Stick'n to it!

I have spent some time gathering a selection of monoprinting techniques into a binder.   I was ready for a bit of play time and it was also time to let the grand kiddies get messy in art 101.  With their planners still at the forefront of my mind, and a few Avery label sheets on hand, I decided that we'd make our own stickers.

I had the various circle labels which are an easy peel away sticker.  But I also had some plain sheets for customizing.  I got my samples prepared for class.

 Adding an extra student to the mix made it somewhat harder to stick to the plan.  sheesh!  This was the calm before the paint got on my good sweater!  :(  DD was hiding out in a quieter corner but to be fair, she had hinted at the new dynamics this young lady added to the mix.  We cleaned everything up.  Washing the gelli plates and supplies proved more fun than anything previous. :O

Once we were relatively dry we started cutting stamps.  Some of my punches are second hand buys and are not too very sharp which is challenging for the kids.   But it introduced them to future creative options. 

I did bring Jolina home with me and we stopped off to buy an art supply that I'd been contemplating.  ;^)  The Big Shot, which should help out future classes!  These two wee dies were extras and way too fiddly for me but they were definitely a hit with the youngest grand kiddie.   Now we can really roll out stickers!

When the guests are gone

We do have the best sunrises (and sunsets) here on the prairies!  Course you have to be up early to see them! 

The kids left me some great starts for more mono printing.    Mono printing was demonstrated for the jumpers in Creative Jump Start 2014 and gelli plates were used as well as Plexiglas, and a garbage bag tightly taped around a glass cutting board or hot pad. They give slightly different effects but all work and now I understand why.  I'll be using all three methods.  So I did play and I used some to get my Document Your Life Project moving along and I think I'll be all caught up for the new month.

A start but I shall definitely be tweaking as I go along as I doubt I'll be always adding the fold over.

Week 2 and I'm not sure this week is finished although I did get a lot down on what happened.

Week 3 was add an envelope and I chose a bill as a reminder to stop spending.  ;)  I do like envelopes but this page is a bit bleak. Ha!  Must be I'm mourning the loss of the buy now, pay later plan!

Week 4 was write a secret letter and cover it.  I felt this needed a fold over page and it is no secret that I am determined to find, focus, follow, finish, and finally complete projects.  Now if I could find the paper of what happened this week! :O

Week 5 was a doodled border and I was in a hurry so ...  But I do like these scribbley borders.  This was party week so I can pretty much remember the fill ins. Next week's page is something inspiring, pintrest, which I am steadfastly resisting as I have too many inspiring ideas already!  It'll be great to actually write in the prepared pages instead of looking for scraps of paper that have gone missing! ;) I need to make the monthly tabs.   I also anticipate a gradual change in my style as the weeks unfold.

The guests may be gone but it was a wild time in the playroom yesterday.  I'll  clean up after I share some highlights.

The Creative Jump Start  party is ending except for the dispensing of some party favours. Now I will not be quite so hasty in doing a thorough cleaning up in the party aftermath.  So many useful objects that are used as tools or actually become art!  Who knew?  lol  Here are a few of my favourites:

I pulled the cardboard off a box, soaked it and I now have kraft paper with lovely lines on one side and the inside makes wonderful paper mache that makes very light weight embellishments.  I already knew about the molds for fondants and cake decorating but I was thinking clay.  I have been  saving cereal boxes and I saved the brown paper from my new curtain rods. I can't wait to try more shapes which get a bit of gesso, some paint and an whole new life!!!

So many utensils and tools that make marks although there is always a market for special gadgets.  I'm slowly converting to homemade sprays or at least modifying the compositions of bought ones by diluting or remixing for custom colours.  Coffee and tea solutions can be sprayed on for antiquing purposes.   I am better understanding matte verses gloss,  gel medium verses matte medium, various glues,  and cheap verses artist grade and professional.  Everything works but not everywhere. ;)  The format was a video from the teacher and then a forum for the class where questions were answered and that alone was worth the money.

