perfectly4med: Artist at work

Drypoint print – the gallery editions

perfectly4med — Wed, 23 May 2012 08:47:13 +0000

As I mentioned in my original post, I planned to further work on my drypoint prints, adding tone and colour. Here is a gallery of the results – and the bottom right is the print I have given away, number 13 of 15 – and may be the winner will want colour added? Most of these are now mounted for the end of term exhibition. There are some other prints available to purchase if you’d be interested…

I think some work better than others – I’m not happy with the tea dye one, it’s too dark. I am happy with the greyscale/monotone trees with the colour window. The pastel is very much in keeping with Jacek Yerka’s work on which this is loosely based as he prepares his paintings with a pastel version first. Let me know what you think

100,000 views giveaway – the winners

perfectly4med — Wed, 23 May 2012 08:19:51 +0000

As promised, the draw for my 100,000 views giveaway closed last night. Twenty six people have left comments in the last week, with one late entry from Suzanne that didn’t quite make the deadline – thank you all for your feedback and support!

I used random.org to select the winners, and first out of the electronic hat was Rachel, who will get the set of WOW! embossing powders in their handy carry case, and second out of the electronic hat was Kaye, who gets one of my limited edition prints. Congratulations to the winners – please check your emails!

And roll on my next giveaway at 250,000 views

But before that there will be a giveaway in honour of my 100th tangle pattern – yes, there will be more…

Last opportunity…

perfectly4med — Tue, 22 May 2012 08:34:10 +0000

The 100,000 views prize giveaway for this ‘ere blog ends at midnight GMT tonight, with the winners announced tomorrow – this is your last opportunity to enter and have a chance of winning a unique piece of artwork. For prizes and how to enter, check my original posting here.

Take three stamps…

perfectly4med — Thu, 17 May 2012 11:24:42 +0000

Take three stamps, add a little bit of colour magic and hey presto, another challenge entry! Well two, I couldn’t make up my mind which I liked best… It’s one layer week at ‘Less is More’ and the stipulation was to use three stamps, not two, not four, three. There’s precise for you!

Hero Arts Long Writing Background (F2674) in Frayed Burlap DI
Impression Obsession Textured Evening Gown (D4320) in Sepia Archival
Sentiment from WOW! Everyday Sentiments Clear Stamp Set in Jet Black Archival

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Inkadinkadoo Arrange A Bottle Cling Set
WOW! Everyday Sentiments Clear Stamp Set stamped in Jet Black Archival

Bottles: Manganese Blue Archival, shading with Tumbled Glass Distress Marker
Flower: Tea Dye, Walnut Stain, Peeled Paint and Worn Lipstick Distress Markers

Twelve Tags for 2012 – June

perfectly4med — Wed, 16 May 2012 10:36:26 +0000

I’ll be teaching how to make this somewhat patriotic tag this Saturday (19th May) at the Manic Stamper Craft Club. It took a fair amount of experimenting to get the background the way I wanted, but I got there in the end! A gallery of my tags so far has been added here.

100,000 views!

perfectly4med — Tue, 15 May 2012 17:01:50 +0000

Hi all – this blog has just ticked over it’s 100,000 views in just 14 months of going live. And I think the person putting the time in today was Alice checking out my tangle patterns – thanks for all your comments, Alice!

As promised, I have a giveaway in honour of this momentous occasion. The lovely Tania at WOW! Embossing Powder has kindly provided a set of six powders in a handy carry case: Green Glitz, Princess Pink, Red Glitz, Metallic Gold Sparkle, Blue Glitz and Indigo Super Fine. As a second prize, I’ve also decided to give away a signed, limited edition copy of my drypoint print.

All you need to do to have a chance of winning is to leave a comment anywhere on my blog between now and midnight GMT on 22nd May. Only one entry to the draw per person, though feel free to comment as much as you like! The two winners will be announced at some point on 23rd May. Good luck, and thank you for your continuing support

Dabber Resist Mixed Media Canvas

perfectly4med — Wed, 09 May 2012 14:38:05 +0000

One of the techniques taught in the Creative Chemistry 101 class with ‘Professor’ Holtz was a dabber resist – taking advantage of the fact that acrylic paint is waterproof when dry. Here’s a canvas I put together over the bank holiday weekend making use of the technique, and how I did it follow after.

