Mixed Media Sketchbook Cover

Posted on 23rd February 2015 by perfectly4med

In between various quilting tasks and undercoating MDF clock bases, I’ve also been working on this mixed media sketchbook cover makeover, in the Finnabair style. I haven’t been to any of Anna’s classes, but did get to see her demo’ing her new media range, courtesy of Prima, at the Notions stand at the trade show last week.

The sketchbook is hard cover, and I made the mistake of forgetting to put the texture paste down before sticking the ephemera in place (but I think I got away with it). A gesso layer melds everything together and stiffens paper flowers. There’s metal trinkets, moulded paper clay, buttons, beads and bingo tokens as well as chipboard inches. Colour initially started in pinks and purples, but as the piece developed, the pinks receded and blues came in. Products include Inka Gold, Cosmic Shimmer Matt Chalk Acrylics, Liquid Pearls, Viva Decor Pearl & Paper Pens, Dreamweaver Embossing Paste and various stencils.

Oh and I used my new Bosch Glue Pen as well to stick things down with (thank you Kathryn & David!).

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ZIA on other surfaces: monoprinting

Posted on 2nd February 2015 by perfectly4med

I’ve just taken delivery of my 3×5″ Gelli Arts Plate, which is the perfect size to have a go at a technique I wanted to test for my forthcoming Zentangle Inspired Art workshop. I mixed black acrylic with a slow medium in equal quantities and used a brayer to cover the plate evenly with the black paint. Working as quickly as I could, I scraped paint off with a rubber tipped tool to ‘etch’ the tangle design. Despite the speed at which I worked, the acrylic still dried, so by the end I was scraping into dried paint, and to transfer the monoprint to paper I needed to add a layer of matt multi medium over the dried paint. After everything had dried on the page, I added Distress Inks to colour. A fast and furious sample, but a technique I think I will try again, perhaps with Golden Open acrylics or even a waterbased printing ink.

Have a go at this technique, along with others, at my workshop on Easter Saturday.

On a separate note, it is worth having a look at my original image – which was taken with a camera – the gloss finished of the acrylic played havoc with the light… Whereas the scanned image above shows off the piece far better. There’s also some resist happening with the black and the multi-medium which adds to the texture.

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Eazi-Box: How to make shaped boxes with ease

Posted on 30th January 2015 by perfectly4med

I’ve just finished and published my first commissioned tutorial video, for Diamond Card Crafts. It’s evidence to me that LinkedIn is worth keeping up to date as this is where contact first started.

Back to the video: I show how to use Diamond Card Craft‘s Eazi-Box Shape Board to make shaped boxes, starting with an introduction to the board, then the basic square shaped box (equally able to do rectangular boxes btw), and then moving on to triangular, pentagonal, octagonal and short lid boxes. The board itself is a deeply moulded score board, with templates for the shapes which are so versatile and can also be used to make shaped cards and mats as well. I share tips and tricks that aren’t in the instruction sheet for perfect boxes every time.

[youtube=http://youtu.be/75whxyt6DeQ]

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My youngest students ever…

Posted on 28th January 2015 by perfectly4med

Someone thought it would be a wonderful idea to hold the regular meeting of their now-almost-two-years-postnatal antenatal mums group in my studio, with the toddlers undertaking an artistic endeavour. Somehow I found myself agreeing! And so it was that four barely toddling toddlers arrived on Monday afternoon for an hour of creative excess (as well as watching the dogs through the window).

I decided to get hold of some Silk Clay, which seems to be a lemony scented marshmallow like substance, that gets more pliable with the addition of small amounts of water, and then air dries and takes spritzed mica sprays very well. Charlie discovered the clay would also stretch marvellously, and suddenly there were strands of the clay pinging around everywhere! Building up the clay onto canvas boards, they pulled, squished, prodded and poked; even Thomas the Tank Engine stuck his wheels in.

After an overnight dry, I spritzed the clay with their colour choices using Cosmic Shimmer Mica Mists, and here are the wonderful creations of my four youngest ever students:

[Please note: I really don’t anticipate this being a departure from my grown-up groups. And I’m certainly not going to entertain thoughts of touring Parent/Toddler groups before you ask 😉 ]

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ZIA on other surfaces

Posted on 23rd January 2015 by perfectly4med

I’ve been filming and editing a commissioned tutorial video today – but snatched moments between uploads to create a sample for my April workshop: Zentangle Inspired Art on other surfaces. As well as inviting attendees to tangle on porcelain tiles or mugs, there will also be the opportunity to tangle on fabric. I’ve quilted the square onto a card just to add bit of interest. Do this technique and more on Easter Saturday in my studio in Leicester – book your place here.

