Clarity Stamps Challenge 40 - June 2016 'Masculine'

Clarity Challenge 40 – June 2016

‘Masculine’
'Happy Landings!'

Hi and thank you for visiting my blog. 

Well, this is supposed to be 'Flaming' June but here in Aberdeen it's flaming cold!! Our daily 'constitutional' (along the beach esplanade today) saw me kitted out in my winter windproof jacket complete with gloves. Even the seagulls found it too tiresome to fly against the wind and were huddled along the groynes. 

A 'Masculine' card/project is always a trial for me and this month was no exception. (My masculine cards are often of the 'pick and stick' variety - and what's wrong with that I ask myself as it can be quite therapeutic in its own way!!!) Anyway, I looked through my Clarity stamps and stencils, selected some of each then got on with the task in hand. I liked the resulting prints from the inked stencil and then decided to experiment further. 

I hope you find the 'making' process below helpful. 

Materials I used:-

·         Stencils:- Clarity - Fish Stencil  NDC 12, Lattice Stencil NDSC 16

·         Cardstock:- Clarity Stencil card 7x7

·         Inkpads:- Versafine – Onyx Black,  Versamark; Ranger Distress Inks – Squeezed Lemonade, Fossilized Amber, Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn, Mermaid Lagoon, Black Soot

·         Paints:- Fresco Finish – Snowflake, Nougat, Antarctic, Bora Bora, South Pacific, China

·         Miscellaneous – Wooden Plaque, Pebeo Gedeo Mixtion Relief, Pebeo Silver Leaf, Dark Grey Alcohol Marker, Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pens – Clear, String, brayer, WOW White Twinkle embossing powder

Instructions:-

For the plaque:-

1.       Remove the existing string from the plaque. (I found the wooden plaque in a bargain basket and paid 99p for it.) Base coat the wooden plaque on all sides with Snowflake and leave to dry. (NB – I needed four coats to obliterate the original writing on the plaque.)

2.       Place at a distance from each other on a craft mat pea-size blobs of China, South Pacific and Bora Bora. Starting with the darkest, brayer colours over the plaque at random until the entire surface is covered. When dry, add small areas of Nougat and Antarctic to suit.

3.       Place the Lattice stencil on the dry plaque and by using the edges of the ‘squares,’ lightly draw in pencil lines to form the suggestion of squares for the net. Roughly draw over the pencil lines with grey alcohol marker, then clear Sparkle pen; now draw fine lines with the ‘Mixtion’ over these, leave to dry for a few hours then apply the Silver Leaf.

4.       Sponge Black Soot around the edges. Set aside.

Top Left - stencil after prints 

Bottom Left - First print

Top Right - Second print

Bottom Right - Third print

For the fish:-

1.       Cover the Fish Stencil with Onyx Black, place on a sheet of 7x7 card, cover with a sheet of copy paper then place between relevant embossing machine plates and wind through the machine. Repeat to obtain second and third generation prints. (I gave the prints a blast with my heat gun to set the ink and I also washed the stencil in soapy water.)

2.       Replace the stencil over the first generation printed silhouette and sponge through a variety of Distress Inks listed above. (I offset the stencil slightly to create white areas.)

3.       Leaving the stencil in place, sponge over Versamark ink, remove stencil and add White Twinkle embossing powder. Heat set. Clean stencil.

4.       Repeat 2 and 3 with either second or third print.

5.       Trim the paler image along the outside line. From the darker image, cut out the fins, tail and backbone (NB No animal or fish was harmed in this process LOL!!) and glue into position with white glue.

Top Image a 'mock-up' of the plaque to ensure the image fitted.

To assemble:-

1.       Coat the reverse of the fish with matte Mod-Podge and place (or PLAICE!!) onto plaque to suit. Thread through string.

And there we have it –‘ Gone Fishing,’ ‘What a Catch,’ Happy Landings,’ call it what you will!

Some more ideas for the 'fishy' stencil.

 Top image - Translucent paste on acetate then whilst still wet, sprinkled with a variety of fine coloured glitter and mounted on black card.

Bottom image - inked through stencil onto white card; translucent paste on acetate then stencil replaced over image when dry and inks applied as below; the acetate image is then replaced over image on white card but slightly offset to give a 3D illusion. 

Below - Translucent paste through stencil onto a wooden 'label' which has been painted with Fresco Finish  paints; glitter applied over.

Thank you for taking the time to peruse the above.

It's now time for you to have a go at this month's 'Masculine' Clarity Challenge. All the details can be found on the Clarity Stamps website and please ensure you use Clarity stamps, stencils or Groovi plates (or indeed a combination of these) to create your masterpiece. Looking forward to viewing your worderful pieces of artwork!

Best wishes,

Shelagh

(The Making Lady)

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