I used Snow Cap Paint Dabber from Ranger to apply the white acrylic to a decorative rubber stamp and printed it onto white Egyptian cotton muslin. I remembered to clean off the stamp before the paint dried onto it! I dried off the paint, and then liberally coated it with Mustard Seed Distress Stain and I think a little Rusty Hinge Distress Stain before spritzing with water and drying it off. Any excess ink can be wiped off the dried acrylic paint with a damp baby wipe. I adhered this to a manila tag with matte multi medium and cut away the excess once dry.

For the tailor’s dummy, I used the TH Sewing Room set to die cut out a white card dummy, which I overprinted the swirly flower design with the Snow Cap Dabber. After drying, I added Antique Linen Distress Stain to the body and Walnut Stain Distress Stain to the wooden parts. Once that was dry, I then used various brown distress inks to add the shading and make it appear 3D before adding the Dusty Concord Distress Ink to the bodice area before drying it all off again. A quick wipe over with a damp baby wipe brought up the white paint again.

The flowers are cut from cotton fabric using the TH Tattered Floral die and then loads of Dusty Concord Distress Stain – dropping water into the centre of the flower pushing more of the dye to the edges. A few dabs of Picket Fence DS also helped lighten the centres, as well as dabbing through a punched stamen shape. Finally I added a layer of Snow Cap dabber through the same punched stamen shape, dried it all off again and sewed on the white pearl seed beads for a bit of texture. All of it is mounted on a 7x5in canvas.

Yellow Flowers and a White Frame

perfectly4med — Mon, 07 May 2012 17:35:23 +0000

It’s ‘Less is More’ challenge entry time again, and this week, being the first in the month, it’s a colour theme: yellow. I had in mind for last week’s sketch challenge to do a frame with 3D flowers in, but didn’t end up having enough time to make it. So here’s the same plan, with yellow flowers!

The frame is adapted from a Woodware punch, mounted on double thickness of foam pads. The coloured flowers are die cut from Tim Holtz’s Tattered Floral (the smallest flower) stamped with Mustard Seed Distress Ink and shaded with the new seasonal Squeezed Lemonade Distress Ink. The ickle flowers are coloured with Squeezed Lemonade DI and then punched out – I ran three of each through a Xyron machine to add adhesive, and then sandwiched the coloured wire between those and three more. Everything else is punched out and all are shaped with a large ball embossing tool. I stuck them down with matte multi medium, added Liquid Pearls and stamped the sentiment (WOW! Everyday Sentiments clear stamp set) in Memento Tuxedo Black.

Father’s Day Card

perfectly4med — Sat, 05 May 2012 08:37:22 +0000

It’s not long until Father’s Day (at least in crafting days) on 17th June, and I created this card for my monthly slot at the WOW! Embossing Powder blog as part of my design team responsibilities. The theme is month is Earthtones and ‘manly projects’! If you want details on how to make the card, here’s the link. And don’t forget their really easy to enter challenge!

Print – Term 3 – Drypoint

perfectly4med — Tue, 01 May 2012 18:50:46 +0000

Our theme across all our activities this term at college is ‘influenced by an artist’. I’ve chosen the Polish surrealist Jacek Yerka to base my work on, and for print I was asked to do a drypoint. I discovered this is an etching process where the ink is trapped in the grooves and burrs made by scratching onto metal or acrylic and then transferred onto the substrate using pressure. I scratched my drawing onto a sheet of clear acrylic sheet (approx. A5 size), applied etching ink (which is very viscous), removed most of it, and then printed onto previously wetted watercolour paper using an etching press. Any ink left on the acrylic gets transferred to the paper, so removing it from where you don’t want it is quite laborious! I was sooooo excited as the first print was revealed, and that didn’t really diminish as I did a limited print run. I’m going to have a go replicating it at home using one of the many die cutting machines in place of the etching press, and more common crafting inks. Here is the basic print, and I’ll be colour washing some in due course: