Catch up...

Hi everyone, thought I'd squeeze in a post before the end of the month and share a few things that I've made recently. Some items I've already shared peeks of via social media but I'm starting with some encaustic panels I made months ago but realise I hadn't posted yet. I am now wanting to play with wax again...

Pan pastels and wax, I'm so pleased with how this turned out, some dry brushing of coloured wax is then given a top layer of pan pastel through a stencil.

PVA glue through a stencil and burnt, there is a bit of a story to this one revolving around my cooks blow torch being temperamental and it didn't go quite to plan so I decided to finish off with a shellac burn (for explanation of this technique please see links in side bar to previous wax posts)

Stencilling and scoring into wax before dry brushing.

Next I recently attended a Lin Brown workshop which involved lots of painty fabric play and stitching....as always it was brilliant.

 some detail photos

Lastly I attended a France Papillon workshop last year and one of the creations I made was a 'Grimoire' or an ancient book of spells. It's made of handmade papers, book text and maps and I've not wanted to write in it or use it because I've struggled to find something which I think is suitable for it....until now

A scrap piece of book paper which I'd been using to wipe my paint brush seemed perfect for a little snowflake paint as a base to then stamp on.

Lin Brown's new stamps in sepia, some stitching and fragments of heat embossed skeleton leaves  just fitted in perfectly to me.

Thanks for stopping by x

Inspiration Post at Stamps and Stencils

Hi everyone, I have an inspiration post over at Stamps and Stencils today and keeping with the current challenge theme of 'Elements of Nature' I've been playing with skeleton leaves again to create a book....so this book has leaves inside and out! Here's a sneaky peek, please hop over to the blog for all the details.

Thanks for stopping by x

Elements of Nature at Stamps and Stencils

Hi everyone, 'Elements of Nature' is our next challenge over at Stamps and Stencils this month. Autumn is our talented host this time around and here's how she describes her challenge. Whether you are inspired by the glorious world around us with the changing seasons, or tempted to use elements of nature in your art work, this month we'd love to see your nature inspired entries.  Anything goes as long as you include a natural element in your art which can be either stamped or an actual item!  As always you need to include stamping or stenciling.

This is my take on a herbarium - 'a systematically arranged collection of dried plants'...with a good sprinkling of artistic license thrown in!

I started off by removing the glass from a cheap frame from the Range and found some book text paper which just fitted in the background. I used versamark through a stencil and clear embossing powder on the paper. This gives the paper a translucency showing the text on the other side.

I washed a coat of zesty zing fresco paint over it and dried it. The frame was white so I painted it black and heat embossed a leaf image in gold all over it before aging with more black fresco paint and a tickle of treasure gold.

Next I used a leaf stencil with snowflake paint all over the background....

...before 'bump' stencilling in shades of green over the same area.

Next a walk with the dog to pick some seedheads from a plant that I know as cow parsley (not to be confused with hemlock, which does look similar). Colour them with gold sprays and embossing powder.

To alter the skeleton leaf I stencilled versamark through a stencil before carefully heat embossing in gold. Some white and brown ink splashes to age the piece and stamped identification labels finish this exhibit...

Please hop across and see what the talented team have created and hopefully inspire you to join in with the challenge. As always thanks for stopping by x