Art Journaling Session: Crackling Campfire

If you’re UK-based, you’ll be well aware that it’s Bonfire Night on 5th November. For those in other places, you may not know that this is our way of commemorating Guy Fawkes plotting to blow up the Houses of Parliament back in 1605 during the State Opening, intending to kill King James I. Rooted in religious discontent which carried on for centuries, it’s now an excuse to let off ridiculously loud fireworks and compete for the biggest conflagration in the area.

So, it is with this inspiration that I have chosen the theme of ‘crackling campfire’. Blessedly silent, this layout incorporates crackle paint to add the appropriate texture to logs and flames, and aptly named distress oxide inks. A bit of sparkle brings the text to the fore and is a nod to firework displays up and down the country.

Crackling campfire art journaling layout with crackle paint texture and distress oxide inks
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3D Printing: A Rather Sad Cuboidroid

Sad Cuboidroid

I’ve had a little bit more ‘me time’ in the studio and decided out of the blue to create something from scratch using my 3D printer. The second time I created this little chap was a lot quicker than the first. I had learnt how to do it in the preceding four hours and then neglected to save the file before it crashed… I’m in the process of kitting out another two of these mini sculptures and will be making a series, I think. I’m dubbing them ‘cuboidroids’ – cuboid droids. Two reasons: I had to call them something and ‘blockheads’ was already taken; a quick Google search showed no one had concatenated the two words together, ever. If only I had the cash to trademark the name.

This down-in-the-dumps rust bucket stands 9cm/3½” high and is for sale if anyone wants to make me an offer. Or commission a custom cuboidroid…

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Art Journal Page: Diamond Glints

DiamondGlintI started this page layout on Tuesday night as my teaching sample for my ‘Christmas Crackle’ art journal session on 7th November. Building up layers and techniques, I was very happy with the resulting background. I then spent just as many hours searching for the perfect ‘winter’ quote. Eventually I settled on this excerpt from ‘Do not stand at my grave and weep’ attributed to Mary Frye.

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Crackle Effect Mediums – putting them to the test

EffektCrocoDistressPVAAleene'sCrackle Accents
GoldenVallejoDecoArt2StepVecchi

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 many different crackle effect mediums over time, and thought it was time to do a side-by-side trial.

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Creative Chemistry 101 – Day 8

Today we looked at a ‘Paint Primer’ – and I discovered a number of Snow Cap dabbers that were solid… and I only have the Rock Candy (clear) Crackle Distress paint. But I persevered and here are my homework tags:

I’m not sure about the acrylic resist on canvas in the centre – it really didn’t work out well, and I suspect I need more contrast on the background to make the yellow and pink dots stand out more. The Shattered Stains technique though is going to  become a favourite!