EMBOSSING FOLDER PAPER CASTING

The last time I did Paper Casting in class was back in 2012 and it had been around for years before that, albeit in a different way by doing the paper cast process over a red rubber stamp. Since embossing folders have been around, this is a much easier and quicker technique to do using the folders and a die-cut machine. I used toilet paper last time but found some great little serviettes at IKEA and tried them out, and they worked perfectly.  Previously I had used Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist to colour my backgrounds but this time around, nothing quite beats Ranger Distress Stain Sprays, the Mica Stain Sprays can also add a gorgeous bit of shimmer to the coloured background.

"Strange"

"Dark and gloomy"

"Bend"

"One life"

"Plant parenthood"

"Seas the day"

This last atc is from a previous class, Brushos &

Other Powders. 

"See the world"

                                           

GELLI PLATE & ACRYLIC INK

Acrylic Inks are one of my new favourite products.  There are so many things you can do with them and in this class, we'll be using them on a Gelli Plate.  You can get two different looks depending on whether you use just the acrylic inks on the Gelli Plate or if you add something to help the inks spread easily, and not bead up so much.  Both give great effects!  Plus, you don't have to wait for the inks to dry as you're not using paint to do your pulls.

"Fungi"

"IDGAF"

"Good for your soul"

"Moth to a flame"

"Choose to shine"

"Shine"

 

BRUSHOS & OTHER POWDERS

 Highly pigmented powders like Brushos, Cosmic Pixie Powders, Nuvo Shimmer Powders, Lindy's Magical Shakers etc have been around for a few years now and they are always a quick and easy way to create a background.  You can use them as they are, just a few gentle shakes, spritz with water and you get wonderful explosions of colour, or you can spritz your watercolour card first with water and then add. You can also just mix a single colour by itself on a piece of acetate to create one colour and use that for painting your background or your stamped designs. I've used a few different ways to create these backgrounds, including bleaching out a stamped image and then re-colouring with the pigment powders!

"Soul food"
(background & leaf shape coloured with Brusho
& Lindy's Magical Shaker powder)

"Soar"
(background created with Lindy's Magical

Shakers, trees stamped and Twinklets Diamond Dust

under the trees for extra sparkle)

"What the flock?"

(background using black Brushos only, then

bleached the stamped birds and re-coloured

with Nuvo Shimmer Powders)

"Curiosities"

(background with Nuvo Shimmer Powders and

Cosmic Pixie Powders, stamped skulls bleached

and re-coloured with Nuvo Shimmer Powders)


"If lost"

(background with Lindy's Magical Shakers &

Cosmic Pixie Powders, octopus stamped, embossed

and bleached)

"Wild side"

(background with Brushos and finger-painted

to blend, then Amsterdam Bronze paint applied

roughly on the bottom, overstamped with rocks

stamp and Amsterdam Pewter paint added. Tree

is JAC paper die-cut with brown foil applied)

"Let's party"

My granddaughter (7) wanted to do one herself

so this is her version of my What the flock?  She used

my stamp positioner so stamping was easy, I did the

bleaching for her and showed her how to colour

the birds with the Nuvo Shimmer Powders. She's

going to gift it to a friend at a holiday park we

are going to next week. 🥰

ALCOHOL INKS & ACETATE EMBOSS

I wanted to stay with acetate this fortnight as it was such a joy to work with at the last class so I combined a few favourites to make our backgrounds for this class  -  alcohol inks, acetate, embossing folders and a little coloured foil.  I didn't use the embossing folders on all of the backgrounds as I think you can get a great look just using the alcohol inks on un-embossed acetate.  You have to decide which side you'll stick down to your white card (this shows off the alcohol inks to their best advantage) as some of the alcohol inks in thicker areas stay sticky.   I just used the old trick of pressing some coloured foil onto the sticky bits and this transfers the foil and stops the stickiness.  I used either double-sided adhesive paper all over the back of the acetate piece to attach it to the white card, or just used skinny red-liner tape as this is the most transparent tape.  By the time you add all your bits & pieces to the top, you really don't notice the tape anyway.  Yes, I used the same wording on two of the atc's as the colouring and wording suited both.  😏

