Shoshiplatypus

Yesterday I had fun in the studio, with more experiments in mixed media.

Paper mesh

I’ve only just discovered what this extraordinary paper is called. I got some in a parcel recently, wrapped around a glass jar.

When I first came across what I used to call “expanded paper” (because it is like expanded metal) I thought it might make some interesting textures. Looking it up, I found it is called “paper mesh.”

Spraying through it as a stencil

I laid out a piece as flat as I could get it, over a piece of copy paper in my splat box, and sprayed it with a selection of Distress Spray Stains and Distress Oxide Spray.

Sprayed paper mesh at top, stencilled piece left, blot off sheets middle and right.

I think the sprayed piece of paper mesh will be useful for collage. You can vary how much it is expanded, and you could put something contrasting underneath. There is some gold spray (Distress Mica Spray) on this but of course it doesn’t show up on the photo! I hate how shiny things are invisible on photos… I love a bit of bling and none of my photos show it!

This is the sprayed piece underneath. I really like how this has created a 3-D look with shadows, and how the ink has bled into the paper a little, producing a feathered effect. Quite intriguing.

The blot-off sheets are more subtle, of course. I could add coffee staining, or put them on the gel plate and add translucent layers.

Stamping

I took another piece of paper mesh and crumpled it up. I dipped it into some acrylic paint on my palette and pounced this onto a piece of copy paper.

The piece on the right is a piece of Amazon packaging paper that has some white stencilled marks on it from a sink mat. I used this to clean off the paint from the palette, using a large brush, and adding water as the cleaning proceeded.

Stencilling on the gel plate

I covered the gel plate with black paint and laid a piece of paper mesh on top, and printed off some sheets. Some quite interesting effects because it’s impossible to lay this really crinkly paper down flat.

What I have done with these sheets is to add very thin layers of iridescent Arteza paints on top because I didn’t like the stark black. I built up quite a few layers.

This is the pull-off sheet I used to clean the plate, using PaperArtsy Fresco paint.

Not a lot of texture pulled up but it’s given a nice “old wall” effect and a useful background sheet.

My sheets with further layers to soften the black. Much better.

Brayer clean-off sheet. I love how a lump of black on the brayer has made the repeating lozenge-shaped patterns, overlaid with lighter coloured paints.

Pierced paper on the gel plate

I laid a piece of my pierced paper on the gel plate and brayered on some Arteza Pearl Banana Yellow and Fancy Black in an ombre pattern, and then laid an existing background (on the right) over, and printed it off. At least, I think that’s what I did – when I’m on a roll, I don’t write stuff down and then forget what I did!

I think these next ones were ghost prints. The paint I used was the PaperArtsy Fresco in Sage on the left, and Golden Titan Green Pale translucent fluid acrylic on the right.

More brayering off sheets. I really love these! They make intriguing backgrounds with the overlapping irregular rectangular patterns.

Stencilling over iridescent backgrounds

I took one of my ombre backgrounds created on tissue paper using Arteza Pearl Banana Yellow and Fancy Black, and then laid on my large Oriental script stencil and pounced the same paints through, reversing the colours. I was really pleased with how this turned out and will defiitely be revisiting this technique.

I initially tried brayering the paint through the stencil, after laying everything on the gel plate, but the stencil is delicate in the sense that some of the pieces tend to lift up. The Tyvek it is made of is extremely tough and won’t rip, but I do need everything to lie down flat. These stencils would probably be better if I’d cut them from thicker material.

It worked a bit better with a make-up sponge, but I found I got the best results with a large brush, using a pouncing motion. I must look out my stencil brushes again.

I was running low on the gold stencilled Oriental script sheet that I made a while back, having used quite a bit of it for collaging:

so I decided to make another one, this time with an overall background gel print using Arteza Fancy Black. I used the large Oriental script stencil for this, and pounced on Golden Iridescent Bronze Fine.

My final sheet was made using another overall background of Arteza Fancy Black, and I tried my stacked journaling mask for the first time. I held it down and pounced around it using the Golden Iridescent Bronze Fine.

All these pieces are very lustrous and metallic, and the photos simply don’t do them justice.

Seth Apter Izinks

My order of Seth Apter Izinks arrived today but we’ve been busy and I haven’t had time even to open the parcel! Watch this space to see if my previous failed Venetian plaster effect experiment can be made to work now I’ve got the right materials!

Our first crop of apples

Completely off-script, I had to share with you our first crop of apples from our tree. Windfalls. My hubby found this ancient little basket in the summerhouse and they look so pretty and rustic in it!