Helping Artist Program

Before I leave for Lancaster where I will be demonstrating at  Card Craft UK on Saturday…. did I already mention that? :)
I just wanted to inform you of a new feature on Decoarts website called the helping artists centre.
Here you will find a list of all the Artists bio's and where they are teaching, plus some great step by step tutorials.

If you teach workshops or undertake magazine work and use Decoart products you also can apply to become a helping artist which gives you many benefits, they will also pay you a fee for any articles you have published using there product, have a read of the faq on the website to find out more of the benefits available, clicking on the image below will take you to the helping artist website.

Right I will leave you all alone for a couple of days :)
Have a good weekend,
Andy

Steampunk Inspiration and Lancaster?

Hello,

No artwork to share today but a couple of videos to give some steampunk inspiration.
I am leaving Bucks tomorrow to travel up north to Lancaster where I will be demonstrating at  Card Craft UK on Saturday, please pop in and say hello if your nearby!  Its then down to Oxford on Sunday to attend my Granddaughter Faiths Christening, I really hope the weather holds out!

Ok the first video is Directed by Tim Ollive. 
A victorian special agent saves Europe from itself - with help from the French and, of course, the Americans...

This second video is a game that I have on my ipad called Machinarium.
I just love the graphics and find them such a great steampunk inspiration!

Andy

The Judges have made there decision and the decision is?

The three judges Tim Holtz, Louise Crobie and the guys at Decoart have sent there results and I am happy to announce the winner and runner up of the Timeworn competition.
It was extremely close in the end and Tim's results have just come in and swayed it…. Ok Ok I will get on with it :)

The Winner Is Anabela!!!

Who wins a £50 Decoart Voucher

This carousel actually turns and plays music

 

The Runner Up is Rachel

who wins A tote bag from the idea-ology range!!

 

All the final pieces were amazing and in my eyes all deserved to win, for this reason I have built a gallery to spotlight all there work, please go and have a look at all of there creations in full at the Timeworn Gallery

Congratulations to both Anabela and Rachel and also to everyone who took part in this workshop, its been emotional :)

Before I go I would like to say a huge thank you to all participants, you have all been great fun to work with.

We are all now going back to the workshop forum now for a party!!!!

Andy

Bonus Video

Just a very quick share today, I have been filming videos for the new Book Of Secrets Workshop and decided to include a bonus video in the workshop showing  how to produce this steampunk finish, very similar to the altered Heat Buddy!

Click Picture for Larger View

Right back to video editing….joy!!!
Andy

Sneaky Timeworn Peak

Well the Timeworn workshop has sadly come to an end and the pictures are being sent off to the three judges today.
For this reason I can't show yet there final pieces in full, but believe me they are amazing!

I have made this quick video to give you a taster of what to expect, the workshop itself was very much based upon Upcycling.
Once the faux techniques were learned the participants then had the choice to make a final assemblage piece from found objects, mixed media and embellishments, with no rules whatsoever on a theme.

I think you will agree with me after seeing this short snippet, they all did a wonderful job and I will share all with you when the judges have made there decisions.

 

If you would like to take part in the next Timeworn workshop taking place in June then please do visit the timeworn techniques workshop site.

 

Andy

Do you believe in Steampunk Fairies?

Well I do!…. I went to bed late last night and left my trusted Heat Buddy on the table.

 

When I woke up this morning I found this!!

 

They have only gone and pimped my Heat Buddy!

 

Or maybe I sleep paint lol

Have a good Friday,

Andy

Colour Theory… The Truth

Primary colours Red, Blue and Yellow?
Will you still think this after watching this video? Please do let me know your view.

 

Andy

Now… this is exciting news!!

As some of you may already know, I am running an online workshop at the moment called Timeworn Techniques , the workshop is in its last stages and delegates are putting together there final pieces to be entered into a competition to win a £50 Decoart voucher.. this part was not obligatory and just an option if they wished to take part.

I think however, I shocked them all this week by announcing the three Judges who will be picking the winner.
Judge No1.  You may of heard of this guy..lol

    Tim Holtz

Judge No2  This is someone who's work I love and respect.

 Louise Crosbie

Judge No3

Its the guys at Decoart Inc. Stanford Kentucky!

There is also another runner up prize which the guys on the workshop have no idea about yet, although  I'm sure they will when they read this :)
A tote bag from the idea-ology range!!