I absolutely luved this bubble wrap technique.  It was demonstrated with the small sized bubbles and I had to try it with the big ones.  Woo Hoo!  Talk about champagne!  I really get high when I get into the bubbly!  :) Hint- see the parchment paper, you melt coloured bubblewrap.

Dripping, spreading acrylic paint onto a nonstick surface means you can pick it up and lay it down on something else when it drys.  I do like this concept but I need more practice.  It does work with a stencil as well but the parts need to be connected and I need to practice the amount.  The white silicon sheet doesn't work as slick to my mind.

This was a blast and not exactly furthering my goal for more fibre related projects.  And I am sure I can't possibly find a spot for found objects in all their variety and abundance.  But...  totally fun.  I didn't have a prepared canvas and was not prepared to like it so much.  Therefore I just used a cereal box cut down to size.  Then a hunt for stuff, i.e. junk.  I'm still wondering if I should add more.  Pearl dots???  LOL  Then we were to gesso everything.  gnash, gnash!  Then you sprinkle dry coloured pigment and spritz with water.  I didn't know if I had such a thing. I did sprinkle something on the tray and tried spritzing and it works. :)   Now, I am gonna hyper down and consider what colours.  That done I think the tea stain spray kinda antiques everything.   I shall post the finished product when the effects of the bubbly wear off!  ;)

It is gonna take the rest of the day to restore some sort of order to the Coop and Saucer Playroom which has my cups in hiding and the long stemmed champagne glasses are clanging and splashing bubbles all about.  I wonder if there are any half full bottles left???  

Party after math!

Well, today is full of picking up toys, cleaning up and sorting laundry.  The cloud of white at the right of the photo is an almost full box of Kleenex which is now a mound of snow!  :(

The art time left me three sheets of background and some gelli prints. Before I did a big clean up I did some playing of my own.

I remembered  some of my Creative Jump Start tutorials which are drawing to a close with ordinary household objects providing the theme.

 I do really like mono printing.  One excellent tutorial used a black plastic garbage bag taped tightly around a glass cutting board. This was a  wonderful substitute for the trademarked gelli plate.  The paint was white and the printing was done with black card stock.  Very doable and also very striking.  I like the effect of rubber bands on the cardboard roll but next time I'd use rolling pins of even just a bottle as they would roll smoother.   I hadn't thought to use ink sprays on my gelli plate and they add another dimension.  There is an artist grade tissue paper which I didn't have but cheap tissue (left side of photo) gave 3 prints off one prepared gelli plate.  Tissue disappears in collage work even better than deli paper. :) 

This isn't getting the playroom back to pre-party state  nor the rest of the upstairs. :o  But I certainly have some more party ideas to try tomorrow!

Willowing

Prairie Silk Willow tree

 The branches weep and have a downward drop. The leaves are a very simple shape.  They are also a lovely blue green. colour with a lovely silvery sheen.

I gathered up a number of branches.  Unfortunately the branches of this tree and other willows fall frequently. The good news is that it is always making new  branches. ;)

I spent a lovely hour or so gelli printing the 'real deal' with black paint on white paper and deli paper.  These will dry on my line and I will make photos of the individual papers for future use.

 These are examples of the first prints which have lots of paint on the plate.

 Then I will take a second with the paint that is left and sometimes with some repositioning or recycled paper.

 The leaves have paint on them and I will press them onto white paper as well.

I can also pick up another print from the gelli plate if I lightly spritz it with water.

The very last print I pull is usually on the deli paper and is faint or more delicate.

After I photograph and save the images on my computer I will then begin to make stencils from the original pages and play with colour.  But that is for another day! 

WOW- Gelli anyone?

Well, when the Gelli plate comes out of its package and lays on the worktable it looks about as exciting as sliced bread.  But I have to tell you that when the peanut butter and jelly is spread things begin to get very tasty and exciting!  And I don't even like peanut butter and jelly! 

