Art Journal - Illustrated Alphabet - C is for Collage & Crackle

Going into this page I was really worried because I was planning on attempting a couple of techniques / styles that I've never done before, well not like this anyway. Sure I've stuck various different items on layouts, mini albums, art journal pages, even off the page projects, but I've never done anything that I consider to be "Collage" in the strictest sense of the word and I've certainly never used images from magazines on any of my projects... only under to catch the paint and glue drips. I've also not done a lot of crackle work on my projects in the past though I have done heat embossing with a crackle stamp which I really loved on a canvas project. But I had made up my mind that these were going to be the two techniques for this page and I wasn't about to let inexperience stop me from doing what I wanted. (Yes I can be incredibly stubborn and when I make up my mind about something, then come what may I'm going to stick with my decision... even if that is on a soon to be published world-wide video.)

If you've already watched the video, then you will have heard in my voice-over than there were one or two (or more) moments of complete and utter panic when I wondered if I was completely screwing up the page and a definite moment when I thought I might have to scrap it all and start over from the beginning. I chose to stick with it and keep going (and not let this page get the better of me) and now that I've completed the page, in hindsight I can happily say I do actually like the end result and the process from start to finish really wasn't that bad. Let's just say it contained lots of learning opportunities.

Anyway, enough blathering, let's get on with the good bits... what did I use and how did I do it.

Products Used:

• Black gessoed page
• Liquitex Matte Gel
• Tim Holtz Idea-ology Tissue Wrap - Postale
• Vintage book pages
• Magazine cut-out images
• Washi Tape - various
• Pebeo Studio Acrylics High Viscosity - Iridescent Blue Green, Iridescent Green Blue, Iridescent Blue Black, Iridescent Orange Yellow, Iridescent Green Yellow, Iridescent Violet Blue and Iridescent Red Blue
• Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Crackle Paint - Black Soot
• Faber-Castell PITT Artist Pens - 114 Light Skin, 132 Light Flesh, 131 Medium Flesh, 199 Black
• Faber-Castell Gelatos - Peach, Guava, Metallic Melon, Bubblegum, Chocolate, Gold Champagne, Red Cherry
• Faber-Castell Gesso - White
• Stabilo All Pencil - Black
• Faber-Castell - Allbecht Durer Pencils - Burnt Sienna, Walnut Brown, Dark Sepia

Tools Used:

• Zig Water Pen
• Colour Shapers
• Wet Wipes
• Heat Tool
• Craft Mat

Process Steps:

1. I started with a page I had pre-gessoed with black gesso. I coated the page with a thin layer of matte gel then coated some torn pieces of tissue wrap on the underneath side and adhere in place. Then brush a light coat of matte gel over the top as well. To get rid of any excess gel and ensure strong adhesion in place, I then ran over the piece of tissue with a credit card. I repeated this step with multiple pieces of tissue wrap.
2. I then did the same with some torn pieces of vintage book paper to give the background some contrast. I was interested to see how much the black gesso background showed through the various materials used.
3. I fussy cut a couple of images I had found in fashion magazines. Once I had decided where I was going to place the two images, I adhered them in a similar manner as the tissue wrap. Having completed the page, I suspect I removed too much of the matte gel or pressed/scraped too hard when rubbing the image of the face. When I added colour (in a few steps) it didn't flow as much as expected instead it soaked into the page or worse took off more colour than it added... note to self to watch this next time!!
4. To add some contrast and bring a bit more black back into the page, I added some strips of washi tape, all of which were predominantly black. To ensure these didn't lift off, I coasted them with the matte gel as well, then ensured that the page was well and truly dry by leaving it overnight to "cure".
5. The next step was to colour some of the cork ends in the second image with the iridescent paints. I had only purchased them earlier in the day, so I was really keen to see what they looked like away from the swatches in the shop. For most "dots" I gave them three coats of paint to get the intensity of colour I desired.
6. Once I was sure the painted dots were dry (which didn't take that long really), I generously coated each coloured dot with a thick dot of black crackle paint. I used a pair of colour shapers for this step to get a thick enough coating while maintaining the shape and size of the coloured dots. This was a little more difficult than I had expected and to be honest about half way through I was screaming on the inside "what have I done????" while I waited to see if my moment of brilliance was actually going to work.
7. Wait impatiently for black crackle paint to dry... to too impatient so pull out heat tool for a wee bit... then smack one's own hands and let it dry naturally.
8. This next step got a little bit messy, a little bit hair raising and a little bit panicky as it all seemed to go horribly wrong on several occasions and though you can't see it on camera... I spent a considerable amount of time thinking I had completely ruined all my hard work up until this step. Given my considerable panic, I have to confess I can't remember exactly what I did here, but it looked something like this - tried to cover the patches where the colour had bleached or been rubbed off the magazine image, first with PITT Artist Pens in flesh tones, then when that didn't work I tried gelatos in flesh tones. I tried water to blend the gelatos but this seemed to lift off even more colour off the magazine image (insert more panic)... so I tried heat setting the gelatos to see if that would get them to "stick" to the page... finally something seemed to go right, sort of. 
9. I still wasn't happy with the colour and what was happening so to prevent myself from throwing all my toys out of the cot (not that I would do that)... I had a moment of inspiration and decided to do a thin layer of gesso to create a base on which to try to recolour the face. I painted the gesso over all the exposed skin on the face and upper torso covering everything but the eyes and eye brows.
10. Once the gesso had dried I tried colouring with the PITT pens once again but they just seemed to soak into the gesso rather than "float" on top of it, so I soon moved back to the gelatos to try them again. I did a light layer of gelatos then heat set them to see if they would create a good base for whatever else I was going to try. The good news was that this did work and I was able to blend in additional layers a lot easier, though I did still have to be careful that I didn't take off as much colour as I added back on. Once I had the skin tone base back again, I added some red for a rouge on her cheeks as well as some shadows and highlights to make the face look more natural, though still painted. Finally it actually looked pretty good.
11. I added some colour to her eyes brows again (to make them look less magazine and more art-like) as well as eyes lashes... though in hind sight I may have added to many as I'm not 100% sure that they look all that natural... but hey artist's impression right!
12. Having done this, I then decided that the hair needed some extra highlights to match with what I had already done with the image. I added some highlights using metallic gelatos as well as ordinary gelatos to add some interest. I really liked the end result of the hair.
13. I lined the images with my Stabilo All pencil which I then blended with my water pen. Note to self - sharpen pencil before using it on each project otherwise the line will just end up being really thick and won't look as good. (In the video I said something about it looking like a drag queen had done your eye liner... no offence to drag queens as their make-up is usually impeccable and I which I looked as good as they do all dolled up).
14. To add some more depth to the images I then coloured around them with a little water colour pencil which I also blended out using my water pen. This step gave the page a great deal of depth so it didn't look as one dimensional.
15. To frame the page I repeated the water colour blending around the edge of the page. This really finished off the page.

Here are some close-ups of the page as well as a few pictures showing you some more of the magical iridescent paints... these are the excesses I scraped onto a random page in another art journal.

Here is the finished page. After a few false starts and a few moments of panic, I ended up actually quite liking the end result.

Maybe some overkill here, but I really loved the end result of the crackle paint over the top of these bright iridescent paints. The worked out even better than I hoped.

 It's hard to say what my favourite colour is as they all turned out so gorgeous. Part of me hated the idea of painting over these sumptuous colours, but I think the end result is so worth it.

 Sigh... love!!

This shows a little of the highlighting added to the hair. I love the effect and wish colouring my hair was this easy and looked this good afterwards. 

Though I wasn't entirely sure at the time, once I had finished the eye lashes and eye brow I really did like the end result... though I think I need to examine eyes a little more closing as I think I may have "over" extended the eyes lashes around the eye. 

Sharing some of the over flow of paint that I didn't want to waste ('cos it's just so yum!!) so I just smeared the excess onto this random art journal page. I love the colours here so much whether thick or a very thin coating as they just have so much shimmer to them. 

 Isn't this orange just gorgeous!!

This one really shows that even when applied really thin so that they appear almost transparent, the shimmer still just shines through. Love the effect over the heading in the background. 

Not sure if this was the Blue - Green or the Green - Blue with the Red - Blue who cares... still YUM! 

Ahhhh... this just makes my heart sore... love this almost but not really transparent look.

And again the finished page... just a bit bigger.

