Hand Printed Wrapping Paper

I've just started experimenting with printing my own wrapping paper using brown parcel paper and foam and clear stamps. 

This first one I have tried is of a scroll design which I have stamped in red with a gold snowflake.

One tip that you might find useful is to let your stamp design go off the paper (onto scrap paper) to make it look more professional.

I also stamped this one with green trees and gold flourishes.  I do like my flourishes, can you tell? ;-)

Some stamp pads work better than others.  

This white Stazon is very subtle in RL - and the stamp kept sticking to the paper!

The roll of paper that I used for this was just 99p from my local newsagents but it's a bit on the thin side.

Quite a fun 'production line' activity with some useful wrapping paper to use at the end of it.  You can also be creative with your ribbons, and use other natural products instead, like rafia, etc.

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I did two posts yesterday, please check out my second post, Same Scene 39 years Later!! challenge post if you haven't already.  Wouldn't want you to miss it! ;-)

Thanks for looking and for any comments,

See you  tomorrow,

qwiksave

Printmaking Radiohead Style

We are back!  We had a reasonably straightforward journey back by plane from Nuremberg, but this time we had to make a first stop in Dusseldorf rather than Switzerland.

I've been desperate to get back to crafting again, and judging by my viewing figures in the last week of this blog you want me to as well!  I guess not everyone is interested in Playmobil land...  Although I do know quite a few of my regulars are away on holiday this week.

Soon after I woke up and had unpacked, I had to see what the local charity shops had to offer (as you do, lol)  and found a few things, the first of which was a video called "Television Commercials" by Radiohead.  I wasn't interested in the music (sorry, if you are), I just liked the cover and was inspired to do my own version:

Detail:

I was planning to use my spray spritzers but couldn't find them so ended up using a sponge topped shoe polish.

This was the video that inspired the work:

The figures I have stencilled onto a german newspaper.  I also used bubble wrap to hide some of the writing and for texture.  Its just an experiment in printmaking really, freeing some of that bottled-up desire to craft I've had over the last week, lol.  I still quite fancy doing that 'rubbed out' effect on the background of mine and may well do that next.

Bubblewrap incidently, in German is actually called this:

(Glad it was just on the shelf and I didn't have to ask for it!)

(We bought some to wrap my son's Playmobil models in to bring them back on the plane).

I also bought this today:

Closeup:

Who remembers this? (Keep quiet if you do!)  It was from an advert 20 years ago!   I bought it with the intention of recovering the wooden notebook holder but I'm definately going to keep hold of this fabulous retro notebook.

Lastly, I bought this set for 99p:

It's a fancy new name for Spirograph!   As you can see in the background I've been playing with it too.

Thanks for reading, please don't forget to comment ocasionally,

See you tomorrow,

qwiksave 

Free Style Painting

Thanks for the kind messages on my last post.  My son has still got a temperature which I am keeping an eye on and he's still not able to eat properly yet either, but he is glad to be home when he's not feeling well.  Not that he was naughty on purpose, of course.  He was sent home for apparently being 'disruptive' and kept people awake giggling and being noisy with other mischevious characters in the group.  They were also sent home.  In his ill state, my son is being very subdued and sorry to me, offering to help doing the housework (from his sick bed), something he never normally does! 

In my previous posts, I have spoken about how I would love to do work in the style of Dina Wakley, whose work I greatly admire.  In order to even make a start on doing work anything like the work she does I need to start freeing my artistic style, be prepared to make a mess, be able to freely paint and splatter.

This is what I have done tonight:

Detail:

I used some texture printing tools that I got from Hobbycraft a while ago:

I also did another:

I love the unpredictable look of paints running into each other but they don't always dry as you want them to.

This is of course, another idea for the Summer Holidays with the kids, freedom painting, painting just to make interesting marks, not worrying about making a realistic representation.  You can use them as they are or cut them up to make interesting backgrounds for other artistic purposes.

Thanks for reading,

See you tomorrow,

qwiksave

Flourishes Printmaking

I think the charity shop saw me coming today (no, not in that way!) they had put this gem in their 30p box which had my name on it! (no, not literally, lol)

Before I show you what it is I will show you what I made with it:

Just look at that sumptious texture with my favourite motif - flourishes, yay!

The object itself I think is a hot plate/trivet for teapots?  It's got an Ikea label on the back so it probably wasn't that expensive in the first place, but it is just 'so me!'

It's all embossed so I'll be able to use it for so many things, embossing (obviously), clay impressions, crayon or wax rubbings... and what I did in the above pictures, printmaking.  I covered it with some Black Soot Distress Ink and printed it on a piece of scrap paper (above) and all over a large piece of lining paper (below):

This was me getting my hands dirty:

I was thinking that I might use this paper either inside or on the cover of the Altered Book I started yesterday.

What a great find!

Thanks for reading,

See you tomorrow,

qwiksave