 
I have the larger size and it is a bit pricey for a peanut butter budget.  BUT- it is worth every penny and you can always make your own jelly to stretch the food budget! lol

                                    I added cheap craft acrylic paint right on the Gelli plate's surface.
                                                I have it placed on an old glass cutting board.

I spread it with my brayer.  Two brayers are ideal as one is wet and one is or should be dry.

I began to create.  It isn't necessary to clean every time.  A little forethought helps though.

I had to stop and flap my chin back up in place sometimes!

And I began to move. Might be due to hyperactivity, just saying.   I had prepared various kinds of papers and some cotton fabric but I was soon avalanching paper and book piles in a grab for more.  Paint bottles were knocked over.  I stubbed my toe on a drawer that had not been closed after a search for texture.  No time for compassion.  Whoo hoo!

I tried a new rubbing plate.  Needs some technique tweaking but do-able.

      Plastic netting.  This was very cool and the net could be placed on something else for another effect.  The netting is still laying on the Gelli plate in this photo.  Later there is a photo showing the netting placed on another piece.  This worked so clear and sharp that I was flabbergasted!

 A Feather!  This is just how the fabric pulls back from the Gelli plate and leaves the feather with the paint under it.  The feather itself didn't make such a good second stamp image. 
Who cares!  Look at that first image!

        

Now if there is some paint left and you want to get the pattern one more time,  you can add a better, full bodied  white acrylic, brayer it and take another print.   I may be using too much.

 This is the second pull.  I'm learning to do the last pulls on vellum or tracing paper for a subtle effect.

The third 'pull' really shows the original before the white was added. I had used string on a bright green.   I'm not sure why this works but I can tell you that there needs be no waste with this process. 

                                                   These are some printed on very light paper.

                          I started with lighter colours.  I often went over the originals another time or two.

                                                              
                                                                     And worked to the darker.

                                               

                                                         The top right was just cleaning my brayer!
 

                  

The net with the paint that didn't get used was laid on this aqua and brayered down and the net transferred wonderfully.

               

The top left was some full bodied acrylic that I had pulled using large bubble wrap on.  I knew I'd get what I was after on the second pull so I used the white on the bubbles after I lifted it to press onto another  paper.  I was scrambling to find a place to do that and did it on the floor.  Not too bright but...

This amazing piece is that plastic canvas I got at the thrift shop.  I tell you, my heart almost stopped I was so thrilled, even with the smudged part!

The terms for some of these prints are direct print, indirect print and ghost print.

I have had an exhilarating worktable day!  

I hope my fellow Canucks are as exhilarate!

Please have a look see over at The Needle & Thread Network.

This picture pretty much sums up my life!  I've also come to the conclusion that Normal is really only a setting on my dryer and I'd probably get pretty bored with only folding towels.

So where was I before I added hospital visits to the daily routine?

My thread testing is still top of the list.  I got some stabilizers and fusibles to try.  I also got a great number fabric.  I'm counting the days for a lot of things.

I'm very intrigued by the new chalk paint that has become available.  I ordered some and I'm anxious to give that a try.

First up will be the wood work on the 2 chairs and foot stool we nabbed at an auction sale.

I'm deciding fabric and have rejected the teal/aqua fabrics as that will make the front room too complimentary ( red/green) and I'm happier with an analogous colour scheme of red/yellow.   I will be toning them down to gold and cranberry with some aqua accents.

I picked up a Quilting Arts magazine on my travels and the article on digital monoprints by Margaret Applin reminded me of my Photoshop program.  I'm needing a graphic to 'make mine' and I'm considering the style of leaf depicted in crewel patterns.  This little embroidery book was an early find when I began to do applique.  I luv the Jacobean style.

Lastly, I'm considering offering my playroom for informal craft sessions to a young gal.  We are thinking beads so I am long on beads, tools and ideas but short on a good basic beading book. If anyone has any suggestions I'd be most grateful.

So the dryer is set, the surf board  the ironing board is at the ready, and the basket awaits.  C'mon LIFE!