Dark Secret - Altered Book Cover for March Challenge

 Hi guys and welcome back to Andy's Blog

It's been a looong time, but I'm so happy to be here again, to share with you my take on the Altered Book Cover challenge for March. 

You still have a couple of days to play along, since the challenge closes on Sunday. For more details, click on the link https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10161385546559008&set=gm.4992078744209215

💀💀💀Join us on Facebook Group The Darker Side💀💀💀

So, I decided to alter the cover of a book, that I had in my library forever. It's a story collection by Stephen King, called "The Bazaar of Bad Dreams". That was dark enough to inspire me :)))

I was so thrilled to start creating again, so I thought of making a process video, to show you some ideas on how to create dimension and texture on your projects. In the video, you'll see that I use very simple and easy-to-find materials, that we all have in our houses.

What is more, I wanted to share with you some tips on how to use stamps and stencils,  in a not so common way.

I really hope you enjoy this. Below, you can enjoy some photos and find a full list of materials.                    

Paints - Cosmic Shimmer by Andy Skinner

Artist Pigment Paint

Paynes Grey, Prussian Blue, Cobalt Teal Hue, Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide, Quinacridone Gold, Raw Umber

Chalk Paint

- Midnight, Warm White

Tools and Supplies

Old brushes for glue and varnish

Fan brushes

Flat brushes for painting

Spatula

Polymer clay (any clay is fine, you can also use airdry clay)

E6000 glue

Decoupage glue

Matte varnish - Cosmic Shimmer "Super Matt Varnish" by Andy Skinner

Structure Paste (Cosmic Shimmer by Andy Skinner)

Stencil - Creative Expressions "Mandala" by Andy Skinner

Stamp - Creative Expressions "Eye Spy" by Andy Skinner

Available in every home 😁

White tissue paper

Cardboard (pizza box)

Paper tube (from cling film)

Paper tape

Natural jute twine cord

The Witch Behind the Mask

 

Morning all and happy week, this is Natassa Blazaki, with a new project for Spooktober. That challenge inspired me so much!

The Witch Behind the Mask

So, it’s the last week of October and the theme now is “The Witching Hour”. As I was google searching for witches and witchcrafts to get some inspiration, I saw a poster from Disney’s
Snow White that shows the face of magic mirror and the reflection of the Witch’s face. I got the idea of creating this canvas with a mask, that behind it hides the wicked witch.

Of course it had to be rough, with lots of texture and rust. Rust goes with everything!

I used shades of yellow, orange and purple, which is a classic color palette for the Halloween.

To create that rough, uneven texture on the canvas, I used a lot of Structure Paste, which I thickly applied with a pallet knife in a stippling motion. To color the background I used a combination of Artist Pigments and Matt Chalk Paints.

To create the “hood” around the mask, I used a piece of denim, cut from an old pair of jeans. I glued the mask on the canvas and then I cut the fabric in smaller manageable pieces and built the “hood”. I glued the fabric with gel medium.

Then, I decided that my composition needed an industrial touch, so I used some of the gears from Andy’s greyboard cutouts by Tando Creative.

The tricky part was to do the stamping on that surface. I just couldn’t get a nice crisp impression until it hit me! I took a piece of rice paper from Andy’s “Abstraction” collection, and stamped on it. Then, I cut it to size and glued it on the canvas with matte medium. This way, the stamp was beautifully embedded on the rough surface and had a gorgeous cloudy faux encaustic look.

I also used lots of Mixed Media Transfers on the canvas the mask and the fabric. To make them look distressed, I sanded them with a piece of 240 grit sandpaper.

I truly hope you enjoy the project and get some inspiration.

Remember to play along at Creative Expressions Spooktober Challenge and use the #cespooktober tag, so we can find your projects.

You all have a great week

Natassa

👻🎃💀

Andy Skinner Creative Expressions

Chalk paints

Mustard, Chestnut

Artist Pigments

Primary Blue, Primary Magenta, Primary Yellow, 

Raw Umber, Quinacridone Gold, 

Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide

Mixed Media Transfers

Structure Paste

Stamps

Skull of Spades, Pray, Circle of Thorns

Rice Paper

Abstraction

Other Supplies

Ranger Archival Ink 

Matte Medium

1/2" , 1", and 2" Flat brushes

Pallet knife

240 grit sandpaper

deep edge canvas

white blank face mask

fabric

Andy's London workshop

Hi Everyone.

