Altered Art
Altered Art: Signs & woodblocks

Posted on 31st October 2018 by Neil

I’ve been in full production mode getting stock ready for a Christmas Fayre at the end of November. All being well, there will be good footfall and matching sales. If not, anticipate a lot of listings in my Facebook and Etsy stores!

This week I’ve been concentrating on signs. The wood plaques were bought in, and then undercoated with gesso and a cream chalky finish acrylic paint. I designed all the typography in Adobe Illustrator and then etched the outlines on to the signs using my brand spanking new replacement laser cutter. After that, it was a matter of using Posca pens to fill in the gaps before doing a dirty wash with diluted acrylic paint to age them. Some had crackle medium added to the corners, but it doesn’t show up overly well. Each sign is approx. 30cm x 10cm, £5 each.

I’ve also been playing with some 10x10cm paulownia wood blocks, etching into them using the laser cutter. The laser has burnt away the soft wood more easily than the grain leaving a beautiful texture in the background. A set of four is available for £6.

Used in these projects:

Signs and wood blocks: Creativ Company
Laser cutter: Glowforge
[amazon_textlink asin=’B00MWSQKTS’ text=’Posca pens’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’themanicstamp-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’f5c4e647-dd3f-11e8-b81b-73098a4b58d8′]
[amazon_textlink asin=’B00HO038BM’ text=’DecoArt Americana Chalky Finish: Lace’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’themanicstamp-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’26127792-dd40-11e8-a16a-8f3936c4d211′]

Quilting
Quilt No. 23: Christmas Swirl

Posted on 25th October 2018 by Neil

I’m on a roll… or should that be a bolt (of fabric)? This table runner was surprisingly quick to make and quilt. I took a couple of gratuitous shortcuts, such as daring not to baste the quilt sandwich together and merely relying on a firm press with a hot iron to keep everything together. I got away with it.

The quilt itself is made up of numerous 60° triangles with intervening diamonds, all cut from strips of stripes. The finished runner is quite long at 84″ and is 13″ wide. It traverses the length of our dining table with a small overhang at each end. Quilting was quick and simple stitch-in-the-ditch along the diagonals emphasising the diamond shapes.

The fabric is by Northcott and was obtained in Canmore, Canda whilst we were on hols. The pattern was called Triangle Frenzy Swirl and purchased on our previous USA trip two years ago.

Quilting
Quilt No. 22 ‘Stanley Park’

Posted on 19th October 2018 by Neil

It’s not just photographs that can prompt reminiscences of a wonderful holiday… Following the success of my USA quilt, I decided on our recent holiday to visit any quilt shop within driving/walking distance of our location at the time, with the intention of buying a kit illustrating an aspect of the holiday. This is the first that I have finished of the two kits I bought. It prompts memories of a horse-drawn carriage tour of Stanley Park in Vancouver. We had a stop off at a collection of totem poles as part of the tour.

The kit is from Quilts with a Twist bought in the Rushin’ Tailor quilt shop in Skagway, Alaska and featured a laser-cut fusible applique totem of an eagle and a bear. It included all the fabric required for the 18″x 40″ wall hanging to be completed. It took just over a day to finish.

I found the laser cut applique easy to use. If it wasn’t for my laser cutter recently dying I’d be having a go with my own designs…

Tangle Patterns
Tangle Pattern: Kamloops

Posted on 17th October 2018 by Neil

The third and final instalment of patterns gleaned from a recent holiday in Canada. I believe this was a carpet in our overnight hotel in Kamloops. It’s a bit tricky to draw… make sure there is a gap between curls in step one, this is where the opposing curls fit in step 2. To get to a repeating pattern, draw the ‘hearts’ in rows first, and then offset the fill-ins. Anyone else reminded of TripAdvisor logo?

Altered Art
Sparkler Art – fact or fiction?

Posted on 13th October 2018 by Neil

So… you may have seen the Facebook video doing the rounds showing a white panel, six lit sparklers revealing a beautiful forest scene with silhouetted deer. “Fantastic”, I thought, “I’ll have a go at that!” There were no instructions, but a quick internet search suggested that the panel was painted birch ply, that the water mist was a lemon juice/water mix, and that the branches were not, in fact, the sparkler traces, but painted neat lemon juice. Beautiful and ethereal isn’t it:

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Tangle Patterns
Tangle Pattern: Calgary

Posted on 8th October 2018 by Neil

This is the second of three new tangle patterns gleaned from photographs I took during a recent holiday in Canada. This pattern derives from wallpaper found next to the lift in the Calgary Fairmont Palliser hotel.

Tangle Patterns
Tangle Pattern: Banff

Posted on 24th September 2018 by Neil

It’s always good to go on holidays, have new experiences and enjoy different views. It’s less usual for the inevitable slew of photographs to include grilles, wallpaper and carpet… but that’s what happens when you keep your eye out for potential tangle patterns. This is the first of three new tangle patterns gleaned from images from a recent holiday in Canada.

Altered Art
Art Journal: Board Books

Posted on 16th September 2018 by Neil

It’s not often that I deliberately go into a cut-price bookstore with the sole intention of buying several copies of ‘My Little Pony’ children’s books. Well, this happened sometime in late winter, with the intention that I would be using them in a class. On Monday 1st October, attendees at my art journal session will be using the board books as a base for an art journal, included at no extra fee. Unfortunately, it does mean that my little ponies will be painted out. What a shame.

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Available to purchase
Christmas 2018: Drypoint Etched Baubles

Posted on 31st August 2018 by Neil

I’m afraid it’s still the season for Christmas preparations in The Studio. I’ve been playing with drypoint etching to create some limited edition Christmas cards. Each design is limited to 8 prints (at which point my drypoint plates disintegrated – I’m not using perspex or metal btw). The illustrations are hand drawn and then transferred to my etching plate. Ink is caught in the grooves and wiped off the rest of the plate – each inking and print takes around 10 mins. Sorry the photo isn’t all that, and the cream colour of the print paper is less obvious in real life. You’re welcome to order these at £3 each (not including P&P).

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3D Projects
Christmas 2018: A Clockwork Christmas

Posted on 17th August 2018 by Neil

I’ve been playing with resin this week and in these overlarge bottle caps (5.5cm diameter) I’ve added clock parts and snowflakes over a resinated book page. I love the layering that is achievable with resin, and the depth the layers create within the piece. I’ve completed seven different pieces designed to be used as Christmas tree decorations, perhaps with a steampunk theme? Resin isn’t cheap so each of these will be £7.50 each.

Unfortunately, due to the gloss reflections, the photographs don’t do them justice! The snowflakes are more translucent white than opaque grey and layer well within the resin.