PaperArtsy Blog project topic 'Minimalism'

Hi everyone, I'm here to share with you 'Square Mandala' project that for our current topic 'Minimalism' using Ellen Vargo's fine art stamps. 

What I came up with in our Topic'Minimalism' that we can see around us a culture of limited situations, spaces, colors and shapes, such as haiku, waka poetry, ink painting, stone gardens, and tea rooms. So this time I made to create mandala using Ellen's geometric patterns and I hoped it works out to integrate colours and shapes.

At first, I wanted to use Ellen's geometric pattern as is without cutting or adding anything, so I made a square drawing paper and I put the stamped patterns on it and tried to see if them fits well. Happily, they fitted well!!

Since the size of each square in the background was determined, the color scheme was reduced to a few shades of blue and the opposite color of the focal point, yellow, and painted using masking tape. I used PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic paints Southern Skies, Summer Sky, Peppermint, Pea Coat, Pool and Snowflake.

First of all I made the spiral circles and paste outside the background frame, Peppermint() on the base, then stamp EEV02 on top of it with Ranger Industries - Archival Ink (cobalt), and finally stamp EEV01 with mixed Southern Skies and Summer Sky.

I halved those spirals, and four per side just fit it!!

Ellen Vargo stamp set01 (EEV01) triangles in the middle of the background were stamped with Pea Coat based on the same mix of Southern Skies, Summer Sky, and four sheets were made, cut, and pasted.

Almost the entire mandala is composed of geometric patterns, but I also wanted a little decorative element in the mandala, so I added flower petals. However, I kept the colors similar so that they would not be too showy. And I think those things softened the overall hardness.

The slightly bulging triangles of EEV01 are a good shape for a mandala, and I painted with Lemon Meringue (FF142) as base on a paper, but the colour little bit bright, so I used Peppermint for the rectangle of EEV02 stamped it controlled bright color. Then I stamped EEV01 triangles on top of it with Ranger Industries-Archival Ink (Jet Black). The small circle EEV09 that comes in the center was also created here.

EEV03 diamond shape was stamped on the base of Pool() with Ranger Industries - Archival Ink (Jet Black) and applied between the yellow triangles.

The spiral circle made earlier was placed in the center and the small circle was attached last.

Finally, each frame of the background was slightly changed with stamps and stencils.

I stenciled PaperArtsy Stencil by Scrapcosy (PS108) with PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic Lake Wanaka.

Next, EEV02 was masked and stamped on this area with Ranger Industries - Archival Ink (Cobalt).

All the pieces were attached and completed.

In this project, the mandala itself is minimalist, so my goal was to create a sense of unity throughout the mandala by reducing its ornamentation and colors. I have tried various forms of mandalas and finally settled on this one. Next time, I will try to make a minimalism piece Ellen's stamps in the abstract method.

Thank you so much for visiting.

Etsuko xxx

Split Complimentary

Hi everyone, I'm here to share with you a Mixed media 'Junk Journal' project that for our current 'Split Complimentary' colour wheel topic by PaperArtsy blog.

Rather than mix up the colours suggested in the colour-wheel above, I decided to choose existing colours from the PaperArtsy Fresco range that were similar but a bit deeper in tone. To Prawn I added Sour Grapes and Niagara Falls to represent the split complementary concept.

The first thing I did was to decide on the paint colors for my color wheel theme, and I chose these three colors for me. My main color was PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic - Niagara Falls (FF205), and with it's split complimentary colors being Sour Grapes (FF) and Prawn (FF98). 

When I saw Jo's stamps, I had the idea to make the junk journal using fabric. Today I wanted to make a junk journal incorporating fabric and see how this color wheel might change if the same color and different materials were used.

I painted the fabric to see how the colors would look also I used gauze fabric that the print would look soft colours and the fabric would not become stiff after printing. Using JoFY set 113,114 (JoFY113, 114 ) and JoFY Mini JM54. Paints- PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic - Niagara Falls (FF205), Sour Grapes (FF115), Prawn (FF98) and Snowflake (FF15). One of the 'Split Complimentary' colors nominated is a little yellowish on the Prawn, but the gauze is coarse and the color will be lighter when printed, so the Prawn was used as is.

On a heat mat, the paints were spread thinly with a palette knife and stamped onto each piece of cloth, and some cloth was dipped in paint diluted with water, dyed, and allowed to dry. As you can see in the photos, some of the colors do not resemble the color wheel, but in reality they are almost the same, but the colors in the photos change depending on the location and time of the subject, which is really difficult.

I wanted to use the large flower in JoFY114 as a focal point on the cover, so I stamped Niagara Falls for the main color, smoky green, using a large flower, and over that I used Sara nauman set 61 ESN61 in Ranger Archival Cornflower Blue.

The printed fabric was used for the petals, stitched and cut around the petals using an embroidery frame to create the focal point of the front cover, and other printed fabrics were patched to create the background. I added the sentiment of Jofy113.

On the spine, I made tassels from leftover fabric and used them as decorations.

Now, here's page one is the window, with a small JoFY114 flower printed on acetate with StazOn Pigment Snowflake, a small hole punched in the lace page, and glued from the back with Tacky Glue. --I mostly use Tacky Glue.

PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic- Snowflake (FF15) and Niagara Falls (FF205) painted through PaperArtsy Stencil by JoFY (PS250) on raw fabric. I used a raw, fine-grained fabric here to directly paint the tulip on JoFY113. For the brush painted tulip, I used Mustard Pickle (FF148) for lighting in the three basic colors.

I made a frame by placing a piece of fabric dyed in Niagara Falls underneath the painted tulips, and stitched a small flower from JoFY114 on the background of the page.