I took myself off to Andy's London workshop yesterday and had a fantastic time creating an ATC box and 5 ATCs using lots of his products including the new pastes. I thought I would show you how I finished the ATCs off at home with more of Andy's and some of my own supplies.

Andy demonstrates his products through Creative Expressions on YouTube and I have given you the link to them with each of the samples below.

Structure Paste
This is a beautiful smooth textured paste great for using with stencils but Andy shows you other fabulous ways to use it which included the background on this sample.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2OiABlheB8

Strata Paste 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAYl2vDdTp4
This will give you some incredible textures and on this ATC you can see how well his transfers work even with the bumpy textured surface.

Resist Paste and Rice Papers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCzXNHYYN0c
Andy's video shows how you how to see the resist paste with two layers of paint but we used it over his rice papers and it worked beautifully.

Lava paste
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0bsUUA-zVw
As you will see on the video Andy demonstrate great ways to use this product which has another amazing texture. At the workshop we used it with a palette knife and a brayer.

I am already looking forward to the next workshop as Andy thinks he will use the London venue again. You have perhaps already seen photos on FaceBook. It was a great room with plenty of space, Di from Tando brought along a pop up shop with lots of gorgeous goodies and lunch provided for extra if you wanted it, just soup and bread but perfect for the day.

Have fun playing with the new pastes and don't forget to take a look at the videos for lots of ideas.

Thanks for stopping by.
hugs Brenda
Bumblebees and Butterflies


Products

You will find all of Andy's products with Creative Expressions HERE
Structure Paste
Strate Paste
Resist Paste
Lava Paste
Rice Papers
Transfers
Stamps
Paints

'Dark' - Featuring Andy's new Creative Expressions Releases

Morning everyone,

I don't know if you have seen Andy's new releases yet, but they are really worth checking out.  I have been fortunate to try the new Structure Paste, the Stamps and new Chalk Paints, and they don't disappoint.

I made this arch with quite a few of the new products.  I started with the new Structure Paste, all over the front of the frame, in a thin layer.  It went on beautifully, spreads easily and dried nice and quickly.

The whole frame was then given a coat of sponged Chalk paints, in several colours, mixed in places.  The back plate was also given the same treatment with one less colour, as was the media board.

The book plate, Circle, flourishes & cog were painted, then crackle medium added.  I found that the Creative Expressions Crackle medium works with the Chalk paints, which was brilliant.

I stamped 'Cracked Up', all over the frame, 'Eye Spy' in the circle, and 'Distressed Mandala' in two different colours on the backplate and media board.  'Vanitas' was stamped in black ink and clear embossed, then varnished with Super Matte Varnish.

I stencilled the word Dark to put in the book plate, then used the Crackle Medium as a clear varnish, over the eye and the word.  As I wasn't putting a paint on top, it just gives a clear protective coat.

I hope you have had time to check out the rest of the team's work, and Andy's new products.  I'm sure you will have as much fun playing with them as I have. x

Best Wishes,

Nikki
xxx

Products Used:

Andy Skinner/Creative Expressions:
Stamps: Eye Spy, Vanitas, Cracked Up, Distressed Mandala.
Paints:
Matt Chalk in Olive Grove, Mustard Seed & Grey Haze.
Artist Pigment in Quinacridone Gold & Paynes Grey.
Mediums:
Structure Paste
Super Matte Varnish
CE Crackle Glaze
Andy Skinner Tando Creative Resurrection Arch Kit.

'Rice Bike' on Fabric - featuring the new Andy Skinner releases

Morning all.

I've made a little 5 x 7 canvas created using lots of Andy's fab new releases!

The base is made using rice paper onto the canvas board, 

then structure paste (which is the best I've ever used) through the Cog stencils.

 Layers of watered down chalk paint and dry brushing.

 Rice bike' stamped onto calico, vintage book page, fabric, a bit more stamping with 'cracked up' and lots of embellishments.

I loved making this and using all the new products! For a more detailed look at how I made the project, have a look at the full tutorial on my blog HERE.

Thanks for looking.

Suz

x

Products used:

Rice Bike Stamp, Cracked Up Stamp, Cogged Up stencil, Structure Paste, Rice papers, Chestnut and Warm White Chalk Paints.