Night 7 - Eight Nights of Lights 2009

Tonight, it is the practice to reinforce the rituals of the past 6 nights. So, tell the story of the great battle, eat more good food, share some humor, play some games....and truly just enjoy the blessings of life.

This has been an incredible week. I go to bed each night saying my blessings. I wake up each morning with such a feeling of excitement. Why? Well....I haven't known what I was going to do except for the first night and tomorrow night! The rest....I've just left up to the "moment". And while there have been a couple moments of panic....for the most part...it's been one of the most fun weeks of my life! This morning, I was clueless. So I got out every single thing I own that could be Hanukkah related. Spread it out on the table. Pulled out all the blue, white, silver, gold papers that I have. Pulled out all the crystals, buttons, beads.....and then I got to the acrylic. I had forgotten about the Messiah journal.

And that was it. I knew that today....in just a few short hours....I had to start this journal. And while it's not finished....it's ready to finish! All that's left is to write my story....and I think I will write the story of this past week. Each day has been such a blessing. Filled with scripture reading, Hebrew study, creating, playing. And bless Kerry! He has just been so patient with me through it all! "Honey, can you fix lunch? I've got ink all over my hands and I don't think you want green chicken today!" or "Sweetie, can we go out for dinner tonight? I'm just way too exhausted to cook anything!"

(OK, it really helps to start everything with "Honey" or "Sweetie".....just give it a try!)




For my project tonight, I simply incoporated a lot of what we've been doing.....but I added a few new things! Isn't that all art is? We just do the same things over and over while we add new techniques, new products to what we do....and it's so much fun!

I love playing with acrylic journals. In my video I show you how to use alcohol ink to color acrylic....and not get that polished stones look! I know! We all want polished stones. But once in awhile, I don't want it - I want something that looks like I sprayed it on. But if you spray paint, you won't get a transluscent look. That's why I like using alcohol ink!










You can contact Scrapbook Your Life to order word books - pick any word you want...and you can go 3 rows deep!



The stamps are by Outliners.





For me, personally, nothing inspires me more than the Star of David. It is the shield that protected David in battle. It is the star lights the world. It is my sign that I am always seeking the Messiah. And it is His sign that I see in every snowflake that falls. Oh! To be so blessed! To be able to share my art with you! Hanukkah is not just 8 nights of lights - it's 8 nights of delight!!!

Even more Alcohol Ink on Friendly Plastic

Well, like I said...it's hard to quit! And just so much fun!!! For this one, I inked a flat piece of white Friendly Plastic, then put a rubon on top of it, covered it with a fragment and silver tape around the edges. I will be busy all week making pendants out of these!

This is a Tim Holtz stamp - with just a light impression into the Friendly Plastic. Drenched it with blending solution and dropped the ink on and just let it ooze over the impressions. I will have to do some more of these. His collage stamps are going to be perfect!

This was just a flat piece of Friendly Plastic and I used a fine tip #00 brush to drag the ink through 91% rubbing alcohol. I really do like this technique. So easy to do and you get a different design with every single stroke.

Same background technique here, a rubon on the top. But then I painted pearl AI down one side of each petal and painted Pitch Black AI in the center of each petal.

I really think we have only touched the surface of what you can do with Friendly Plastic and alcohol inks. I want to add metal flakes to this, use more Opals, try out different techniques. The ideas are just endless. But I have to wait for Peg to get back over here - this is going to be "our" thing - experimenting on these little 1 1/2" tiles. And in between experiments - I need to work on bezels so I can turn all of these into pendants!

More alcohol ink on Friendly Plastic

Peg and I agreed we could sit and do this forever. Not just fun - but I think a bit of some kind of therapy involved here. So we wanted to show you the different looks you can get with the same stamp, same Friendly plastic - just using different colors and inking techniques. I used silver on this.....

And Peg used gold on hers....

How do you decide which one you like the best? LOL!

