Sunday 26 April 2009

Technique obsession time....

Have just spent a pleasant hour updating my gallery and sorting out 'available to trades' etc - amazing how quickly everything gets out of date when you start doing a few trades!! However, what I have mainly been doing tis week is preparing two sets of four ATCs for a Technique swap over on Flickr - only three of us signed up in the end so we are doing straight 4:4 trade with both of the other partners. So the challenge was four different techniques...

RESIST EMBOSSING...
is a favourite technique of mine for backgrounds. With the right paper, you can sometimes almost get a batik type effect. So these two are both made using RE backgrounds with a little bit of collage for good measure.





IMAGE TRANSFER
I also really like doing image transfers using gel medium, but I find it harder to marry them up with appropriate backgrounds. When finished I like to cover them with several layers of dilute PVA - they seem to end up almost like paintings.






RUBBER STAMPING AND MASKING

Well thought that rather than just stamp I would use masks to make these a little more interesting. For this first one I used the same stamp three times to get a little cluster of fish. I finished this one off with a single 'lumpy' layer of EP to give it a 'watery' look.



For this second one I used masks to enable me to create this collage using 7 different stamps. By leaving the masks in situ I was then able to build up the colour in the background using ink pads and foam.



WATER COLOUR STAMPING...
I was struggling a bit for the last technique, I had suggested beading or sewing but was reluctant to get out my ancient sewing m/c (bobbin winder has broken making that very tedious - winding them by hand is a pain!!) but I had seen this technique on Tim Holtz' blog. I had tried quickly before without success but read through the instructions properly this time and was very pleased with results. Tim explains it much better then me so if you want to look at it go here. It's a bit trial and error - I think the success depends largely on choosing the right stamp, something that is going to be recognisable when 'blurred'. Anyhoo ended up making quite a few (a bit limited in colour combos as I only had a few of the right type of ink pads lol) but these are the two I will be snding to the swap.





AND BECAUSE I CAN'T HELP MYSELF....

It was the big Stamping and Scrapbooking Show at Ally Pally last week and I had a mad idea about making a bag to display all my trades in.....



I don't expect it will last very long but it's just a bit of fun - I shall just keep it for craft shows. I got quite a few comments but unfortunately didn't remember to get to any of the public trades - too busy shopping!!

8 comments:

Creative Chaos said...

Wowww... just LOVE all your ATC's !!! And your bag ..... woohoo !!:-)
Patti xx

Sherry said...

All of your ATCs are brilliant Cindy! Love your bag too - people would pay a lot of money for one of those so I'm really impressed that you made it - not surprised though as you can turn your hand to anything - I'm just hoping if I keep visiting your blog some of it will rub off - lol

Femmy said...

all of these are fantastic!! you know your way with all these different techniques!! GREAT work!

Bel said...

I love how you know all these cool techniques Cindy, you really are what I would call creative as well as arty. I love learning new things but my techniques are normally learned from mistakes :) I agree with Sherry your bag would sell, its very cool. Take care Belinda

cheryl said...

wow love your blog and atc's I use baby wipes too also use masking tape for different effects. Just love your style will be poping over here more often.
Your creations are stunning xxx

Ange J Lee said...

love that bag Cindy (and think I recognise some of the ATCs from a previous NI/SIS project!?!....they look brilliant on the bag).
Ange x

Ange J Lee said...

The watercolour ATCs deserve a seperate comment...WOW! they're fantastic...beautiful....and the colour combinations are divine.

Kay Griffin said...

Love that watercolour technique and how you've put them on such bright backgrounds :-)

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