Mixed Media Canvas

At last I have been able to complete the video for the Mixed Media Canvas I created. You will have seen on my earlier post that I had a few issues.
Well I have finally been able to resolve all of my technological issues and the video (including my first ever voice over) has been successfully uploaded and is now available for viewing on YouTube.
Watch the video here or on YouTube for a very speedy version of how I created this awesome mixed media canvas. (Speedy as in I managed to cut down over 2 1/2 hours of video of my crafting to just under 14 minutes speedy - phewwwww.)

Be sure to subscribe to my blog and YouTube channel if you haven't already done so to make sure you don't miss out on any upcoming projects and creations... or just to hear me waffle again.

Mixed Media Canvas... and a technology fail (for now)

I slaved over this project for a few days... longer than I expected it to take.
Then I slaved over the video so I could post it on my YouTube channel and use it as my Design Team Application for Faber Castell Design Memory Craft but the technology in my life decided it was not going to cooperate so after three attempts at editing the video I missed the deadline... oh well there is always next year.
If anyone is willing to sponsor a completely new video recording system, then all donations will be gratefully accepted and used... just putting it out there to the universe LOL.

Anyway...
In lieu of a step by step video tutorial... for now I wanted to share some pictures of the finished project... my first but definitely not my last altered canvas. I will attempt to edit the video once more having downloaded an updated version of my software... so fingers crossed it works this time. If I'm successful (and you will probably hear the hoops and hollers of joy) then I will update you with the link... if not, then I guess I won't. (You all know that right about now it's personal... it's me or the software and I'm not giving up just yet!!)

The canvas is 6" x 12".

Background colouring done with Faber Castell Gelatos - Peach, Guava, Lavender, Bubble Gum and Earl Grey blended together into a random pattern.

Heat embossed over the top with VersaMark ink and Detail Black Embossing Powder from Stamp Effects using the KaiserCraft "Crackle" clear stamp.
Edges all inked with Tim Holtz Distress Inks - Walnut Stain and Black Soot.

Torn corrugated cardboard, lightly painted with Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabber - Snow Cap.

The sentiment (my own creation) was stamped onto white cardstock scraps which I had coloured using the same colour combination of gelatos. It was stamped with Archival Ink - Jet Black using Hero Arts Basic Upper and Lower Case Peg Stamps.

The words were all cut out individually then edged with a Tombow dual tip pen using the brush end before being adhered in place with Glossy Accents.

The polymer clay torso from Kimi at Unique Scrappiness was washed with a mix of gelatos and water.

The flowers from I Am Roses were all coloured in one of the following techniques:

• Gelatos with water to create a water colour - painted
• Gelatos with water in a spritzer bottle - misted
• Lindy's Stamp Gang - misted

The twisted stems are chenille pipe cleaners covered with florists tape which was then rubbed with Faber Castell Gelato - Chocolate and misted with Lindy's Stamp Gang Mists - Cadbury Milk Chocolate and Dark Chocolate Truffle.
The tag was a "Luggage Tag" from Jillibean Soup. This was scrunched up and distressed with Tim Holtz Distress Inks in Walnut Ink and Black Soot.

I included some Steampunk Metal Charms from Faith at Artistic Creationz. They were painted lightly with Faber Castell Gesso which was wiped off with a baby wipe before it had dried.

And finally close up of the two sides showing the embossing wrapping completely around the canvas... easier said than done, but well worth all the effort.

I really love the end result of this project. All the stress and technology EPIC FAILS... aside, it was well worth it and I can't wait to find the perfect spot to put it, so it can inspire me every time I look at it.

Art Journal Page

It's been a while since I did anything in my Art Journal so I did a very quick page that I really love.
It's simple.
It's bright... you may need sunglasses!!
It was inspired by two of my favourite Mixed Media Artists who's blogs I follow religiously... the ever charming Donna Downey who I have told you before I love and the totally off-the-wall but who thinks like me which is quite scary Aaron from Imperfect Impulses. I have been watching their respective channels a lot lately and both have almost a take it or leave it, it is what it is, I'm no perfectionist style of Art Journalling which I love and which encourages me to give it a go, because Lord knows I am far from perfect especially with my art journaling!!

