It’s been a little while since I’ve done a step-by-step for a border pattern, so I thought I’d add to my art nouveau inspired tangle patterns. Use as a corner piece or expand the leaves and tendrils to increase the border length, throwing in the odd flower for interest and break up the lines.
Another tangle pattern, this time drawing on Gothic architecture for the inspiration. The stippling can be either very annoying or very therapeutic depending on what sort of pen you’re using! I recommend a soft tip on a stack of paper if you value peace and quiet, or a hard ballpoint nib straight to the paper on a hard surface if you’re dead set on annoying someone in the vicinity…
I wasn’t at all happy with my finished page yesterday… so I tried again today using what I had learnt from my experimentation. Keeping with the ‘3+1’ theme, I switched the same complementary colours. I am so much happier with the outcome – a cleaner, fresher, more impactful page.
I watched ‘Empire Strikes Back’ last night amongst the Star Wars furore that seems to have broken out this week. As Yoda is training the young Luke Skywalker, he comes out with this often quoted adage: ‘Do or do not, there is no try’.
Well, that tied in so nicely with my plans for next month’s art journal session: we’re going to try do some colour theory in a lesson I’m going to call ‘3 + 1’. There are several regulars at my art journaling sessions that say they ‘can’t do colour’, so I will be encouraging them to use a colour wheel to pick two complementary colours and then add the colours either side of one of them to make up the ‘3’. As an added bonus, we’ll also be mixing the colours using the three primary colours of paint by DecoArt.
This second vaguely festive tangle pattern was fairly tricky to break down. It’s based on an ancient Greek stone carved border with a few adaptations to make the continuous pattern. In step 2, try to keep the lines flowing as you weave in and out round the circles.
Now I have stopped making items for sale at the Christmas Fayre, I’ve turned my relatively idle hands to working out a few more step-by-step tangle patterns. Inspired by various designs, this is the first of several to come. I love how the repeated geometric pattern forms a bauble shape in the negative space – hence the name.
News released today from Craftwork Cards:
We are delighted to announce the appointment of Neil Burley as our Social Media Manager.
Neil has been a key part of our Design Team for the last two years and there is no doubting his amazing creative skills. He has made so many fabulous, inspirational projects for us and now he will also be working with us to coordinate the various social media sites we use, including our blog, Pinterest boards and Facebook page.
Neil will be working closely with Julie Hickey, Design Team Co-ordinator, and the Design Team as a whole to bring you lots more beautiful inspiration, sharing their top tips and techniques, step by step mini tutorials on how to create some of their fantastic creations, and much more! There will be links to our collections too, making shopping much easier for you.
We have lots of exciting plans for the new year, but we would love to hear your ideas too! Please email them to Neil at socialmedia@craftworkcards.com.
Welcome to the Craftwork Cards team Neil!
There’s just one day left before the Christmas Fayre (in case I hadn’t mentioned it recently). Though I have more items than I can fit on even a large table, the inspiration hasn’t stopped. I thought I would have a go at some mounted typography, so designed, cut out (ok, the Cameo did that bit), stuck together and mounted these two examples – which happened to be two verses from Sunday’s morning services (see the sermon sketchnote).
Meanwhile, on the other side of the table, I’m finishing off some MDF chalkboards – three down (one featured here), three almost done. The first is covered in old dictionary pages, and aged with a ‘dirty wash’ – a drop of DecoArt Media Raw Umber and a drop of Quinacridone Gold watered down, brushed over and splattered with water before drying and sealing with DecoArt Media Ultra Matte Varnish. The second started with squidged Distress Paints, sprayed with water, then dried and I used DecoArt Media Phthalo Blue as my dirty wash, before glazing with a watered down metallic blue acrylic paint. I then sealed with a gloss varnish with a bit of DecoArt Media Interference Blue mixed in. And the last – I’ve tangled it in Sakura Micron 08 black pigment ink over Dylusions Linen White paint (which when completely dry doesn’t clog the nib), sealed with DecoArt Media Ultra Matte Varnish.
[Disclaimer: as part of the DecoArts Helping Artists Program,
I have been provided with samples of their products to use for projects]
As you know by now from previous posts, I have my first craft fair – the Whetstone Baptist Church Christmas Fayre – next Saturday. Here are some more makes: etched copper candlestick, beaded candles on individually etched glass plates, a resin encased watch-parts pendant and faux-enamelled jewellery pieces.
It’s been a tricky thing to price up all these items. I can easily work out the material costs. I know how much time each has taken to make. It’s a little harder to work out the time taken in research, and even more tricky to know exactly how much time and energy has gone into the development, trials and failures that are inevitable in making items. Throw into the mix what you think people are likely to be prepared to pay, what they might be able to afford, and what else might be on sale around you… Suffice to say that the marked prices for all the items on the stand will not reflect my time and skill set.
Trouble is, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the making process, designing the packaging, and setting up the stand. But will it pay off? Or the bills? I’ll let you know.