As soon as the winner is announced I will post up some pictures of the final works of art!!
Before I go….Just to let you know,  this workshop starts again in June!
Andy

And The Winner is??

I am happy to announce that........

The winner of the blog candy is follower No 68  Lynn Lewis! ( Fuchsia )

 If you would like to email me a delivery address I will send the candy out to you next week.

Congratulations!

Andy

New Website…New Workshop

I have taken the plunge and purchased a .com and built a website, the main reason for this is that I wanted all my online workshops together on one site along with more multimedia tools to make the whole online workshop experience even better.  All workshop videos will be hosted on the site making them twice as fast and soooo much more in the way of multimedia tools.

Its been allot of work but definitely worth it.

On to the new workshop, out of all the live workshops I have held this one has been asked for so much to be become an online workshop, mainly by people who are not able to attend or live overseas.

Made a little video for it today, The Book of Secrets :)

The new website is http://www.andyskinnercrafts.com

or to go direct to the workshop site click http://bosw.andyskinnercrafts.com

Your Easter Sunday Resist Tutorials

Happy Easter everyone!
In case you didn't already know, there is candy on offer!
click the picture below to take you to the link.



Here are todays tutorials, you may notice that I am not sticking embellishment's or fancy ribbon on because the purpose is to show you the technique. You guys can do with the techniques as you wish.
The first is my worn floorboard technique on card, although this can be used on just about anything that excepts acrylic paint!





Here are some past versions of the technique, the final one is on wood.



1. Cut an arch shaped tag from 300 gsm card and score both horizontal and vertical lines in it with a pair of scissors, this will represent floor boards, use a ruler as a guide.
Do not use a craft knife for this as the lines will be to thin, and to deep.



2. Use a small hand held drill or anything you have to hand to make small round indentations to represent the nails at the end of each board.



3. Apply Three coats of a medium brown, I am using Americana Raw sienna.
Allow paint to dry between each layer.
Note: I am only applying one coat for speed as I have done this technique many times, when 3 coats of Americana acrylic paint are applied the surface becomes waterproof, you will see later in the tutorial why this is important.


4. Apply a resist to areas you wish the paint to peel, I am using Badger balm but you can use petroleum jelly or clear furniture wax etc.


5. Apply one coat of Americana Titanium White over the surface with nice light brush strokes to avoid disturbing the resist below.
Allow paint to dry thoroughly.


6. Wipe over the surface with a baby wipe, the white paint should start to peel back where the resist was applied.


You should end up with something looking like this.


7. Apply more balm, covering some of the brown and white, especially the white around the edges of the brown paint.


8. Phew.... still with me?
Apply a top coat, I like to use shabby colours for this technique, here I have used Americana Sea Glass.


9.  Now repeat step 6

It should now look a little like this and now needs antiquing.


10. Dab you finger into some Burnt or Raw umber depending how dark you wish the antiquing to be.
Start working the paint into the score lines and over the entire tag.


11. Now, this is the tricky bit… Allow the paint to settle until it is nearly touch dry, then use a baby wipe to wipe back the paint, leaving it in all the nooks and crannies.
Note: Make sure the baby wipe is not to moist as it will remove too much paint.


12. Finish of with a dry paper towel.


13. Its now ready for stamping with Archival ink, do not use distress ink as this will not adhere to the acrylic surface.
I have stamped the All Seeing Eye from the Sideshow set by first applying sepia to the stamp, I then patted the stamp lightly with black to give a variance in the colour.
I have also stamped with the weathered wood stamp from the Tempting Textures set with Sepia.



14. Finally, the word Carnival was stamped with Archival Black.

The End!

Tin Can Ally




1. apply a thin layer of Silver acrylic paint to a non stick craft sheet.


2. Pat the Grunge stamp from the Tempting Textures set into the paint and stamp randomly onto the card.



3. With a small paint brush, apply some silver randomly around the edges to represent chipping.


4. Blend firstly with Wild Honey distress ink, followed by fired brick allowing some of the wild honey to show through.
You will notice the acrylic paint resisting the ink.
.

5. you may find a little ink remaining on the acrylic paint, to clean this I use either a clean piece of cut and dry and blend this over the acrylic to lift the distress from the paint,  or dry the ink with a heat tool, dampen the cut and dry slightly and wipe over the surface.


6. Blend Vintage photo around the edge.


7. Start stamping!

8. I have used stamps from my Retro set with Archival.

Variant's, white acrylic with fired brick and the weathered wood stamp on top of distress.


Andy