I started with a gessoed page as my blank canvas.
I had been playing with my Faber Castell Gelatos earlier in the weekend to colour my flowers and they were still on my desk, so I picked out a few colours and just proceeded to completely cover my page. For this I used - Lime which I blended with Green Tea and Red Cherry which I blended with Bubble Gum.
I coloured the two green first, then repeated the exercise with the red and pink.
When the page was entirely covered, I spritzed water over the page and using a paint brush blended the two pairs of colours together, starting with the greens.
When all the gelatos were blended I sprinkled water using my hands over the page. The green had almost dried naturally by then, so the water did not have much effect on it, but on the red/pink, the water pulled up the colour so when I dried it with a roll of paper towels, the colour lifted allowing the white gesso to show through giving like a bleached out look in spots across the red and pink.
As I rolled the paper towels over the entire page, some of the red and pink came off the paper towels onto the green in the texture of the paper towels. The transference of colour, while not planned, looks really good... so I must remember to try that again (on purpose).
I dried the page with my heat tool, before drawing some lines with black Indian Ink which I allowed to drip down over the green.
I then left the page to dry naturally.

 The completed page... though I should add a date somewhere to be really completed, not that I've done that on any of my other pages, but I guess I need to start somewhere...

I really like the "bleached" look from sprinkling water on the still wet gelatos, letting it sit for ten seconds or so then drying the page with the paper towels to lift off the colour where the water was dripped. You can also achieve something similar by misting water over a stencil or template. 

Some of my drippage. Alas I don't have a dropper, so I had to improvise (as we Kiwis do) and I made do with the refillable ink well of a Parker Calligraphy Pen from back in the day when I was teaching myself calligraphy. It was a bit awkward and not the easiest thing to control, but it did the trick. It'll have to do until I can afford to go and splurge on a dropper!!

Just a little close up of the transference of ink and the texture from using the paper towels. Unexpected... but good.

I know it's a really simple page, but I like it and that's all that matters. I tried some new products, some new techniques and improvised where I didn't have the tools to do the trick... but isn't that what art is all about!

Swap - Mixed Media Postcards

The second swap for the month were mixed media postcards, and having just done the class with Donna Downey at Creative Adventures Downunder, I was really keen to try some of the techniques we had learned from Donna at home on my own. (Let's be honest to see if I had actually paid attention!!)

The postcards had to be 4" x 6" and because they were mixed media designs, I wanted a bit more strength to the base of the postcard so I recycled some cardboard boxes for each postcard. 

I painted each side of the postcard base with a couple of layers of gesso to hide the print on one side and provide a even coat on the other side. 

I added some flowers using a template from The Crafters Workshop with some Texture Paste over a portion of the front of the postcard. Once the texture paste had completely dried, I misted the entire front of each postcard with a different colour. Some were Tattered Angels Glimmer Mists and others were Heidi Swapp Color Shine Mist.

In the top right corner I added some layered flowers. I started with half of a large white fabric flower which I folded in half (so it was the equivalent of a quarter flower). I then layered half a batik paper flower (I only had three flowers, so I was clutching at straws and making do so I used what was in my stash). I then added a full white paper flower and top the stack off with some bling which were the only things I did buy (and they were from the discount store.)
On the left I layered a strip of antique embroidered lace which I picked up at the local hospice shop - definitely a bargain buy!!!

I traced around the frame of the heart from the Heidi Swapp Clear Pop Tags we received at Creative Adventures Downunder. We had used the heart in one of Heidi's projects that we created, but I really liked the shape of it, so I used the leftovers as a template to draw the hearts. I once again used recycled cardboard packaging for the hearts. I coloured each heart randomly using a warm colour palette from my Crayola Water Soluble Oil Pastels. (Yes I'm making sure I get plenty of use from them after I invested in them). I blended them with some spritzed water.
I misted over the top using a KaiserCraft stencil with Mr Hueys Mist - white and Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist - Pearl. 
And then everything went wrong...
I wanted to protect the stencil so it wouldn't rub off or smudge so I painted on a thin coat of gloss varnish... however, instead of protecting the stenciled image it just blurred everything and turned it into a white wash. I still liked the end result so didn't scrap it but decided to work with what I had.
I stamped randomly some script images from one of the Glitz Distress Stamps in Archival Ink - Coffee.
To finish off the hearts I wrapped some lurex embroidery threads in red, hot pink and silver randomly across the surface of the hearts. Then I randomly added some pearl bling to secure the threads in place... more as a security precaution, but I love the end result!!
The finished hearts were then attached in place on top of the antique lace.

I have a postcard stamp but it wasn't big enough to cover the back of the postcard and to be honest would have looked silly stamped on the back as it was. I loved the style of the word "Postcard" so I masked this off before inking it and stamping it onto the centre back of each postcard. I then used the same ink and with my water brush drew each of the lines on the back of the postcard by hand. (Something I will never be doing again!!!)

