3D Projects
A little upcycling: converting a cutlery canteen

Posted on 16th June 2015 by Neil

I’m determined to have a clear out some of the things I’ve kept as ‘they’ll come in handy’ to make room for things I actually use. To that end, I’ve upcycled a shabby (empty) old cutlery canteen that was previously being kept in my grandfather’s old shed, and then languished in my outhouse/garage and shed for even more years. I stripped out the innards, sanded everything back and revarnished with a dark oak polyurethane varnish. I relined it with ‘antique red’ felt, and it now complements the lounge decor as a handy hidey-hole for the remotes and glasses I find necessary to have the TV in focus.

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Art Journal
Art Journal Page: Tears of a Clown

Posted on 12th June 2015 by Neil

I’m leading an art journaling workshop at the end of June, and thought I’d get a few more foregrounds on my many backgrounds in my various art journals. This spread already had the colour (distress inks over gesso with stencilled water bleaching) and the droplets (a Designs by Ryn rubber stamp). I searched in vain for a quote on water drops, but there was something about this phrase that sparked off the image of Pierrot, and the rest of the page came together.

The distress inks, being water reactive and dye based, reacted with the white pigment ink, white pigment pen and white acrylic paint I used, even after I tried to stabilise it with hairspray. I got round it using layers, and drying with a heat tool immediately after applying it. I added colour with Bombay India Inks, and coloured pencils. The harlequin tape is from Tim Holtz Idea-ology tissue tape range.

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About me
500,000 views and still growing

Posted on 11th June 2015 by Neil

Dear loyal blog followers,

Thank you so much for taking my view count to just a smidge over 500,000 views in just five years. I know from your comments, purchases and much needed ad revenue that you still find my corner of the internet interesting enough to visit regularly. To each one of you, thank you 🙂

Can’t wait to get to the million mark!

Neil

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3D Projects
Missing an end of term deadline…

Posted on 4th June 2015 by Neil

I’m normally one to meet deadlines with time to spare… for instance, all my Craftwork Card samples are always delivered in time for the shows on Create & Craft.

This project was started in my final term at college, some two years ago now. It was part of my geometric constructions for lanterns (featured here), and I made a wireframe cage based on the same shape. The idea was to then grow salt crystals over the wire frame and photograph it as part of my final major project. As anyone who has tried growing crystals knows, it takes time – and in this case, the piece didn’t finish ‘growing’ until 6 months later, well after I’d finished my extended diploma. Since then, it’s languished in its protective bucket on a shelf in my studio waiting to be photographed. Prompted by a need for more space, I got the camera out late last night and took the photos. I think it was worth the wait…

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Art Journal
Art Journal Page: All Art Requires Courage

Posted on 1st June 2015 by Neil

Tonight sees another of my art journaling sessions at The Studio, and we’ll be playing with the Dylusions Paints – blendable acrylics which are ideal for making backgrounds, and work well when used on rubber stamps as well. The text on this layout is stamped with Carnation Red Archival Ink and outlined with ultra fine tip Sharpie. The swirls are stamped with the Squeezed Orange before being dried and outlined and embellished with Signo white gel pen.

Card Craft
Bunny Friends with Chameleons

Posted on 27th May 2015 by Neil

I’m not normally one to be grabbed by a ‘cutesy’ image, but this new rubber stamp from Penny Black / Margaret Sherry (dated 2009, so re-released?) definitely caught my eye. It’s one of those stamps that comes with a coloured image on the wooden block, which really helps those that need guidance on colouring in. I’ve used my Chameleon Pens to colour these in, which really came into their own for the shading on the pots. It took a couple of goes to find the right combination to get a good terracotta colour, which is why the pots are different colours between the two cards. The lettering is cut on my Silhouette Cameo – I found I need to set the cutter to ‘deep cut’ on the on-board screen, which meant the little serifs didn’t end up tearing.

