Incantation for Anything But Cute!

When I started thinking about what to make for the "Making Magic" challenge from Anything But Cute, I immediately thought of a Book of Spells, and what I show here is an imagined page from an ancient sorceress' book.  It really looks a lot better right side up (which would be rotated once counterclockwise) but alas, Blogger refuses to cooperate, despite multiple efforts.  So maybe you can just turn your screen, lol!

This is photo heavy for my own records...feel free to breeze through!

In addition to the luscious mood board above, I am constantly inspired by Butterfly's incredible talent with blues and browns.  So I pulled out some Silk acrylic glazes..... as I am also perpetually inspired by France Papillion, and her fabulous use of these products.

I ended up using only three... but always nice to know what one has!  The three I used were Black Emerald (on the far left of the "lineup" picture, Autumn Leaf (the first brown on the left in the picture), and African Jade (the first blue on the right).  

I started on gessoed pages in my brand new Dylusions journal, using the lighter blue, then the darker - each with lots of water, dripping, heat-drying, dabbing, and repeat.  This is a double spread.  I really love how the pigment tracks and dries.....

 Next, I added some script stamping in Archival Coffee - haphazardly applied.....

Then I applied Golden's Gold Mica paste through a Finnabair stencil.... I imagined this as the incantation coming to life once the spell is cast - just like Gandolf at the cave entrance with the runes.

Here you can see the beautiful pattern of gold flakes once the medium has dried.

Next I stenciled some script using Prima's (Art Basics line) Light Paste.  This dries white, but I knew I was going to color it with the beautiful Autumn Leaf Silk paint.

 Last, I applied the Autumn Leaf glaze, exactly as I had done with the blues.....

 building up the color once the layer was dry.

 And here is the finished project - the photo does not do justice to its rich tones and depth.

Thank you so much for stopping by, and please do leave a comment - I always love hearing from you!
xx Lynn

Playing Around for PaperArtsy!

I was very excited when PaperArtsy asked me to post a little something using various mediums.  I have long admired the hot glue work of Vivian Keh, aka Contadina K, and decided to try to emulate that look using clear tar gel.  In addition, I wanted to try using glass bead gel, and to try for an encaustic look using a lot of soft matte gel.

I hope you'll pop over to PaperArtsy to take a look at all of the wonderful demos that have occurred over this fortnight!  This is a photo heavy post for my own records...but at the end you can see the other piece I made using these mediums, a portion of which you see here.

For the piece shown on the PA blog, I started with heavily inked card, using orange and yellow Distress Inks.  From these, I cut out the  Butterfly, Bee and Dragonfly from Tim Holtz' steel rule dies. I did not use the corresponding embossing folders, as I wanted to stamp them instead.

  

I also prepared a background, using Bristol Vellum, and applying various embossed scraps I had (the left-over centers from making the pages for this little book, and stamping with the PA script stamp, which is my favorite.

I applied my various insects with a generous amount of matte gel, and as expected, the Distress Inks reacted a bit to the wet media, so I got a nice golden glow around them.  Once dry, I went over some of their wings and bodies with even more gel, and then I stamped again with the Lynne Perrella stamp to get even more interest.  I used only the very tip of the stamp, as I loved the detail and depth it added.  I used Stays On Ink, as I wanted to cover the whole thing once more with matte gel.

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Then I put some bead gel wherever I thought I would get good drippage.

And then I sprayed the whole bit with blue and yellow Distress sprays - I think it was Faded Jeans and Mustard Seed - I was looking not only for these beautiful colors, but that wonderful green when they mix.

As the finish, I added words and a heart by dipping the end of a paintbrush into the tar gel.  It self-levels when drying (I discovered) as you can see below - my "o" and "e" no longer have apertures!  Because the tar gel dries clear, the underlying color or image comes through beautifully.

Here again is a picture of the final pages - very busy but I like looking at them nonetheless!

For the other piece, I also used embossed scraps, some of which also had been previously inked with Distress Inks.  I painted the pages with Fresco Vintage Lace. Again I stamped, but this time my next layer was the clear tar gel.  The color in these shots comes from the reaction of the ink to the gel despite the thin layer of paint....that is why is stops at the edge of the two little tags I used in the background.  The pink is from a doily that I had colored - you can just make out its texture in the background.  I was quite surprised to see the color, and finally realized what it was!

Where the underlying piece was white, the clear tar gel has no color to pick up.  After the gel dried, I again sprayed - I think this is Peacock Feathers and Stormy Ocean.  I then buffed the dried tar gel to remove the ink.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and if you've time, please do comment!  I love hearing what you think!