Front and back of the postcards. 

I really enjoyed making these mixed media postcards and I love the end results... very me with the lovely bright colours. The hardest part was trying to decide which one I wanted to keep for myself!!

Creative Adventures Downunder - Part 6 (Final)

The final US tutor we were blessed to spend time with was the incredibly talented, perpetually positive and all around nice lady - Donna Downey. We had one class with Donna, over either two or three sessions depending upon which group you were with. The Pink group were the last ones to get down and dirty with Donna's unique "hands-on" style of teaching.
This was the class I was both most looking forward to and most nervous about. Unlike many scrappers and crafters, my own exploration of mixed media crafting and art journaling had, until this class, been little more than dipping a toe in the water, so to speak. I knew who Donna was, had seen some of her videos and tutorials and knew a little bit about her product range, but boy was this class an eye opener!
I was pre-warned from people in the other classes that it didn't matter where we sat as Donna was a move about the class room kind of teacher... a plus in my book. So with all my goodies on my desk I sat patiently waiting for all the fun to start.
The first thing we had to do was pick one of Donna's signature journals to create in. These have a fabric and canvas cover, hand sewn, with the hugest big button on the front and an elastic closure to hold it all together.

The signature inside (the pages to us newbies) were a mix of Bazzill cardstock cut to size inter-mixed with tags and envelopes. All of this is held together with a coordinating ribbon threaded through some grommets in the spine. I fell in love with these lime green dots the moment I saw them. (It helped it was the only one of its kind left in the box as well!)

Opened up, these are what all the pages looked like. The Bazzill cardstock is all pre-cut to 12" x 9", so when folded in half the album size is 6" wide and 9" tall.

The first two pages we created were to compare the results of Faber Castell Gelatos on backgrounds with and without gesso. We had to chose either a warm or cool colour palette and use 2 or 3 colours from that palette to experiment with how they blended differently on the background as well. We coloured the two pages with the various shades of gelatos, then spritzed with water and blended with our fingers... time to get dirty!!

This page didn't have any gesso on it. It really soaked up the gelatos and water mix so gave a more subtle and even blending of the different tones of colour. However in doing this I found that I had to be careful not to over blend the colours as then the paper itself seemed to separate and bits were coming off into the colour mixing which I then had to remove. Of course this may have been because it was the back side of the paper as well.

This page had been coasted with the gesso. This time the gelatos felt like they skimmed across the surface of the page rather than soaking into it. This meant they also maintained their individual colours more and didn't blend as well (or as subtly) as when used on the non-gessoed paper.

The second step was to compare the difference between gesso and non-gessoed backgrounds when painted with acrylic paint. Again we had to use 2 or 3 warm or cool paints and blend them together. The above is without gesso. I did noticed the paints looked a little flatter on the non-gessoed paper than on the background that was gessoed.

This is with the gesso on the background paper. Of all the exercises this was the one I didn't really get or see any difference. I'm not sure if it was because I just didn't get it, or because the acrylic paints I used were cheap craft quality and not a good quality artist acrylic paint.

This was the next page we did. Finger painting!! Such a revelation, it was like being a kid again!

This time was finger painting with acrylic paints. We had to pick either a warm or cold palette once again. This time I went with a cold palette using light blue, green and purple together with white. Using our fingers only (quite liberating I might add), we covered the entire background page. The emphasis this time was on blending the colours to create new colours and new tones as well as a texture though the technique.

Once this layer was dry we then drew a shape or image using a 6B charcoal pencil. From the cool coloured background I had painted I could see almost like a underwater scene, so this provided the inspiration for my image. I drew some (very) abstract coral. Around the coral images I then finger painted over the top using the same technique but this time using a warm palette.

The final step (to get to this stage) was to go over the drawn lines once the paint had dried, though instead of using the charcoal pencil again, I used Indian Ink. I still haven't decided if I am going to do any more to this page or not. Part of me is saying yes it needs more, but I also really love the colours just the way they are.

