Encore - Nautical Salvage Plaque

Encore Posts

While I'm away, there are some scheduled posts with new creations coming your way, but I'm also taking the chance to do some catching up here at Words and Pictures.   Projects which made their first appearances elsewhere for Design Team duties or Guest Designer opportunities, but which only had a sneak peek here, are being gathered together in the pages of my virtual scrapbook.  I'm calling them "Encore" posts and they're formatted differently (all the way down the centre), so you can spot them easily.

Please don't feel that you have to comment all over again!

I hope you caught my new White Fire journalling pages in between all these Encore posts... If you missed them, you might want to visit the Golden Stained Glass over at Country View Craft Projects.

In case you're confused (and I wouldn't blame you), I'm now on the next leg of my travels - New York, New York, so good they named it twice... and I feel so grateful to get to go and work there twice!  I should have a bit more time to spare than the last time around, so I'm looking forward to that and to some sightseeing in Craftyblogland too.  

But we don't Press for another few days yet so, while I'm still busy with the shows, I'll just share this layered Nautical Plaque, which was created with the Calico Craft Parts.  Here's what I wrote back in June of 2015.

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I used some of the Birchwood Plaques to create this - an Oval and a Rectangle.  There are various sizes and you can specify whether you would like holes pre-drilled or not.

My oval has holes so it's ready for hanging, but my rectangle is hole-less, making it a great substrate for layering.

Let's start with that rectangle... I gave it a coat of DecoArt crackle paint and then stamped and painted it.  I didn't plan it that way, but I noticed it was starting to look like an antiquarian map - something I love to pore over - so I decided to let it happen, and added more ocean tinting around the "land".

So then I changed direction with the rest of my plans.  I had thought I would go for quite an industrial grey-blue look with all the Mini Cogs and Gears, but with the old map looking so splendidly weathered I decided to go for a rusty look instead.

I applied texture sand paste roughly to the cogs, leaving some blank areas, and then layered paints and sprays until I liked the look of them.

I added some metal pointers to some of them, as well as a couple of extra altered metal pieces.

As I tried to position the cogs on the plaque, I found they were covering too much of the map for my liking, so I decided to expand the whole project by a layer.

That's when I took the oval plaque and applied layers of paint and crackle to get a look of ocean waves and weathering around the edges.

Now I had some extra space to arrange my cogs, and it also created a great dimensional look.

I attached an altered WordBand with some of my trusty rusty wire, and there's also some rusty wire to hang it up by.

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So there you have it.  Once the press performances are out of the way, I'm hoping to be able to meet up with Marjie Kemper as well as some of my other friends in New York, but there'll be time to catch up with all of you too, all being well.  Thanks so much for dropping in today, and I hope to see you soon.

The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore.

Vincent Van Gogh

In search of illumination...

Hello all!  Since I can't invite you all to the upcoming press night performances of the RSC King & Country History plays in New York, instead I'm inviting you over to Country View Crafts Projects to see some medieval(ish) illuminated manuscript pages with which to celebrate Easter. 

I've been playing with the fabulous White Fire Fresco paint again, as well as my all-time favourite Lynne Perrella stamps. I do hope you'll be able to head over to Country View Crafts Projects to see how it all looks.  

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  Here in secular theatrical New York we are working not only today, but also on Easter Sunday and Monday... I'm looking forward to our day off on Tuesday.  So I'll wish you a happy Easter now, and I really will be out and about in Craftyblogland more regularly soon!

If you look at an illuminated manuscript, even today, it just blows your mind.  For them, without all the clutter and inputs that we have, it must have been even more extraordinary.
Geraldine Brooks

Encore - Field Notes

Encore Posts

While I'm away, there are some scheduled posts with new creations coming your way, but I'm also taking the chance to do some catching up here at Words and Pictures.   Projects which made their first appearances elsewhere for Design Team duties or Guest Designer opportunities, but which only had a sneak peek here, are being gathered together in the pages of my virtual scrapbook.  I'm calling them "Encore" posts and they're formatted differently (all the way down the centre), so you can spot them easily.