Card Craft
When I met… Ken Oliver

Posted on 26th May 2015 by Neil

This is a shockingly late, shameless promotion for all that is Ken Oliver. We’ve been Facebook buddies [like him here] for a little while (after all there aren’t that many gentleman crafters at shows and we need to stick together), and I have had the pleasure of saying hi a couple of times in person at trade shows. This February he was here in the UK promoting his new ‘own brand’ crafting goodies, and he was kind enough to do the whole selfie thing with me, demonstrate his new Color Burst watercolours and give me a promo pack of 12×12″ Studio series of papers and a 6×6″ sampler pack of his other papers.

I thought I’d use the 4×6″ journal cards sheet from his Studio collection to start off my new Project Life scrapbook, and they worked perfectly. The papers are printed on a satin finish light cardstock which feels smooth to the touch. There’s no bleed through from the Sharpies I used for some of the handwritten text, which is a bonus when working on double sided papers. As one might expect from an artist that’s been in the trade for years, the designs and colours used all work together beautifully. One slight hitch I noted when gluing things down – the satin finish does resist water-based liquids a little, as I found when I was using Zig Memory Systems two way acrylic glue. Something to be aware of, though that didn’t turn out to be too restrictive in practice – it might be more of an issue if spritzing with water/Color Burst (something I’ll test out).

Ken was also demonstrating his Color Burst watercolours. These are fine crystalline colours, conveniently dispensed from fine nozzle bottles. They appear to be similar to Brusho crystals (becoming very popular in the UK) in their reaction with water, both to make a watercolour paint, and in spritzing on the page to make vivid backgrounds. Where Color Burst beats Brusho, in my opinion, is the finer, more even crystal size and the fine nozzle capped bottle. I’ve knocked over a holed Brusho pot into my distress ink pad storage box, and the turquoise crystals continue to find their way into projects, much to the annoyance of my Tuesday night ladies… The reverse of my Project Life page shows a couple of samples from Ken’s beautiful Watercolored Memories 6×6″ papers (top left, bottom right), and the rest are Ken’s own demo sheets showing the vivid colours and dynamic reactions of the crystals with water on watercolour paper.

Thanks to Ken for having a chat, demoing his fabulous products, and especially for the goodie pack. Sorry it’s taken me so long to fulfil my promise to post about our chat!

Art Journal
Art Journal Page: Alphabets by Design

Posted on 25th May 2015 by Neil

I’ve just got back from a couple of days holidaying near Cromer, and true to form, the English weather was not favourable – it was a bank holiday after all. It did, however, mean that I had chance to use my art journal travel kit to finish off this page which has been a work in progress for a couple of years. Each time I found a new font suitable for hand drawing, I added it to the borders. This weekend, I added the zentangled letters and the rest of the centre text.

Background is distress inks on gesso, text combination of black pigment markers/Sharpies/Signo white gel pen. Colour added using Caran d’Ache Neocolor II crayons with a waterbrush.

Quilting
Quilt No 016: Scrappy Strip QAYG

Posted on 20th May 2015 by Neil

I’m leading another quilt workshop at Quorn Country Crafts in Loughborough next month, and I decided to set myself the challenge of making a second sample in as short a time as I could (the first being here), to see how far an experienced quilter might get during the session. From start to finish, this small sampler took me just over 6 hours, including the quilting and hand binding. It measures 13″x24″ and used up some scrap fabric kindly donated by Sue who runs the shop. I took the opportunity to try some quilting designs I’d not attempted before, and given a little more time, I’d have done them a little more carefully (and across the whole of the quilt)! It’s somewhat eclectic, but quick to make as a sampler, and a great way to use up bits and pieces of fabric that languish in every quilter’s stash.

3D Projects
Laser Cut Planter Kits now available

Posted on 19th May 2015 by Neil

Until I’ve got round to setting up a Kickstarter project and found funding for my own laser cutter, I’m having to outsource my laser cutting. For my first laser cut project since college, I thought I’d mass produce some ‘planters’, suitable for the topiary trees I make with polystyrene balls and Craftwork Cards Candi (examples here and here).

The planters are roughly 2 inches square and 2½” high and cut from white faced 2mm thick greyboard. I’ve made sure that they are simple to construct and stiff enough to hold up the tree (or whatever else you choose to put in them). I’m pleased to announce that the kits are now available to purchase for £3.25 (including p&p and an instruction sheet). All you need to add is decoration and a cube of polystyrene to poke your tree into.
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