 "Potential side effects (#1)"

"Aquaholic"

"Use your wings"

"Potential Side Effects (#2)"
(no embossing folder used)

"Not what they seem"

"Foreboding"
(no embossing folder used)

LAYERED ACETATE

This is a technique I've been wanting to do for a while as it allows your background to have some texture to it while floating a piece of acetate above it, which also has some additional elements to create depth.  Not a technique that can be appreciated fully unless you are holding it in your hand though I'm hoping by including the picture of the side-view of "Anemones", it will give you some idea.  I used die-cut shapes cut from JAC (double-sided adhesive paper) to create the layers on top of the acetate and then used foil on those.  Though I also added some normal coloured die-cut shapes on a couple of them as well for extra interest.  For this technique, Couture Creations skinny foam tape and squares are your friend (I just about exclusively use the black as it gets lost in the shadows underneath).

"Succs to be you"

"Anemones"

Side view of Anemones, showing the raised areas
of the seaweed on front of the acetate, then the 
fish is raised on top of the acetate as well.

"Dark and gloomy"
This one is actually a shaker!  The little crystal and 
metal skulls and little skeleton inside the coffin
all move about along with some Distress Glitter.

"Dead of Night"
The bat is once again raised on top of the acetate.

"Wander"

"Find Joy"

 

ACRYLIC INK SPIN BACKGROUNDS

 This is a class I've been wanting to do for a long time.  I did get some strange looks at IKEA purchasing 17 salad spinners for the girls that didn't have them!  The IKEA salad spinners work great for this technique.  I know some have used alcohol inks with this technique but I found the fumes from the alcohol inks and the isopropyl alcohol (or blending solution) when you opened the spinner to check your work just about knocked me out.  So acrylic inks to the rescue!  They are fluid like alcohol inks, lots of colours to choose from like alcohol inks, and they work with just a spritz of water to get the movement so no smell.  I found it worked best with a blob of blu-tack pressed into the basket to hold the piece of card in place (about half a walnut-size will do) and depending on how fast or slow you spin, your design is different every time!  The metallic acrylic inks are thicker so may need a little more water to help disburse them.  I worked on the dull side of photo paper for this technique as if you use an absorbent card like watercolour or other normal cardstock, the inks just absorb straight away and don't spin.  Try it out, it's such a fun technique and not too messy as the excess ink is contained in the spinner (just remember to empty it out when you've finished, then it will have to live in your craft space).

"See the World"

"Perspective"

"Fly"

"Never leave you"

"Simplicity

"Bugs"

ALCOHOL INK MARKERS ON GELLI PLATE

 For the new cover class of Technique Book #26, we'll be using Alcohol Ink Markers (like Copics or similar) straight onto a Gelli Plate, then pulled off with the usual thin layer of paint.  This gives a very naive style of print that can be further enhanced by loosely drawing over the design with a fine black permanent marker, stamping or even stitching.  Before I started these samples, I sketched a few ideas onto a scrap of paper so I had an idea of what I'd like to do.  This takes some of the angst away that generally strikes when you have to hand-draw something.  I know some people are quite comfortable with drawing, I'm not, and I know that some of my girls freak out about it too so I wanted to keep the designs nice and easy.  I love the simplicity of the leaf drawings and my other favourite is the Faraway Places atc as it reminds me of a vintage travel poster, as it just came together so easily and I love the colours in it. Hope you give it a try if you have alcohol markers and a Gelli Plate.

Cover of Technique Book #26
(The size of this book cover is 20cm x 15cm, or 8" x 6".
I bind my book at the top with 3 holes so I can fit 3 atc 
samples on each subsequent page.)


"No. 1120"

"3043"


"No. 74"

"Specimen"

"Faraway Places"

"Imperfections"


"Poppies"

"never stop exploring"

"Just one life"