Metal butterfly

So last week, my newest rubber stamps had their official online launch. On that night I just showed examples of what could be made, this week i will show my 4 samples in step by step blog posts. 

Today is the metal butterfly. 

I started with an 8x8 grey/white board , I painted a thin layer of Snowflake paint over the board and dried that. Then I then scribbled and blended all over the board using Fibralo pens. You can blend with a damp finger, a damp brush or a damp baby wipe. Note I say damp, not wet.. as these pens are very juicy you don't need much extra moisture at all. 

Next I scribbled some fibralos onto a craft mat, added a little water, then dipped the side of my ruler into the ink. I added this in criss cross lines over the board. 

Once these lines are dry, I splattered some clean water over the board, laid a piece of paper towel over the board and gently pressed. this absorbs the reactivated ink and leaves these great white spots. 

I then used the dry stone wall stamp and the flock of birds stamp from EDY10. I used the wall top and bottom of the board and the birds in the centre using a dark blue ink pad. 

finally to finish the background I added some grunge paste around the outer edge, once dry I coloured this with Treasure Gold. 

I love using this as an edging medium..

Now to create the focal butterfly. 

I cut my butterfly shapes from metal card. Top wings, bottom wings and a body piece. 

I painted each piece with nougat paint, then stamped with flowers and text and coloured in with more Fibralo pens. 

Then I changed my mind slightly, I painted over the top wing, again with Nougat, then I painted and shaded them before stamping with the heart flowers. 

Either way would work, I just found doing the background first worked out for me. 

The top wings were stamped with the heart flower from EDY10 and the body was stamped with the feather from EDY09

I turned the metal card over and resting on a dense foam piece, I used a teflon tool to create the veins in the wings. 

The bottom wings were stamped with the pointy leaf and stem from the spikey flower on EDY09. I then cut around the 'leaf' ends. 

The body is stamped with the feather and one of the text-filled leaves. Again I turned it over and worked the lines with a teflon tool. 

i painted another piece of metal card then stamped the leaf and stem again from EDY09. 

I worked into the back of them with a teflon tool,and the carefully cut them out. 

Here are all my butterfly pieces, etched and curved, ready to attach to the board. 

First I attached the bottom wings, using large blobs of matte gel to support the wings and keep them 3d. 

next i added the top wings, and used matte gel in the same way to support the curves. 

Finally I added the body and the antennae. 

It needed a title of some sort, so using my old typewriter I typed out this phrase. 

So there it is, all finished. I am so pleased with this piece. From the Fibralo background to the moulded metal card, it all works great together.

I hope you have enjoyed seeing the process and that I have shown how versatile the stamps are. .. that they don't have to be just used exactly as they are, but can be used in parts, combined, cut apart..... and used to create all kinds of things. 

I will be back later in the week with the step by step instructions for my decorated clock. 

Darcy x

Weekly Face

This week I had intended to do a full portrait using Caran d'Ache Fibralo pens, however time escaped me. I did do these 2 very quick ones which really were just practise attempts, just to see how the colours would work for a skin tone. There is a flesh tone pen in the set that I have 042, which is perfect, the ochre 035 and the dark brown 059 and both great for shading. 

I found out that although these pens are waterbased and move around very easily, they cannot be removed completely. This was quite exciting as it means they can be used to 'stain' the paper. 

So i drew both these faces, coloured them in and then wiped both of them completely with a wet baby wipe. Sounds drastic I know, it reactivated the ink, and it smeared all over. i carried on wiping, and once all the loose ink was gone I was left with these 'ghost' images. 

I really like them.. 

This was not an attempt to create a perfect face, it was all about how the pens worked. I like how they are peering through. 

I will at some point do a proper portrait with them too. 

Darcy x

Lazy Days {with Eclectica³ Darcy,Sara Naumann,Urban Snapshots Stamps and Fibralo Pens}

Here is a sweet and quick journal page, muted tones, and quite vintage looking I think. Like an illustration you might find in an old childrens book. 

I started with a background of drippy Fibralo pens. 

I covered some tissue paper with text stamps from Sara Naumann. 

I stamped a great little tree from Urban Snapshots, and added more washes of fibralo over the tree. Then I added the red splats using archival ink and the splat stamp from HPXT01

The border is from EDY05 and coloured delicately with fibralo pens. the quote is from Winne the Pooh. The little girl and the balloon are hand drawn and coloured with fibralo pens. 

Finished page..

The pens are available from PaperArtsy HERE...

Darcy x