The small page inside was made of paper clay with joFY114 stamped on it to look like a seashell specimen, finger-painted in three colors, and finished with gold wax.

I embroidered JoFY113 tulip on this page, although I did not use three colors.

I also wanted a page with a pocket, so I made a pocket to put a tag in.

I printed Snowflake and Niagar Falls on leftover paper through PaperArtsy Stencil by JoFY (PS136 and PS250) to create a background and printed JoFY113 on the book page and colored it.

I colored the raw linen with Prawn and Snowflake and stitched around it. I thought that the color drawn with Prawn on the base of this linen was close to the complementary color.

I painted the two colors of flowers used for the page in the photo below.

Finally, I made a patchwork page using the main color and the two split complementary color prints. Each cloth was Sashiko with the same type of embroidery thread, and the seams are embroidered to give a little depth to the printed I then decide on the pattern to be placed in the rectangle. The flower made in the previous photo is cut with a thin cotton for quilting on the back and sewn to make it a little fuller. Lastly, JoFY113 sentiment was embossed in black powder on a white painted cloth, cut and sewn then finished pages.

I used JoFY114 and ESN61 for the front and back covers and simply made it the main color Niagara Falls. 

This slightly smoky colour wheel was a combination of colours that I rarely use, but it was a lot of fun with this project and I wanted to continue exploring this further it. Please share with us for your creations using these color wheel on PaperArtsy Instagram or in the Facebook Group 'PaperArtsy People'.

Thank you so much for visiting here.

Etsuko xxx

PaperArtsy Blog project

Hi everyone, I’m here to share with you lovely hanging for ways to use fabulous stamps by Nicci Bttilana.

My original planned to just put her inside the dome, but it was not interesting enough, so I decided to make it an interactive wall hanging that someone could swing it from time to time.

I took a very fun Stephanie Rubiano workshop on shrink plastic a while back. I made these using that technique as a reference. This is the swinging wall hanging. The cute Nicci's stamps image was a little big to shake around inside the dome, so I decided to use a shrink plastic material. Now I will show you the process of making it.

These are stamps and paints used in my project. Nicci Bttilana Set 01,07 (ENB01, ENB07 ), PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic Red Lipstick, Cerulean and Banana. 

This time I used shrink plastic for inkjet printers. First, stamp the image on the paper and paint it with a light color diluted with water. (The finish on the shrink plastic will be darker than the original color.) The image is then scanned into the computer, saved as a .jpg file extension, and printed on the shrink plastic using image printing software. Cut these images.

If you do not have plastic for inkjet printers, you can use regular plastic. First, the back side is sanded with a fine sander and the Nicci image is stamped on the front side, which is then dried and colored with colored pencils from the sanded back side. The piece is then cut and baked in a toaster oven until it shrinks, then removed and flattened with a tile or similar. After the heat is removed, paint the back side with white paint.

These are then taken out of the oven and joined together at the T-pin where they have cooled. I went with T-pin because it is adjustable to swing the doll.

The plastic will shrink by about 40% after heat treatment, and the color will be darker than the original as you can see as shown in the photo below. Now that the cute kitty is done, I move on to the next action.

Moving on to the blog topic Specimen Jar, I decided to use new Gwen Lafleur set 26 (EGL26) cloche/dome stamp and put Nicci Battilana set 01 and 07 (ENB01, ENB07) Cat in it. I painted with the PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic, Banana (FF196) from the cloche/dome shape outward on the paper in gradient tones.

Surface of that paper I decorated the ENB07 skulls with Ranger Distress Oxide in fossilized amber around the cloche/dome .

PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic, Slimed(FF)and Teresa Green(FF) was applied to the Smoothy (Heavyweight) A4 white card and the top of the ENB01 bone was stamped in Ranger Archival Emerald green and cut to create the side decoration.

For the wall framing, tear off pieces of the PaperArtsy Printed Tissue and apply the surface of the Smoothy (Heavyweight) A4 white card. I then painted with a diluted layer of gesso.

I applied PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylic, Blue Lagoon and Midnight randomly on the paper for a little variety.　

The frame is trimmed with white gel pen and red posca to create a slightly fun atmosphere.

The top of the frame is embossed with red embossing powder in VersaMark on the tissue with ENB07 quote.

The background of the box for the swing cat doll was painted with a watered-down coat of Blue Lagoon on paper pasted with the same PaperArtsy Printed Tissue used for the frame. This Tissue is a useful that will have many uses in the future.

A swinging cat was suspended in the upper box using T-pins, and acetate was used for the glass surface of the cloche dome.

I added a few embellishments to complete it, here the spider in ENB01.

Dounia Large Mini MN114 labels were added.

Now let me show you how swinging it is!

I had so much fun making this project that I made a pendant using a small cloche/dome. Instructions for making this cute cloche/dome miniature doll can be found on Stephanie Rubiano's Freebies site.

The baby-batman made with ENB01 and ENB07 was the perfect size for this small cloche/dome. 

Compare the size to these coins. The left side is 10 pence-UK and the right side is 1dollar-US.

To make the doll stand in the dome, small nails are painted white and attached to the legs; to make it sit, small cubes are used and attached to the pedestal.  Glass glitter and beads are then laid on the base.

It is a cute finish and would make a great gift for children.

Shrink plastic material was not too difficult to produce, as I am sure you are familiar with using it often. And it was fun to use the Nicci stamps to create a moving puppet, and there are two other sets of paper puppet stamps that can be combined to make them dance in a tag or journal.

Thank you so much for visiting.

Etsuko xxx