This next one is a much lighter impression - and I like it just as well

And these 2 are really deep impressions - with different inking techniques (above and below)
But all of these simply used alcohol inks, blending solution, 91% alcohol, stamps, and white Friendly Plastic strips.

And at $1.99 per strip - it really is cheaper than therapy!!!

OK, just one more night of ideas tomorrow and then on to something else!

Friendly Plastic cleans stazon ink off stamps!!!

Peg and I were playing with Friendly Plastic today. I have numerous red rubber stamps with tons of stazon ink on them.....and no matter how much cleaner or what kind of cleaner I use....the ink won't come off. But here's something for you to try.....

Cut a square of white Friendly Plastic, put is on a silpat sheet on the baking pan and heat at 180 degrees until it is soft. While still on the griddle, press your stamp deep into the plastic and let it set for 1 minute. Then take the entire pan and dip it down into cold water for 5 minutes.

Remove from the water and pull the stamp off the plastic. The stazon will transfer to the plastic and your stamp will come out exactly like it was brand new.....not a trace of ink!!! I did part of this stamp in plastic so you can see the difference:




So, with the ink in the plastic, you have a great opportunity to take alcohol inks and use them as paint. For this one, I simply put a dot of ink on my non-stick craft sheet, then using a tiny round #00 brush, I painted it directly on the plastic on the image. Let that dry. Then using 91% rubbing alcohol, paint the edges around the image and immediately add little drops of alcohol ink and watch them run. Use your paint brush to pull the ink through the alcohol and get some wonderful designs. I then covered this piece with one of Tim Holtz fragments and wrapped the edges with silver tape. It's ready now for me to turn into a pendant!



Did the very same techniques for this cute little princess stamp. Oh, I used the new "Brights" AIs.



And I LOVE how this one turned out. We are just doing little 1 1/2" squares of white Friendly Plastic for these. I used a Brush20 for my 91% rubbing alcohol and let it drizzle over the plastic. And I did press the stamp quite deep as I wanted depth for this piece....but you can get some equally great looks with a faint impression.



Check back tomorrow night for even more pieces. A whole day of just experimenting with Peg - I think it's going to be an addicition I have to keep!

Clay-ink-ops

I spent yesterday playing with my good friend, Peg. She is an amazing polymer clay artist and now I'm convinced she's just as willing to experiment as I am! We were supposed to try a technique from the latest issue of Polymer Clay Cafe where you ink up baked hot white clay and watch it turn colors.....but we totally failed our assignment! And I totally love our experiments!

For the most part, we layered 91% rubbing alcohol, and or 70% rubbing alcohol on baked polymer clay with alcohol inks and opals embossing enamels (on some)

And I think we tried every combination of layering that is possible:

and we used both hot and cold - baked and unbaked clay! For this one, I used a base of 91% alcohol, then a variety of colors of AI on hot clay, and let it bake a bit longer - then scrubbed it off and reapplied and rebaked....the combinations are just endless!

the shiny ones like this have a layer of Opals Embossing Enamels on the top:

This is one of my favorite results.....I think Peg needs to create a class for this technique!!! You all will have to come visit the Bead Lounge in Longmont where Peg teaches!

This one is a flop - but I still like it!

Love the raku look of this piece:

Oops! I fogot! This is my favorite one. And Peg used a stamp that she carved. Would you believe this is Stream, Butterscotch and Cranberry alcohol inks? Really fun how they change colors with heat. We used white sculpey clay for most of these pieces.

Til Peg decided to experiment with copper colored clay and colored opals embossing enamels:

I think her cobweb turned out perfect!

Again - this is simply stunning. She only did the enamels on part of the top and it looks like a pottery stone!

and this one is copper clay, colored enamels and alcohol ink to re-color the enamels!

Looks like a scarab tile, huh?

And this is my favorite of all the ones that Peg did!

