' ' ' 'Crafty Endeavours: Hug and nowhere

Friday 24 October 2014

Hug and nowhere

Once again I turned to the Paper Artsy blog for inspiration for my entry to the Craft Barn Quote challenge. The words are Hug and Nowhere and I selected a quote based on my having the perfect stamps from Paper Artsy for it (Hot Pick 1208).
Wanda had used alcohol inks on tiles and I wanted to have another go after the less than successful attempt in this project. You can see her wonderful work here. I'll admit there isn't a lot in common in the end, apart from the alcohol inks and the painting, but having chosen such detailed stamps and used paper that turned out even more absorbent than glossy paper let alone ceramic,  things didn't pan out this way.

Still I liked the atmospheric results, so I went with it.

Without further ado a dark, wet wintry London:


For the background I started like Wanda with drops of ink and added alcohol to get it moving because the card was absorbing the ink and the inks were drying too fast. Getting increasingly desperate I added inks, alcohol, more inks, added the opaque Snowcap, the shimmering Pearl, more alcohol... you get the picture.

I stamped the Big Ben image partially with Versafine and embossed with clear powder so I wouldn't have to worry about painting later. It wasn't very dark so I switched to Archival for my bus. This worked out well, as clear embossed Archival ink is almost as dark as black embossing and it made Big Ben recedes as per aerial perspective.

I painted the stamped image with white as way to make them stand out from the background and when dry wiped the embossed areas clean. The embossing still looked cloudy so I reheated it and this brought the shine back.

I added the quote by Vivienne Westwood in pen and white ink and a bit of silver around the panel.

Thanks for coming by,

26 comments:

  1. This looks really effective. In the end it looks just perfect and really evokes London - nowhere quite like it! xx

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  2. Stunning card, loving the ethereal Harry Potter bus scene (in my head) and the colours are amazing.

    The reason you had difficulty with the alcohol inks is that for you to blend them you need to work on glossy card stock, normal absorbs and will use a lot of your ink. I do however love the results :-) xxx

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  3. Very atmospheric, very London!

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  4. I came across this quote, and you have interpreted it beautifully!

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  5. C'est superbement bien inspiré. Tu as su t'approprier cette technique pour créer une atmosphère parfaitement adaptée à Londres et son légendaire brouillard! :) Bises Christine, bon week-end

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  6. Love the atmosphere on this - great colours for a wintry night. Those stamps are fab!

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  7. Beautiful ideas on this creation--wonderful background

    Love Chrissie x

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  8. Fantastic creation! Beautiful background and fab London images xx

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  9. Love it. The effect with the alcohol inks is beautiful. :)

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  10. my first thought was Harry Potter too - really like the overall effect xx

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  11. Wow! This is stunning! Great words too!
    Alison x

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  12. I really love this! You were so clever to think of using a darker ink for bus, and Big Ben recedes nicely into the background without getting lost! I had to chuckle a little at your "increasing desperation" as that is an emotion I have suffered while crafting many times!

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  13. This is wonderful, so atmospheric, I worked at the House of Lords for a few years and I get a good feeling looking at this art work. X

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  14. This is fabilous and I really like the idea of colouring with white. It is a very atmospheric piece. I really like it! :o))

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  15. Well done on persevering with this - your background is very atmospheric, night drawing in and fog coming off the river etc. I saw that quote and have that stamp set but never thought to use it!!

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  16. this is stunning, Harry Potter feeling.Very nice perspective.

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  17. I think what you did looks gorgeous!!!!! The whole piece is fabulous!!!!

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  18. A fabulous idea and a great piece of art.

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  19. This is lovely. Your ink and more ink made a great background. The embossed images look fantastic. It's a great piece. Hugz

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  20. Alcohol inks are unpredictable at the best of times so well done for "going with it" the background is stunning, Well worth the effort (and stress lol) and I love the white paint effect on the stamped images,

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  21. Replies
    1. Thanks Fiona, I went to see yours and it brought me back to the disco days... Very effective scene.

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  22. You could be a travel agent with this lovely piece. Makes me want to pack my bags and travel over to pond to London. Love this!

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  23. Looks fab, great quote and I love the London bus stamp! xx

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  24. Love the atmospheric background. A fabulous creation.

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