The next page we did we adhered a canvas heart onto one of the pages then coloured it one colour with acrylic paint (either light or dark) and the background another colour, the opposite of what we had used for the heart. If the heart was a dark colour, then the background was light. I of course did the other, which was the harder combination for the next step... typical!!
This exercise was about how to add depth and shading/shadowing to give a three dimensional look to an image/item. Over the top of the painted areas around the inside of the heart (and outside of the heart on the background) we added the Crayola Water Soluble Oil Pastels which we blended together with a spritzing of water.

I really like the way that the texture of the canvas and the background cardstock show through the colouring and shading. I still want to work on the shading a bit, but I'm sure this will continue to develop with time.

The next exercise was to adhere some mini tags to a page. The entire page was then covered in gesso. Once this was dry we then added some blobs of paint across the page before smearing them over the page using a palette knife to highlight the texture of the background.

We then had to adhere down some string to a page and cover this in gesso as well. To add even more texture, I tied small knots along the length of the string as well. I adhered the string on both a full page as well as one of the tags (half an envelope) between two pages.

We covered each page using the finger painting method used earlier on and then highlighted the texture of the string using a complementary colour (i.e. opposite it in the colour wheel). We also used the palette knife to add some scrapes of colour around the edge of the page.
The final step was to attempt to add some additional texture using an image transfer technique to copy the text from a page of text from a book. I used a matte gel that Donna hadn't tried before, so the unsure result was untested as to whether or not it would work. Donna explained two techniques, so I gave them both a go to see which would work best. One worked... the other didn't, though even the one that worked still needs some refining.

Here is a bit more of a close-up of the image transfer. There is still the look of the paper in the image hence the need to work on this technique a bit more but I still like the way it has come out.

The final technique we tried was to stamp using one of Donna's signature stamps using the gelatos. I' stamped my image onto the inside back canvas cover of my journal. I think the key is to be VERY generous with the colour on the stamp and spritz it with water, but then having done that, you can then stamp multiple images without having to refresh the colour.
This particular class was the one that I had to buy the most new products for and I think the class that had the longest bring to class list. I know for some this was an issue (there were one or two quite vocal about it), but these did tend to be the people who felt the least comfortable about the class content. I had no problem at all buying these products and I know I will continue to use them again and again... I already have used them again.
By the end of the class I think I could safely speculate that the people in the class were polarised into one of two extremes - they either totally loved the class and couldn't wait to try more mixed media creativity or they really didn't like it and intended to never try anything like this again. I'm the type of person who believes  don't knock something until you have tried it as you never know if you will like something or not until you have actually tried it. I can safely say that thanks to the terrific teaching of the lovely Donna Downey, I am definitely a convert and I will be trying more very soon!

I had to do the obligatory photo with Donna, but to be different I wanted to take a "Dirty Hands" picture even though our hands weren't that dirty as we had both cleaned them during the class (several times). 

Thank you so much for the wonderful class Donna!!

Creative Adventures Downunder - Part 3

Now we are getting down to the good bits... the actual classes.

My first class was with Maggie Armstrong a tutor from here in New Zealand. In Maggie's class we created a "Creative Adventure Commemorative Layout" with a little bit of mixed media Kiwiana thrown in for good measure.

We had 3 hours to create this layout which sounds like a lot of time, but really, really isn't in a class room situation. This is my still to be completed layout... but I wanted to share (publicly) what I was able to achieve in class at the time. I will finish the layout (especially some fussy cutting I managed to get half done during class) and post a picture of the completed layout once done.

Note:

1 - My little camera charm fell off. It is supposed to be attached to the grommet but it decided not to cooperate so I need to re-attach it.

2 - I didn't get my photo taken at the photo-booth at the dinner on Friday evening. Too many people, not enough time, but I will find a picture to add to the pull out photo mat which is hidden inside the camera. I also need to add a paperclip or turning mount to keep the camera in place (it flops down otherwise, by design).

3 - There is some fussy cut flowers and scrolls to be added, a chipboard logo for CAD and some more feathers as well.

Close up of the mixed media detailing we added with the paua shell and feathers. Can I just add these a really teeny tiny pieces of paua and they were not  easy to work with which is why I think I fell behind in class... but they still look really good!

This part was definitely my favourite. We learnt a new technique and tried out a new product (that I had never used)... melted bees wax with Perfect Pearls over a wooden laser cut word.

I really enjoyed this technique, so have bought some extra bees wax to try this technique again in my studio, so I will post a tutorial on what I create.

The delightful Maggie Armstrong and myself. (And yes she was bending so as to not look so tall next to me)