Please don't feel that you have to comment all over again!

There's a new project for you in a few days time, but for now we're Encoring again.  This tag was made as part of my Design Team work for The Artistic Stamper, and here's what I wrote back in July 2014.

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I'm here with a Victorian naturalist's field notes from his day's excursion in the fields... and we're back to the neutrals!  It's a simple stamped tag, using Katy Leitch's fabulous Jumbo Flowers along with one of the Stampers Anonymous Classics releases from earlier this year.

I kept the stamping simple over a background of Fresco paints and crackle glaze.  I couldn't resist a spot of clear-embossing though!

The flowers are done in Potting Soil Archival, which seems an appropriate enough colour for botanical sketches.  This is the Bouvardia, tucked away at the bottom...

Here's the Flowering Branch...

And the Camellia...

The insects are stamped in Jet Black Archival...

... carefully labelled to keep track of genus and species.

In between, you might catch sight of the sparkle of some handwritten notes about what he's found.

I stamped the Calligraphy Mat #9 in Pumice Stone Distress Ink, and then clear-embossed it.  I love the dewy shimmer as it catches the light, so I don't mind the occasional places where it's spots rather than writing - just more dew drops!

There's some simple embellishing - a word band attached with rustic twine, and the pen nib with which he's been scratching his field notes in his journal.

At the top some seam binding, dyed with Pumice Stone and bound with more twine, is fastened with a Muse Token celebrating the new knowledge he's acquired in today's nature ramble.

The whole thing is matted onto black card to give a little extra definition, and that's your lot.

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Thanks so much for stopping by today.  I should be settling in to the new time zone by now, and I hope I've found some time to come visiting some of you and see what you've been up to.  I'll be back here in a few days with a brand new project to share, but for now... Happy crafting all!

One thing I did was grow up as an ardent naturalist.  I never grew out of my bug period.

E.O.Wilson

It is not the strongest of the species which survives, nor the most intelligent which survives, it is the one which is most adaptable to change.

Charles Darwin

Encore - Moving in...

Encore Posts

While I'm away, there are some scheduled posts with new creations coming your way, but I'm also taking the chance to do some catching up here at Words and Pictures.   Projects which made their first appearances elsewhere for Design Team duties or Guest Designer opportunities, but which only had a sneak peek here, are being gathered together in the pages of my virtual scrapbook.  I'm calling them "Encore" posts and they're formatted differently (all the way down the centre), so you can spot them easily.

Please don't feel that you have to comment all over again!

Hello all!  Believe it or not, I'm actually at home at the moment, catching up on sleep, clothes-washing, and some more blogpost-writing ready for the next departure!  So with all that going on, I'm sticking to the Encores if you'll forgive me.  If you were here a few days ago, then you've seen the beginning of this PaperArtsy project from November 2013 (if not, scroll down and you'll find it).  Here's how it all continued back then...

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You've seen the house being decorated and a few of the embellishments being prepared, but today it's time for moving in.

As I mentioned, the stamps I'm using this month are the Urban Snapshots Nature plates, and this project uses stamps from all four plates in the set.

But to start with, let's get back to those fabulous filigree Mechanicals flowers!  You saw yesterday that I used rusting powder on some of them, but I also tried out adding paint to some others.

I started with an autumnal look in mind, using warm reds and browns.

But, of course, once added to the rusted flowers, they all sort of looked the same.

Hmm, maybe we need a contrast instead... so my next port of call was Vanilla - at that point the main neutral colour on the house background too, so I thought it would all tie together nicely.

I used a sanding block to knock back the Vanilla.

I like how in some places it rubbed back to the paint colours, and in some places it goes all the way to the metal underneath.

But then I decided to convert the Vanilla house to more of a Stone-y one, so I thought I'd better do the same to my flowers.  

While the flowers were drying (for the third time!), I got on with stamping the images I wanted to "populate" the house with.

The angel was always going to be part of it - Stone + Angel... got to be done (only don't Blink!).  And the leaf stamps from these sets are just lovely, so some of them were definitely in too.  And of course some sentiments too - all stamped on a sheet of A4 Smoothy Heavyweight card and trimmed.

They're stamped in Sepia and Coffee Archival inks, blended directly onto the stamp.  And then I inked the paper, first with Pumice Stone (the leaf is at this stage), and then with Vintage Photo and Gathered Twigs (the angel has had the full treatment).

Back to those flowers... I think they look pretty good layered up now: the contrast with the stone really allows the rust to shine (as it were).  I've added just a hint of blue-green inking to the stony flowers for a bit more definition.

I wanted to put my Stone Angel into a Stony Arch, so I used some more Crackle Glaze on one of the Tando Arches (again, you can see the method in yesterday's post - I'm trying to get in at under War and Peace length with today's post!).  

I used some pearl beads to mount the arch, so that it would stand well forward of the angel image, and I love that it's exactly the right size that the word "ANGEL" is revealed below the arch!

I worked to create as much dimension as possible with the mounting of all the images... Each compartment has its own method behind it.

I always keep those little sponges that come in the packet when you buy Alterations embossing folders.

Sliced up, they're really useful for adding dimension, rather than using layers and layers of padded tape.  So the "Remember what peace" motto stands well proud of the back wall.

Sadly, I didn't realise that I needed something to fill the space to the side of the sentiment until everything was stuck down... cue some very interesting "long-distance" stamping of the butterfly, heart in mouth trying not to smudge it!

More sponge slices, this time cut on an angle, so that I could mount the card into the corners of the compartments.

Some more rusted embellishments, rusty wire, and gorgeous little glass pebbles form the main additional items.

More heart in mouth stamping to get the butterfly in place next to the eggs - and I'm rather fond of what the rusting powder has done on this feather charm.

A bit of bendiness for the next couple of images - gorgeous leaf stamps.  Here's the one you saw in preparation earlier, curled into position with just a touch of Glossy Accents on the tips to hold it in place.

And in the roof, the lovely delicate leaf cluster has been curved to create movement, and one of the rusted filigree rosettes takes pride of place as a kind of "rose window".

Also in the roof are a couple of the Mechanicals bottle tops.  They've had the rusting powder treatment.

And the little hole through the centre of them means it was dead easy to add the little heart brad on top of the small one.

The curl of rusty wire is done just by wrapping it around a piece of dowelling or something similar.

Another segment of sliced sponge makes it possible for this leafy sprig to "hover" in mid-air over the egg (part of a set of real blown eggs bought in Germany last time I was there, and transported with great care across Europe) below.

Another egg sits under the watchful eye of the angel, alongside a little resin rose which I've also rusted.  I think I saw that Leandra's just started stocking a range of resin flowers... just look what a touch of rusting powder can do!

Regulars at Words and Pictures know that I'm never quite happy without plenty of words to go along with my pictures (the clue's in the name!)... and I think the sentiments included on these Urban Snapshots Nature plates are just wonderful - the perfect, serene complement to the natural images.

And here are some of those flowers in situ...

I suppose I should really show you the whole house, shouldn't I?!

And just a little reminder of that texture up the sides...

And just to finish off... this was a pretty chaotic make, as you'll see from the photo below, and a late finish, but - I kid you not - every single item on this desk (that's all of them, including the stuff in the background) had to be in boxes ready to move house less than 12 hours after this photo was taken.  

I took the "finished" pictures in between carrying boxes to the car... but I wouldn't have missed it for the world!

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Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I hope you've enjoyed this blast from the past.  There's another Encore on its way soon, and believe it or not there's a brand new project coming your way before the end of the month!  For now, I'll love you and leave you and wish you happy crafting.   

I should say: the house shelters day-dreaming, the house protects the dreamer, the house allows one to dream in peace. 

From The Poetics of Space by Gaston Bachelard