Triple Embossing

Hi everyone, I'm Yvonne and its my turn to share an inspirational post with you.

as our current challenge is Three of a Kind,   I decided to re-visit a technique many of you will know,

Triple Embossing. Then use some  the pieces I made  later in this post as
another example for the  current challenge.

On the left are some of  the main ingredients you will need. Embossing powder,Versa Mark, tweezers, some die cut shapes, I used and old cardboard box, as you do need at bit of thickness to the base. 

A heat gun and a heat mat.

Either press the shape you are using into the  VersaMark pad or stamp all over it,  cover with embossing powder and heat, remember to use the tweezers. While still hot sprinkle again with the power and re heat.

this image is how mine looked after 2 layers.

Add a third layer of powder, while it is still hot,  BUT,  do not heat it yet if you want to add some detail

It gets a bit tricky now, you have to have your stamp ready to use on the table and inked up. I usually use Stazon ink or Archival.

Heat the shape until it is molten, lay it onto your mat then quickly press  the stamp on to the shape.

It does stick to the stamp, just ease it gently away when it cools.

This is the end result. If you are not happy with the result, just reheat it all and stamp again, it will change the colour depending on what ink you used.

On my sample card I left some of the flowers plain, with just the three layers, but with the addition of a sprinkle of another colour embossing powder just before heating.

Whilst having all the tools to hand I also made some word tiles using the same method

Then used the tiles  to add detail,  to a set of cards  with   Ruth's current  

Challenge theme of Three of a kind  in mind.

Using the same main  stamp image [Inspired by Banksy from  Bee Crafty] ,and  embossing folder for all three cards.

Thank you for visiting and I do hope you will join in the fun at Stamps and Stencils.

Winner and Top 3 - Anything Goes !

Hello and welcome ! Today I'm back to share the winner and top 3 for the Anything Goes challenge. Wow, we were blown away by the number of entries ! Thank you so much for joining us on this journey. It was really tough to pick just one winner, but we managed it in the end ! So, without further ado let's move on and share who the winner is: 

Esther 

Congratulations Esther ! Your project is fabulous and we loved the different tiles and the texture you've created. As the chosen winner Esther has been invited to Guest Design for Stamps and Stencils at a future date.

Now on to the Top 3:

Deborah

Shilpa

Kerstin

Congratulations everyone, please email carringtons22@yahoo.co.uk for your top 3 badge. 

All of the winners will also be pinned on the Stamps and Stencils Pinterest Board too ! 

The current challenge is Three of a Kind and you've still got plenty of time to join in. 

Sue

x 

 

Three of a Kind

Hi, it's Ruth here to announce our second challenge, but before I do that we just wanted to give a HUGE thank you to everyone that entered our first challenge. We have been amazed and delighted by the amount of entries we've received. It's going to make it so difficult to choose but if you pop back here on Tuesday May 12th we'll announce who the winner and top 3 are.

On to this month's challenge then, the theme I've chosen is 'Three of a kind'. What we'd like to see is 3 of the same sort of focal element on a project so we don't just mean 3 buttons or small embellishments, it could be 3 flowers, 3 figures, 3 inspirational quotes?.....or thinking wider, if you're feeling adventurous you could do 3 atc's, a trio of ATB's or maybe a Triptych. Plenty of scope we hope to make a mixed media project of your choice as long as it includes some stencilling or stamping or both and don't forget to check out the challenge rules on the tab at the top of the page. 

Here's some fabulous inspiration from the design team to help get you started...enjoy!

Ruth

Toni

Sharon

Yvonne

Sue

Julia

So now it's over to you !

Ruth
x

An InLinkz Link-up

Getting to Grips with Graphik

Hello and welcome to my 1st Inspiration Post for Stamps and Stencils. I'm Sharon and what a hard ask I've got, following the fantastic posts from Toni and Ruth.

I have recently discovered Derwent Graphik Pens, they are available in singles, small packs or the full collection of 20. They are the best value so I just had to have them...... They come in a handy storage box and have to be stored horizontally.

I started by drawing some lines to see how the ink flows, you can fill in with some colour they are very opaque!

You can also flood the nib, which is a good effect when you blow it to make a splatter.

Lines filled in splattered and then blending with Distress Inks over the top..

White card sprayed with Dylusions Ink Spray then black gesso applied with a piece of cut and dry through a stencil. I have written a few words to see how they reacted with the gesso. They were fine and I did not have to wait too long, it is a super nib which does not fray or split on rough surfaces.

It seems to be made of nylon.

After a bit of practice and playing I got out my new Journal the pages are craft paper. I started with covering the pages with Liquitex Gesso and then blending some Paper Artsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics for the base of the background. 

When I had enough of the background covered I painted the page with Golden Fluid Matte Medium.

The reason for this was I discovered the pens will sometimes flood so if there was any accidents it was easy to remove the paint straight away....

I love to doodle and Zentangle, I find it very relaxing and it gives me time to think of my next project?

Here I quickly draw around the leaves, added some dots and lines the pens really cover over the surface well and don't get clogged up.

