Intaglio Shrink Plastic

Shrink Plastic has been around for probably decades in the stamping industry. Great product and always a treat for people who haven't been exposed to it before. Of course, the worst thing that happens is it occasionally gets stuck to itself....always when you've done a great job of colouring and stamping and everything looks wonderful....'til it sticks! A light dust with talc and brush off the excess before you shrink and it shouldn't stick anymore!

For this technique I'll be teaching the Intaglio method of stamping into shrink. In other words, shrink first, stamp after. A nicely impressed piece of shrink plastic is the result. Of course because you are stamping after shrinking, the stamped piece will be the normal stamp size instead of shrunk, so take this into consideration. Some samples.

"Side Effects"...

"Bound"...
"Underwater"...

"Organically Grown"...

There will probably be more of these shrink plastic samples in my next post coming up after my other two atc classes on Tuesday and Thursday of next week.

The atc below is my final one from the previous technique, credit card backgrounds. Love the colours in this one.....first coat was Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold (Golden Paints), then Carbon Black (Jo Sonja) and finally Titanium White (Jo Sonja).

"Lustful"...

Finally, an atc from a couple of techniques ago - Hammered Chip. It's the frame that's been dusted with the Perfect Pearls and then hammered to give a textured surface.


"Delicate Creature"...

Credit Card Technique Book Cover #6

So begins another ATC Technique Book....#6 which will have a dozen different techniques in it. The cover for this one is one of my old favourites, Credit Card Technique. Wonderful way to use paint to create an awesome background. I've kept this fairly simple to showcase the technique, just a few chipboard numbers that have been painted with black and then rubbed with Treasure Gold, a little flyscreen and some washers.

"Cover"... (8" x 6" in size)

Some atc's with credit card technique as the background.

"Ransacked"...

"Male"...

"Perfect Person"...

"Portrait"...

Watercolour Stamping

The technique for this fortnight's atc class is Watercolour Stamping. I did this technique several years ago and it's always such a simple but spectacular look that I had to revisit it for the benefit of the newer girls in my classes. The better quality crayons work best - Lyra or Caran d'Ache - as they have more pigment in them and produce a more vivid coloured image. Of course, the old stand-by of Ranger Distress Inks work perfectly for this technique too!

"Stay Calm"...

"Damaged by seawater"...

"Arise"...
"Beyond the city gates"...


More samples to come!

Hammered Chip, Stringy ATC's

Hammered Chip is the current ATC Technique class I'll be teaching this fortnight. It makes the humble chipboard shape look more like hammered metal using Perfect Pearls, black paint and either a texture hammer or the end of a paintbrush.

The first couple of samples I've also shown a close-up of the chipboard pieces so you can see the texture more clearly.

"Cine-matic"...

"Disreputable"...

"Like a Star"...

"Organically Grown"...

"Peace"...

Here are some more samples from the Stringy ATC Class as well...the first one is actually an atc that's been attached to the front of a card. Just shows that you can do something else with your atc's besides just make them as atc's!

"You Own My Heart"... (card)

"Bionic Robotic"...

"Art is not a thing"...

That's it for now though I'll probably have some more Hammered Chip samples to show in the next post.

Stringy ATC's

Stringy ATC's is the technique for my next class. Very grungey, painty and textural. Those girls in my classes who don't like paint under their fingernails and hate having to peel away gel medium from their fingertips......tough - this will challenge you as it's a bit messy but I'm sure you'll enjoy the results!


So it involves basic white card stock, gesso, paint, possibly some stamping with Stazon, string, gel medium (both gloss & matte) and images that are mounted on a glob of the matte gel medium to give extra height and dimension. Samples.....


"Voice Synthesizer"...

"Make-believe"...

"Make-believe" close-up... (this shows the dimension from a side angle)

"She Eloped"...

"The marshalls"...

I'll have more samples as the classes continue, tomorrow is the first one (28th May), then Tuesday night and finally Thursday morning. I don't think I've ever said as little in a blog post as this one!!! ;-)

Glass Bead Gel

Yes, I know, I'm late with this post! Better late than never and all that... so the last class was using Glass Bead Gel. I used it both over images in a thin layer as well as on the background itself then applied paint or glimmer mist when it had dried. Another way is to apply the glass bead gel directly to gloss card and when dry, use alcohol ink on the card and the glass bead gel....a very different look! Because of the nature of the glass bead gel the following scans look quite blurry, much better in the flesh! ;-)

"Aqualung"...


"Muse"...

"Heroine"...

"Exuberance"...

"Solitude"...

My next class (this Saturday 28th May) is Stringy ATC's. The post will be done TOMORROW!!!! Yep, in time for the girls to see what they'll be doing in the classes. Just a couple of finishing touches needed for the samples and they'll be ready to go on the blog.

Distress Stains, Watercolour Backgrounds classes

The current atc class that I'm teaching at Scraptivate is making backgrounds using the new Ranger Distress Stains. Only available in 12 colours presently, I'm sure the other 24 will be out at some stage in the future. My only wish is that Spun Sugar was not released in this first lot, it should've been Victorian Velvet....hopefully it'll come out soon! Not a big fan of fairy floss pink but the Victorian Velvet colour is just gorgeous!

I've been doing the backgrounds on both gloss and matte card stock and the difference is amazing! Personally love it on gloss more, but for quick and easy colour, nothing beats the Distress Stains.

"Artistic"...(gloss card - Wild Honey & Dusty Concord)

"Life is Change"... (gloss card - Forest Moss & Broken China)

"Voyeur"... (matte card - Vintage Photo & Broken China)

"Sleep"... (matte card - Fired Brick & Walnut Stain with Fired Brick splats)

The last class was Watercolour Backgrounds and I didn't get around to uploading any pics so here they are.

"Wild"... (Lyra watercolour crayons)

"Clean the guns"... (Lyra watercolour crayons)


"Diabolical"... (Twinkling H2O's)

Lastly, here's a couple from the 3rd last class - Shimmer Spray Backgrounds.


"Zombie"... (Peeled Paint Distress Re-inker & Antique Gold Perfect Pearls)

"Archway"... (Broken China Distress Re-inker & Pewter Perfect Pearls)

n