Just a totally fun day playing with clay, experimenting - and knowing that we are coming up with more fun ways for you to play. Next week - we plan to try all these techniques on Friendly Plastic! Oh gosh! I can hardly wait! Maybe we will just have to set aside every Friday to experiment around here!!! I wonder where that fire extinguisher is! LOL!

Something old...something new

Something borrowed - something blue! I think that should be the artist's mantra for techniques!!! When I was on Spellbinder's Design Team in 2005, Linda Peterson showed us how to mix Fimo decorating gel (liquid polymer clay) with alcohol inks to embellish copper. I borrowed that technique and applied it to silver. This piece was published in Belle Armoire Jewelry in the Spring 2008.

You can also see that piece as one of the classes I teach here in my studio. Linda and I have been doing this faux enameling technique for 4 years now. We tend to forget that what is "old" to us, us "new" to others!

Because I'm teaching diecutting and embossing, I decided to revive Linda's old technique and make it "new" again by changing up the mix. On the blue petals, I used Linda's technique. You simply squirt out a dime size pool of liquid polymer clay onto your non-stick craft sheet. Add 2 drops of alcohol ink and mix with a toothpick. Then take that toothpick and paint the gel on top of our item. For the flower, I'm simply highlighting the embossed area of the diecut. Yes, this is Art Clay Silver Paper type, diecut, embossed, fired and polished. So it's .999 fine silver over a polished stone. Pretty cool, huh?




For the green part on the leaves, I used microbrushes and painted Lettuce AI over the silver, then covered that with clear decorating gel. Baked in Amaco's clay oven at 275 for 10 minutes.

Same process for the next one. The wild plum was painted on with clear on top, the blue is the mix.



Well, I'm not sure I like the next one at all. I love trying new things and there are good and bad about this....so I won't be too "blue" for using up my silver. I stamped the image into the paper type, then etched all the stamp lines. Gave it a wash of black stazon so the ink would go down into the cracks. Fired the silver. Used my copic markers to color in the various areas.

Then I think my mistake was to cover the entire piece with liquid polymer clay and bake it. It definitely tones down the silver. But the good part is that it makes the piece thick enough that you don't have to back the silver with anything. Had I not covered the entire piece, I would have to back it with something else.

I do love the ability to use copic markers to apply color. I must try airbrushing it on to silver!

By the way, I have 12 of these stamps to give away in my presentations at MCWC!!!! She's from 100 Proof Press.

So there you have it:

Something old - liquid polymer clay
Something new - combining it with copic markers
Something borrowed - Linda's techique (and yes, she gave me permission!)
Something (not) blue - me!

LOLOL!!!

Cuttlebug Friendly Backgrounds

Once I teach this class, I'll work on a video - but I think these are just pretty cool backgrounds for cards and other projects.



All done with clear pellets and cuttlebug or sizzix embossing folders



alcohol inks and pinata inks, paint brushes, Krylon pens, Brush20s,



using both the griddle and the skillet methods - and a combination on some.



No idea which one is my favorite....



But they are all just quick and easy



I normally don't make 6 different samples for a class board....but I just couldn't stop myself. I can hardly wait to see what the students come up with. The pieces are so thin they can easily be cut with scissors....but I didn't cut any of these. I totally love the one that came out looking like a dressform....and I'm thinking I just need a hanger, some clips......

Something to try

You know, it just never hurts to try something! So yesterday while Susan was here, I decided to try alcohol inks in UTEE. OK, so Ranger's chemist might tell you NOT to do this....but where's the fun in that?



You can get amazingly different looks by changing the process of mixing the elements together. Try stirring, dropping, cooling and mixing, mixing while heating...



Can you see the impressions on this piece? Yet another chemical reaction!



Add in some perfect pearls:




I think this is what I'll have to call "endless play".....you get a different look every time!





With a little flex, you can cut these to any shape you want:

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and back them with a little pewter!



Yep....another class for San Diego? My next door neighbor has the coin bezels for sale so if you are interested in buying some from her just send me a note and I'll get you the prices. What a fun play day we had!!!