

WATERCOLOUR FRAGMENT LANDSCAPES

 I could count on one hand the number of ATCs I've made in landscape orientation as I find the portrait design suits the small space of ATCs much better. However, landscape is the only way to go when you are doing a painted landscape such as these watercolour ones! I've seen this technique created on larger pieces, 5" x 7" or 8" x 10" and larger, but to crank up the degree of difficulty, let's work on 2.5" x 3.5". Yes, I know we use metric, not imperial in Australia, but for ATCs it's much easier to cut them to 2.5 x 3.5 instead of 63.5 x 88.9mm. 😊
I had an internal battle with myself about using words or quotes on these mini paintings so I hedged my bets and did some with words and others without. I certainly didn't want to cover up too much of the landscapes so I also used clear sticky words on a couple so you could still see the background.

"Dreamscape"

"Adventure awaits"


"Summit"


"Ski run"

"Landscape"


"Forever wild"

(I used granulating paints on this one which you can see, gives a very different effect.)

WASHI TAPE TECHNIQUES

 I'm sure we all have many rolls of washi tape which has great potential for various techniques. I like to use it to mask off the edges of my watercolour paper to keep a white border around a painting, and I frequently use it to hold down a die to my card or paper before die-cutting it so the die doesn't move out of place. These few samples of mine below show that it can also be the star of the show when using dies or even just as a background. It works best with non-intricate dies so you have an easier time getting the shape from the die without tearing or breaking the washi tape covered card. I use 176GSM weight card to add the washi tape to before die-cutting and if your washi isn't very sticky (as some of them seem to have no tack to them at all), apply some double-sided JAC paper to your card before attaching the washi to it so it adheres well.

"State of mind"


"Possessions"

"Normal people"


"Nature's graffiti"

"It's ok to decay"

"In the notes"

Other die-cuts using washi tape. The flower in the middle took
quite a while to get all the little bits out so I'd suggest using
a die that isn't so fiddly. The leaf worked great!


Another sample bug that wasn't used on my ATCs. Top wings
and body were washi tape, black is normal cardstock.

CRACKED ACETATE

 I was inspired by the Idea-ology shattered transparencies for this technique. Their sheets of shattered glass however didn't suit ATCs as the holes/cracks were in the wrong place, so I created my own using acetate. I found this technique worked best using an image that had been cut out from its background and love the creepy girls that I had in my stash of images. Your background choice is important too as it can't be too light or too busy a pattern otherwise you lose the white cracks on the acetate. Attaching the acetate was no problem with the Tiny Attacher (mini stapler) and I always colour my mini staples with a Sharpie or coloured alcohol marker to suit the background. Most people don't even notice the staples in the corners but they become part of the design element and I'm happy with them showing.

Nocturnal

Her eyes were dark

Excuse me

Lost in eternal gloom

side view showing cut-out section in acetate

Cursed

POWDERED GELLI PRINTS

 After a much-needed hiatus over the Christmas & New Year period, I'm ready to get back into creating ATCs with lots of great new techniques. As usual, I'm starting the year off with a simple one so I don't crash the brains of the girls in their first class. I'll be using both baby powder and graphite powder to act as a resist on Gelli prints. You can get some really great effects and it can be layered or used with stencils. I'm keeping it simple this time so no stencils will be used, just the powders. 

To see these images more clearly, click on the first one and scroll through. I save them in a high resolution so the detail is much better when it's larger. Of course, they always look better on a laptop or desktop pc. 😊

"Morally grey"


"Join NASA"


"Life is art"


"Stability"


"Moonlight mayhem"