Mixed Up Manic Memorial Monday

Hi creatives! Hope you are having a fun-filled extra long weekend! I had a marathon Gel Press printing session on Friday night where I used lots of my favorite stencils and some rubbing plates that I bought a while back but never used.  I shared some of my prints on Instagram and you can check it out HERE. While you are there, how about following me?  I am planning on using it more and more so stay tuned for some sneak peaks of future projects, and up-to-the-moment snapshots of my art-in-progress. Well, maybe a few dog pics thrown in once in a while too!

I pulled out my 6"x6" Gel Press and a stack of cheap white card stock, 8 1/2" x 11, from Office Depot. I used lots of different paints, including heavy body, fluids, cheap and expensive.

These are prints using Stencil Girl Stencils designed by Gwen Lafleur.

I used rubbing plates for these prints. 

I think the first three would look better using the round Gel Press. 

The next few prints I used Art Anthology mediums.

The elephants are Natalie Kalbach's foam/rubber stamp set.

Used Gemstones and Retro Stencil from Art Anthology

I love the bright orange, Art Anthology Juicy Colorations Spray, against the purple Art Anthology Velvet medium.  The spray resists the medium.  So cool!

**Do you notice anything interesting about the last two elephants?  If you do, you might want to know how I did that. I'll be doing a blog post on this technique for my next Gel Press blog post. (see the ** at bottom of this post for the answer)

Here is a sneak peek of my project for Art Anthology's blog on June 3 that will include a tutorial. 

And here is a sneak peek of my project for the Gel Press blog on June 8th.  I used Natalie Kalbach's bird foam/rubber stamp set for this project.

** Did you notice that the elephants are facing in different directions?  I used Natalie's stamp for them, so how did I get one of them facing the opposite direction?  I will show you how I did it in my tutorial on the Gel Press blog on June 8th. 

Please comment below about your favorite creative ways to use gel prints.  I have so many and I need some inspiration!!  

Thank you for visiting! 

Kathy

Another Mixed Up Manic Monday

Happy Mixed Up Manic Monday!  I spent this past weekend making art with my good friends Kristie Taylor, her mother, Janet, and Lorrie Simmons in Gatlinburg, TN.  Making art can be isolating sometimes, so it was so inspiring to create with these talented ladies! We share our ideas and supplies, eat way too much yummy food, and have lots of laughs!

I worked on some upcoming projects that I will share later on Art Anthology and Melissa Frances blogs.  I also created an 8" x 10" canvas using he Stencil Girl Decorative Medallion Stencil designed by Gwen Lafleur.  I have a current obsession with everything Moroccan style, bright colors and geometric shapes and Gwen's artwork is very much about that style.

Lastly, see my video where I will show you how I made this cool Gel print using the 8" x 10" Gel Plate. 

Have a great week, creative peeps! I would love it if you left me a comment below.

Now go make something!

Kathy

Art Foamies Giveaway

Recently I created a post on the Art Anthology blog pairing their mediums and the cool new ArtFoamies foam stamps.  Go check out that blog post to see how I made these beautiful art tags.

So what about the giveaway???  Well, I believe that when I am given something unexpected, that I need to share it.  So here is what happened.  I placed an order with ArtFoamies for a bunch of their foam stamps designed by Julie Fei Fan Balzer a few weeks ago.  Received them very quickly, despite the fact that they are located in Canada! Then about a week later I received another identical order.  After checking to see if I was charged twice, I realized that they had mistakenly sent me the second order without charging me!  I sent them an email telling about the issue and told them I would send the stamps back, but that I could also keep them and promote them by having a giveaway instead.  I was planning on doing the blog post regardless so I figured it's a win win!  They agreed!  And all you need to do is comment below and tell me which is your favorite tag by midnight EST, March 3rd. On Friday, March 4th, I will randomly pick 4 people to receive 1 of the larger or 2 of the smaller stamps (some of the smaller ones go together, that's why some people will get two.) 

Can't wait to hear from you! Good luck!  

Kathy

Creating Patina

I have a tutorial for you today using Ten Second Studio VerDay Paints.  I'm not a member of their design team and I gain nothing from promoting them, I just I LOVE the paints and wanted to share with you what they can do. I'm using the 2 oz.Verday Paint Kit that includes four metallic paints, (copper, iron, brass and bronze) and a patina spray solution (click on the name above to order).

The paints actually contain real bits of metal so adding the patina solution results in real rust, and aging. I first started using them last year for Scrap n' Art  Magazine and was giddy with the results!  And it is so easy to create real patina finishes.

Here is an overview of the different patina's that result from each metal:

Sorry for the bad lighting!

I first painted each tag with each of the four metal paints and let them dry.  Then I painted them again and while they are wet, I sprayed the patina solution on them.  The fun part is watching the patina form.  It happens fast, even though the directions say it takes a few hours.

Patina Planter

So today I will share with you how I created the worn, patina on this cool planter that I've been killing plants in for the last few years. I'm going to deviate from the Ten Second Studio directions a bit.

Before

First I started with a light coat of gesso because there are some places where the first layer of gray paint was chipping off and I felt that it needed a surface for future paint to stick to.  I left some of the gray showing in the cracks and crevices. Look, she's smiling because I'm making her beautiful!

I used Basics (cheap) Liquitex Copper paint as a basecoat because I have lots of surface to cover and VerDay paints are expensive and I will still get a great result. Yea, the real reason is I'm cheap!!! Note: The patina will only appear on the areas where I use the VerDay paints, not the Liquitex copper base coat.

Planter with Copper Basecoat

Now to add the Verday paints in copper and iron.  The copper will produce a blue/green patina and the iron will create a rust patina. The iron paint has a foul smell!!!  But it is worth the results, so I carried on! I let them dry completely.

Painting on Iron Paint

I add another coat and while the paint is still wet, I sprayed the Patina solution onto the wet paint and waited for the magic to happen. I did this step in sections so that the paint didn't dry.  I also did the iron separate from the copper.

Adding Patina Solution

 I left it for the night and when I came back the next morning, here is what I found:

I think she is much happier now!

Isn't this the coolest photo!!

And here is where she will live:

I  hope I don't kill that plant! It's partially not my fault since the planter has no drainage and it's a shallow and not much room for dirt and roots! So we will see what happens.  

Here are some other projects using the VerDay Paint Kit:

Patina Leaves Canvas Detail

Patina Leaves Canvas

Patina Leaves Canvas

In the Patina Leaves Canvas, I die-cut aluminum can material using the Tim Holtz Bigz Tattered Leaves Die and embossed them using different designs.  I painted them with green and orange acrylic paints so that I would have some bright colors peaking through the patina finish.  Then I painted them with VerDay paints and sprayed them with the solution and let the magic happen! I then sanded the raised embossed areas to let some of the aluminum show. The little upholstry tacks were treated with the VerDay paints also.

I recently posted a project on Art Anthology's blog featuring a canvas using their paints.  I wanted to add some Tim Holtz gear embellishments to the canvas so to create rust on them, I used iron VerDay paint and patina solution. The metal gears took the paint beautifully and created genuine rust!

So if you are interested in creating a great patina finish on almost any surface, consider the Ten Second Studio VerDay Patina Paints.

Thank you for visiting my blog today! Please leave me your thoughts, questions, comments below.  I'd love to hear from you!

Kathy