I love a decent crackle effect, but it’s a notoriously difficult thing to get ‘right’ and nigh on impossible to get the same results every time. I noticed I have collected a number of different crackle effect mediums over time and thought it was time to do a side by side trial.
It’s 12th night, all the decorations are down, and the Christmas cards are destined for the recycling bin. But wait… what else could you do with them? Here are three ideas I came up with for making next Christmas’ cards with last Christmas’.
Now I’m not entirely sure why I appear to have googly eyes in this photo… but I was the nominated driver, so it wasn’t the butterbeer! This is me, as Voldemort, at a Harry Potter fancy dress party last night. I started the makeover by using a Pritt glue stick to stick down my eyebrows – several layers, drying between each. Next was eye liner and eye shadow – doesn’t that need practice?! Then copious amounts of white face paint, with added red round eyes, and hints of green. Finally veins and general grot were added with eye liner or black face paint and a fine brush before being smudged in. And then came the fun part of trying to not itch, brush, scratch, bump or otherwise remove any of it!
The nail are artificial and though supergluing them (that was the included glue) was good for security, not so good for quick removal later… Cover with a layer of white nail polish, follow up with dabs of grey in the bottom third, and then dab green on the cuticle line. Add dry brushed brown lines for texture, smudging with a finger tip as it dries. Finally, mix a little black nail polish in a clear top coat and brush over the lot. White/green face paint over fingers and wrists to blend in, and emphasise the length of fingers using black paint in the the webs between the tendons towards the back of the hand and blend in.
Top tip – apply your black tooth wax BEFORE you lengthen your nails.
I’ve never done any sort of make up before, and the moving canvas created particular problems – like my eyebrow covers peeling off when I was laughing…
And a handy tip – much the same make up job seems perfect to be The Emperor from Star Wars or Uncle Fester from the Addams Family. That’s the next couple of fancy dress parties sorted. I just won’t use superglue next time.
Happy Christmas! Hope you’re having a great day 🙂
For my final Creative Expressions DT post this month, I’ve used the fabulous ‘Rangoli’ singles stamp from their Henna range of mounted rubber stamps. The image is printed onto acetate using the Cosmic Shimmer Flake & Glitter glue before being ‘painted’ with the Cosmic Shimmer Polished Silk Glitters. Each image is mounted either side of a cardboard circle so that you can change your colour scheme each year to match that of the rest of your decorations. A quick make while everyone else is having a post-turkey snooze 😉
Ok, so the title of the post might be a bit misleading – I hate stuffing balls – unless they happen to be apple and sausage meat. But this post is about cramming polystyrene balls into 12cm high papier mache hanging decorations rather than anything edible. The inspiration for these came from Creativ Company, as did the shapes and balls.
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This is what I spent four and a half hours on Sunday afternoon doing – and it was handed over to Rainbows Hospice this morning, so I can now share it! The spectacular sum was raised by the staff of MGC Hayles and Woods Coaches over the year, with the Rainbows Walk in Leicester, a choir concert, the national Three Peaks Challenge and (in a after-pic addition to the icing) a business challenge task. I was commissioned to take an iced cake (twin square sponges) and turn it into the donation cheque. I mocked it all up on the computer before printing it out and transferring the design on to the fondant icing by pressing through. Then it was just the small (and patient) matter of piping and cutting. The process wasn’t helped by the icing mixes looking a muddy brown colour when mixed, but when dried, the colour theory did end up working. The finished cake is 9″x18″.
When I saw the contents of the latest DT goodie bag lots of ideas sprang to mind. We’ve been sent the newest set of ‘Henna’ inspired Creative Expressions ‘Singles’ stamps – rubber stamps that are pre-mounted and cut ready for slapping onto your acrylic blocks and printing with straight away. This project uses embossing powder and spray dyes to create a faux batik effect on a handkerchief – although any cotton fabric would work just as well. For more making details, read on 🙂
Some how, in between packing boxes in the studio, completing Day 1 of CC102 and catching up with various admin jobs, I’ve managed to snatch some moments to work on December’s workshop project – a hand made Christmas Art Journal. For more details and to book your place, go to my Workshops Page.
The longer-term followers of this ‘ere blog will probably vaguely remember that I did Tim Holtz’s Creative Chemistry 101 online class last year. He’s only gone and started CC102 today – there’s thirty more techniques he’s sharing – and of course I had to sign up. So here’s Day 1: six things to do with Distress Paints. I’m not allowed to share the techniques, but you won’t need to look far elsewhere on my blog to see where I have used them with conventional acrylics. That is, all but the first – the marbling effect is unique to Distress Paints because of their make up.
As previously mentioned, I am clearing out my study – I’ve also cleared out an old PC. Whilst doing this, I came across my original sketches for some artwork I did back in 2008 whilst at Robert Hall Memorial Baptist Church in Leicester. Again, I sketched out the idea whilst the service was taking place, and this time took the sketches back home and created some digital art (Photoshop/Illustrator) which was then printed as A0 poster size. As far as I know, they’re still on display in the church. I also know that one of them ended up being given to Rothley Baptist Church as well. Here are the ‘before and after’ pics:
