Showing posts with label brayer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label brayer. Show all posts

Thursday, 24 January 2013

Sunset or sunrise?

I dunno, could be either I guess:
This is the finished card that was still in progress yesterday on WOYWW - in the end I kept the whole thing reasonably uncluttered and let the image do most of the work, especially after the hours I toiled over it :)

I used:

- 7" x 5" white card stock, with four lines scored, two above and two below the ribbons

- the image - for which (apart from blood,  sweat and tears) I used Clarity White Silk finish card, the 'brayer' (aka by Sarn as 'the tool of the Devil'!), Adirondack ink pads in 'Peach Bellini' and 'Salmon' plus a very old multi-blues pad, stamp by Clarity called 'Spruce Scene' and Memento 'Tuxedo Black'. Yesterday's post explained how I did the reflection - and yes,  I had spotted that using a clear acrylic block was an option but the cello bag method works a treat  - and I suspect could be less prone to slipping/smudging, truly I'm quite clumsy!

- peach and turquoise ribbons layered, from the ribbon box

- Craftwork Cards sentiment, mounted onto an oval of black card

Di
x

Wednesday, 23 January 2013

WOYWW 190 - and a revelation

My desk yesterday before I trotted out to the Post Office. I'd brayered and stamped a scene for the very first time then got sidetracked with the 'Less Is More' challenge so had returned to 'the scene of the crime' and was fiddling round thinking about how to best make a card:

It's been a bit of a learning curve but following Shaz's brilliant tutorial along with using my new little helper in here, known as the Splodge Away Blending Mat (thank you for nudging me into getting one Sarn!), a lot of the angst and hair tearing was chased away. A loooong way to go with practising to get colours graduating properly I know but this was the best one I could manage:
Bwah, ha, ha - I didn't have a little 'birds in flight' stamp so hand drew what looks to me like some very overfed eagles....you wouldn't wanna be pooped on by these :( Little Clarity 'birds in flight' stamp now on order.

But, on this journey of discovery I then wondered how to tackle the stamped reflection. As you know, I have an intense dislike for don't get on with the brayer too well and the thought of pushing Mr Luck and brayering the reversed image like many folk do just made my teeth itch.

Wahoooo - a revelation!! Whilst Googling I stumbled across a technique that's too good not to share - it sort of blew me away in its simplicity, and I do know that lots of you might just sigh and say you already do 'reflections' this way but I'm gonna share anyhow!

Ha! Watching Create and Craft TV whilst ironing in the kitchen yesterday afternoon I saw a demo where the person doing the demo merely turned the card round by 180 degrees and stamped a second time - the result wasn't a true mirror image. Len rushed to see why I was waving the iron round shouting at the TV 'No, no!!!!' :)

So this is what my revelation was - stamp your main image onto your chosen piece of 'already brayered with a background' card, then re-ink the stamp and stamp onto a cellophane bag - one used to package cards in would be perfect:
This is the cello bag with the stamped image on, just laid down on some spare card so you can see - snort, and also see me reflected taking the photo :)

Then, take your piece of 'backgrounded' card with the previously stamped image on, flip over the cello bag with the same stamped image on so it's ink side down, line up the lower edge of the image and gently rub your hand over the bag  - or you could let the brayer play and use that I guess, just in case it sulks.

Hey presto - my little practise:
Easy as pie! I used Memento Tuxedo Black for both lots of stamping but for a softer reflection I might try Memento 'London Fog' for the cello bag stamping step.

The wavy black background for the image has been rejected here in favour of simplicity - but the card remains unfinished, until I get time to play today, so it's hopefully gonna be in tomorrow's blog post if you want to see the finished card plus list of 'ingredients'.

Right, off you go to Queen Julia's now and then onwards to see what other WOYWWers have been up to. Have a great day!

Di
x