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Pyrography – things I’ve learnt today

Posted on 10th January 2015 by perfectly4med

I was lucky enough to be given a Dremel Versatip for Christmas (thanks Dawn & Tim), which, for the unaware, is a butane powered heat tool that has various interchangeable tips. One set is for pyrography, which I also got for Christmas (thanks Tom).

I thought I’d have a go at doing some pyrography this afternoon, and not wanting to have the smell of singed wood mingling with my current quilt-in-the-making, I went outside to do it. It turns out that physics is alive and well, and that with the outside temperature approaching freezing, unsurprisingly a few things happened: I got cold, the tip didn’t really warm up that quickly, I burnt through a reservoir of butane and everything took a lot longer than I expected! However, for a first go, I’m fairly happy with the result.

One other thing I learnt – if you don’t keep the Versatip tool upright there is a risk of unintended scorching as the ceramic catalyst area throws out a lot of heat (that’s the white bit near the tip). Consequently I ended up with a scorched thumb and some scorching on the wood that I didn’t want. Happily the latter sanded off fairly well, and I managed to bring back the contrast fine.

And good old Ikea came to the fore again – the piece of wood I have used is 100% beech tile that they sell in a pack of 100 as building blocks (Fundera) for just £8. These seemed ideal for practice tiles, and may be even for finished projects. Once I have practiced a bit more (in a warmer environment) they might even be the wood equivalent of a zentangle tile?

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Artist’s Palette Assemblage

Posted on 6th December 2014 by perfectly4med

This project started several years ago as an impromptu challenge with another crafting artist – it’s had bits and pieces done to it in between other projects, but with my altered art demonstration day today at Coleman’s Craft Warehouse, it seemed the perfect time to get it finished and on display!

Made with a Tim Holtz Configurations box, a free wooden palette and various bits and bobs gleaned at pound shops I’ve tried to include both colour, texture and materials used by an artist. Now all I have to do is find somewhere to put it!

Altered Art Baccy Tin

Posted on 27th November 2014 by perfectly4med

I once smoked cigars, back when I had money to burn. Cigar boxes are great for altering. Then came the career change and I switched to an occasional pipe, and no longer were boxes in ready supply. Instead I have an increasing pile of round tobacco tins, as I was sure I would find a use for them (other than hoarding screws in them that is). Well yesterday I had a spark of inspiration (I blame the new medication) and I’ve spent some time using skills with a piercing saw that I picked up at college. A pierced celtic knot allows the contained pot-pourri pong to escape and gives tantalising glimpses of the bits ‘n’ bobs included. Perfect piece of pungent upcycling!

Top tips:

Find stencil patterns to adapt – that way you know whole chunks you wanted to keep won’t suddenly fall into the bin
Remove all labels and adhesive from the tin before you start cutting
Use a decent piercing saw and a blade with high number of teeth per inch for a smooth cut – change regularly even if you don’t manage to break the blade
Use a jeweller’s bench peg to work on as it’s so much safer and easier
Regularly clean your cutting surface of the metal burrs – I didn’t at the start and that’s what has sanded off the gold around the edge
Mark the cutting lines on the inside of the lid and cut upside down as well – this reduces the bounce of the metal as you can hold it closer to the bench peg
Work from the middle out to help keep everything as rigid as possible
If you need to flatten out the final piercing, hit with a flat hammer onto a flat surface a couple of times.

Altered Art Celtic Style Box

Posted on 24th November 2014 by perfectly4med

This started off as one of those ubiquitous paper mache boxes, approximately 3 inches square and found in most arts and crafts stockists. I’ve used real copper sheet (via Woodware stockists) and embossed it with celtic knot designs printed from internet sources, traced onto the copper and then worked with various embossing tools. The black background is just permanent black marker direct to the box. The raised areas are filled with Dimensional Magic from Mod Podge, though Glossy Accents does the job too. Once that’s dry, the copper ‘aged’ with a smear of black acrylic paint which is polished off when still wet. Once that’s all done it’s stuck down to the box with ultra tack sheet/tape. Another sample for my demonstration day at Coleman’s Craft Warehouse on Saturday 6th December.

Cheap vinyl lettering for mixed media?

Posted on 19th October 2014 by perfectly4med

I’ve been playing with an idea I had a while ago, but only just had chance to try. I was struck by how sticky some of the low tack tapes can be, and then happened to use some electrical insulation tape and realised that it was that perfect stickiness for peeling off things. And it was waterproof. And relatively cheap. And just the right width to fit a line of text in suitable for art journaling. Combining these thoughts with a Silhouette Cameo PixScan sheet led to the following experiment…

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