More doodling

Just a few of my favourite products

The completed page with a quote from a Unity Stamp by Donna Downy

"Enjoy Explore Believe"

Could not have said it better myself.

The quote is stamped using Archival Ink on a piece of ATC size watercolour paper  which is blended with Tim Holtz Distress Inks.

Extended the leaves onto the card at the top.

By the way I do have more than 1 stencil, this just happens to be my favourite at the moment.

I tried the pens over a variety of paints, pastes gesso even Panpastel with no problems at all. I can see these are going to be my favourite Journaling pens, I would just be aware of flooding the nibs but you can see it start, usually with a bubble. Hope this does not put you off trying them out. 

Going on holiday these would be great to add to your travelling kit and they will not take up too much space.

Hope I have not bored you too much, thank you for joining us at Stamps and Stencils, don't forget to press the follow us button it would be great to get to 100 followers in the 1st month.

Sharon xx

Hot Wax!

Hi everyone, Ruth here with my first inspiration post...eek! here goes...I've recently become fascinated with encaustic painting and have a desire to replicate some of those wonderfully luminous, layered mixed media pieces that are out there. Having looked into it, encaustic boards and paints can be quite an investment so I thought I would start small and use the equipment I already have to start exploring this wonderful art form....and maybe inspire you along the way.

The pieces I've created above are on 2" square pieces of stamp board (anyone else have stampboard stashed away?) I didn't intend to create such small pieces as I also had some larger squares but it's just the way it went.

I'm not about to give a run down of equipment and all the mediums you can use with encaustic work, it's too large a subject. I'm also only just beginning so my knowledge is very limited! I will put some links that have inspired me at the bottom of the post and I can also highly recommend  a book I recently received which is fast becoming my bible for this journey. It's 'Encaustic Painting Techniques - The whole ball of wax' by Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch.

However I will mention a few basic things.

• The surface you work on has to be rigid and absorbent, so ampersand bords (stampboard), birch plywood or HDF painted with encaustic gesso are a few options. I had some 2" square dense chipboard pieces above which I also used and worked, I think because they were so small they didn't bend. 
• Encaustic wax is beeswax with damar resin in it (a substance that gives durability to it), however beeswax will work fine and is what I've used in this post.
• You need a heat source to keep the wax melted at about 80 -100degrees C. Anyone have a meltpot? If not you could use a pan on a griddle and put the wax in a tin on it. You also need a heatgun 
• Brushes have to be a natural hair or they will melt, I used a hake brush, which was inexpensive.
• Watercolours, oils, dye inks, alcohol inks, oil pastels, pan pastels can all be used but acrylics can make the wax lift...so until I become more confident I'm not going there.
• Fusing...when you put a coat of wax on or add some oil pastel or paints you need to fuse that layer with a  heat gun, just heat till the wax goes from matte to shiny, no need to melt it all.

So were off, now as this is Stamps and Stencils, that is what I chose to use, I also used some 'scraps', dye ink pads and portfolio oil pastels. Apart from a melt pot masterclass with Hels Sheridan and a recent wax class that our DT leader Sue Carrington taught I have not made any other wax pieces so these are my first dabbles.

Wax is very forgiving, if you make a mistake just melt it off. My first piece didn't go according to plan and I was left with lines I'd scratched into the stampboard, not a problem. I said it's forgiving, wax softens sharp edges and gives a smooth sheen to everything, so even the roughest drawings and things you think are an almighty mess can turn out wonderfully with a coat or 2 of wax....honest.

 Heat the board before the first coat of wax to help it go on smoothly.

Oil pastel through a stencil, then fuse gently with a heat gun

Another coat of wax...and fuse

Portfolio oil pastel on an uneven surface, wipe away with a slightly damp cloth (oil if not water soluble pastels)

Wax left in dips...and fuse

Stamping...dry, wax layer...and fuse. A scrap of paper flower, wax layer.

Cutting in, I used a cutter to make an impression and then rubbed pastel into the crevice...like the pink board above. It can look quite cloudy at this stage but once cool a quick buff and a lovely sheen appears. So first piece done and I've explored a few ideas, not perfect but I had fun. 

Top - both are stamped with dye ink, bottom left is on chipboard and dye ink squiggles, last is stamped coloured paper and some tissue glued on and left to dry thoroughly.

Using ribbon to make an impression in the warm wax and then rub oil pastel on.

 Some stamped tissue paper circles and twine, 

Hope you can see the sheen on both of these

A piece of photocopy paper becomes translucent, some thread and red melted oil pastel

 Music paper and twine 

 The flourish can be seen behind the photocopy paper, 

the gold is mica powder, burnished on

If using metallics they need to be on the top layer or their sheen will just dissappear.

This is a larger piece which I made a right mess of when spraying dylusions through a stencil...but a layer of wax and it's softened and it's ready for whatever is coming next

Well done if you've got through that long, photo heavy post, it will be a short one from me next time!

I'll leave you with the links to  

• France Papillon - Encaustic play and  Forgotten 
• Shari Replogle- Wax on Wednesday series
• Nancy Crawford - Encaustic Techniques

Ruth x