Sunday 17 June 2007

How soon we forget ...

How soon we forget what we have learned. More about that later. First I want to show you a few of the papers I painted the other day using Distress Ink. I love the colours of these, Fired Brick, Mustard Seed and Faded Jeans - there are others but these are the ones I have ... so far!

I had no idea what to do with them when I saw them in the art shop. Since I love experimenting I knew I would find a use for them. Alternatively, thought I would read something somewhere in due course that used them and I would have them to hand!

They are quite thick in consistency but I just put a few drops in a dish and using a wet sponge brush I just painted quickly over the cartridge paper.

This was Faded Jeans. I had been using other paints with the brush and just cleaned it on the background paper I was working. You can see the residue of the other paint showing through nicely.

This one is a mixture of Fired Brick and Mustard Seed. I had been using a Stewart Gill irridescent paint prior to painting this background and there was still some shiny particles on the sponge. You can't see it from the photograph but it has a lovely shimmer, very subtle but nice.

This one is a mixture of all sorts of different paints together with the Fired Brick and Mustard Seed. I was just using up what was lying around at the end of my days painting, cleaning up all the little pots. The line down the left hand side is just where I folded the paper to put in the book.

I always take photographs of my papers as I use them in Paint Shop Pro to create my own backgrounds and textures.


I used the papers and dyed kitchen paper to make a book. I am currently working on a project the theme of which is flowers. This piece of painted kitchen paper was just perfect for this abstract flower.

I have 7 signatures in the book all made from the painted papers I did the other day. I also added some I had made a few months back for the Creative Computing course. I knew they would come in handy! It's always useful to have them to hand you never know when the muse will strike.

I sprayed some of the papers and some of the painted kitchen roll with silver webbing spray. I tried using gold but it didn't show on up on the colours I was using. The silver looks great don't you think? I have run out of the black webbing spray and have ordered it - that gives stunning results. You can use it on fabrics and paper.

I said earlier how soon we forget. I had made a book for one of my assessment pieces not many weeks ago and used a Coptic binding. Always wanting to learn new things I thought I would do a more complicated coptic binding this time. As you can see it's just the same as the one I did before. I had totally forgotten how to do it and ended up sticking with the simple one. I had trouble with the eyelets and only put them on the front.

I just had to show you the studio tidy again! All ready for starting another project when time permits. Now what else can I do with these papers? What if .....................

13 comments:

Nola said...

Wow the inks give a beautiful effect, don't they? I can see I'm going to have to try these out. I might find them at our big show at the end of the month.

Joanna said...

Carol, these papers are amazing. I'll have to try some of those distress inks. I have the alcohol ones and love these.

Purple Missus said...

Carol, you are as bad as me - or am I as bad as you? I too bought some of these Distress Inks thinking they were just right for experimenting with. As yet, I haven't tried them but I will do now.Your book looks absolutely wonderful.

Alis Clair said...

Great backgrounds and your book is fab.

Digitalgran said...

Carol, that makes 2 of us who save all the pages. You will see what I mean soon VBG. I find eyelets difficult too most of the time. The new header is just beautiful.

Sandy said...

Nice papers. I have the Distress Inks in 4 colors but only used them once. I, too, have trouble with eyelets. SAndy

Dianne said...

You have been busy, the ink painting look like water,fire and wood. they turned out lovely..
Your book is cool looking, I love that webbing..A lot of people have touble with the eyelets, but they have a new tool called a Cropa-dial to do them with it suppose to work fantastic, Tonniece just order one she will be able to tell you how they work.....

Deb Hardman said...

I bought some of those distress inks, but can't remember where I put them! Argh! I hate it when I misplace stuff!

Your very inspiring, now if only I could find mine! I think they're in a closet that needs cleaning!

I just got a new magazine full of computer tips & inspiration, I hope to translate some of the info to fabric photos.

Susan D said...

I think we all have a magpie instinct. I know I've bought stuff because I know it will come in useful .... one day. My Mum is even worse she has material from 30+ years ago.

Papoosue said...

You have been busy! Love those inks - I have some of the Tim Holtz alcohol inks and they are great for non porous surfaces. Your book pages are really lovely - what do you mean by a 'signature' - that has me stumped. I must try the webbing spray sometime, it's really effective.x

Tonniece said...

Just wonderful Carol, Love the papers and the book. As for the eyelet being soo hard, I hear that. I was haveing a had time with them too.
I just got my crop-o-dile in the post today from stampandscrapcanada.com and wow, wow, wow. It puts eyelets in anything, and it's so easy.
Tin, chipboard, thick cardboard you name it.And it dose all the sizes of eyelets too. I'm sure you can get one much easier there then I did trying to find one here.

Carol said...

Tonniece, Thank you for the information regarding the crop-o-dile. I placed an order for one this morning - it's PINK to match my pink rotary cutter and mat! I love everything matching - how sad is that? (BTW I would have bought one had it been a different colour).

Dianne said...

Your book is gorgeous!! Love the flower on the cover, and all of those papers look great as signatures. I will have to try those inks. Also, what a great idea to photograph the pages and then alter them in photoshop - thanks!!!