The Take it Further Challenge for March was to consider the little things. You would have thought that this would have led to an avalanche of ideas but I have to admit ideas were a bit slow in coming this time. I think the main reason is probably that I seem to have had a busy month and haven't made time to sit and really ponder. I did think of "little things mean a lot", "good things come in small packages", the ripples in a pond when you throw in a small pebble and the rings get larger and larger, the tiny pebble that I love to collect from the beach and which has been eroded down from a huge rock, the tiny details in a close up photograph or a microscopic image, the infinite smallness of this planet we live on in the scheme of the universe.
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As far as it goes, I have settled on "good things come in small packages" and to this end have been working on a surface that I will eventually use to make a box. (This also fits in with a challenge on the Fibre & Stitch group).
It is very difficult to photograph painted paper and I may have got some of these in the wrong order but the first step was to paint a sheet of brown paper with three colours. When it was dry I crumpled the paper up and then smoothed it out again.
For the next step I used a pad of distress ink and stroked it across the surface so that the raised areas took the ink.
I then discovered that the distress ink was not permanent as I put a wash of copper acrylic paint loosely over the sheet and this disturbed the ink. (Doh!) After this was dry I used a turquoise oilbar over the surface and rubbed some of it away.
Next I painted over with a very wet mixture of deep reds and prussian blue. At this point the surface reminded me of rock structures.
The final step was to take a brush and some gold acrylic paint and brush it very lightly over the raised areas of the paper. Where I felt it was a bit heavy I knocked it back with a baby wipe. I am really please with the look of the paper now. The surface glows and has some very interesting textures on it. The temptation is to carry on adding paint to the surface but I am going to stop here.
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The next step will be to fuse the paper to fabric and construct the box. Watch this space!!
11 comments:
Looks like you've been having fun again!! lol! Great textures and colours! I will be watching! namaste Elis.
This is fascinating. I'll look forward to seeing the finished product.
wonderful effect Julie. I love how you've gone with the flow so to speak. The result is lovely and I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with it :D
Fantastic colours and textures, Julie, and a great process record, thanks for taking the trouble to document it all. looking forward to seeing the next stage.
Love your papers Julie, I do a similar thing with brown paper only you scrunch it up and soak it in water and vinegar first, I'm not sure why but it looks a lot like leather when its dry.
Oooh its a pity its not five seperate pieces of work as they look yummy at every single stage.
Looking forward to seeing your finished box.
Another really interesting thing to do with paper is to find coloured bags and scrumple then up. Then smooth them out. Rub some oil on your hands (any oil, cooking, machine etc) until they're lightly coated (not too much) and pat it all over the creases until the paper goes soft and changes colour a bit. Leave to dry between sheets of kitchen towel that has books on top, for a few days. It makes it wonderfully soft for stitching into - becomes like fabric but with quite a unique texture.
I agree with purple missus - all of the effects look great, at every stage! Can't wait to see the next bit!
xx
Great results Julie I had a spell last year of backing everything in sight with such papers and used it for some hand made books I did with Barbara Cheeseman.
This is great! Lovely texture, thanks for sharing! How are you fusing this paper to fabric??
Beautiful paper, I love all the layers of paint, ink etc, it creates a really rich surface.
I'm very behind on blogs but am gradually catching up. Sorry I haven't been here for awhile. Lovely to be catching up with all your creations.
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