Sewing on papers

So this little guy caused me fits. I remade, recarved, etc.  

I drew out a dress form, but made it short (more for a little girl). Then I took a sharpie to my drawing to thicken up some of the lines, and then carved it with a needle. One it was done I went back over the carving with a gouge to change the look of the lines.    The background paper is blue and green. The  material is ripped apart rather than cut.  To add shimmer to the black paper I  took a blending tool dipped it into water and sprayed it with perfect pearls.  After it dried I took all the pieces and sewed them onto the paper. I added my accents and made sure to add a yellow ribbon in support of the troops.

Schyler learning new medias

Over many months Schyler has been introduced to several different medias, techniques and papers.  She continues to excel in her use of what they can do for her.  Her latest project is an example of mixing acrylics paints, inks, ink blocks and papers.  A photo never seems to do justice to the work.  I am very proud of her for all work she puts into her projects.  In this particular piece she used inktense ink blocks to give the depth and texture to the open spaces. 

 

MrOspital's beautiful mask

I participated in an amazing tracker about masks. Every card in the bunch was amazing.  I immediately asked MrOspital if I could show his card.  He agree and immediately went beyond my expectations and wrote out a description of how he created it.  Every time I look at this I see the many steps that it takes to create such a piece.

A piece like this is quite remarkable.  The mask itself is the focal point, but the cut, speckles, glitter, texture and the embossing all accents the entire card drawing the eye in.   I can see the silver lining in the corners and where the eye cut outs are with the spacing and colors and layout all draw your eye to the center of the card.  

Here is the steps he used to create this beauty:

First I made the foreground paper using 4 sheets of 110 weight cardstock.  I laid the card stock out of the floor and spritzed them with both London blue and Campso teal Dylusions ink spray. 

I quickly spritzed the cardstock with water to spread the ink and create the effect before the ink dried. It dried overnight between two sheets of paper and under several heavy books.

I carved my stamp on OZ and then stamped it using Versafine “Imperial Purple” onto the colored cardstock. Next I embossed it using Recollections clear "detail embossing powder" and a heat tool. Then I used an X-Acto knife to cut the eyeholes out.
Next I used a toothpick to spread a small amount of Elmer’s glue to create the base for the eye-shadow. For the eye-shadow itself I used Martha Stewart Crafts fine glitter, azurite.
Then I used a Fiskars corner punch to do the opposite corners. Finally I added a piece of reflective cardstock for the background.

This amazing card is hung on my wall.  I love the inspiration he brought to this card.  It is difficult to do an art card with a full focus.  

I am honored to share this - thank you MrOspital for sharing your talent, view, and your process.

Show it off

This card was created using several techniques.  

I started with white card stock. I tinted spackling and added texture by mixing in a little water and using stencils to make an interesting background. I used Dylusion sprays one color at a time to cover the spackling. After each color of Dylusion sprays dried I used inks with a stencil to add more dimension. After the ink dried I coated the paper with crackle paint. The next paper was created using white card stalk, with yellow and gray water colors. The inked layer was stamped on white paper, painted with inktense blocks. The paper was speckled with red ink with a toothbrush. After all the pieces dried I glued them together, trimmed up the edges and coated with varnish. 

Gesso- stop to feel the music

I love gesso. Almost every card I make has it -  sometimes with texture and other just plain.  I love how the color react to having the gesso behind them.   I had this image for a very long time. I stamped it, cut it down so you only feel the emotion of the eyes.  This card has 3 different gesso techniques.  The back ground is not only a raised texture, but also a tinted gesso. After that layer dried I added another thin layer of white and ghosted it with several mini stamps to catch the resin. Then I used gesso that I thinned down, stained with ink and added some eye shadow to get an underneath shimmer (does not show up in the photo). After everything dried I then used a wide paint brush and coated it with wet perfect pearls to give the streaks that make the card feel light.  I added the music tape and coated it all with an acrylic coat.

Thomas the train tracker

My little guy loves trains, trains of all kinds, however, he really loves Thomas the train. When a wonderful friend sent him a Thomas the train stamp I knew I need to make a card with it.  So the tracker was born.

This stamp was carved by FORAYCH.  Awesome carve. 

This is Hiro and Thomas.

Bertie 

All the cards have been framed and hung on his wall.  

Painted owl

I was invited to join the painted owl tracker. I was excited to hand paint my owl. I used water colors on the tree. (The actual carve has a tree wrapped around the owl.)  I used ink blocks to paint the owl and acrylic paint to give a dimension to the eyes. Since every step had to dry individually, I coated each area with liquitex satin varnish after it was dry. Once complete the entire card was coated with liquitex high gloss varnish.