Clarity Challenge

 April 2017

‘It’s Only Words’

‘Dream’

. . . . . . . And here we are in April . . . . . . . . or even ‘Oh, to be in England now that April’s there’ (‘Home Thoughts from Abroad’ - Robert Browning.) . . . . . . . . and . . . . . . the theme is ‘It’s Only Words.’ Where do I begin, I asked myself? Time was very much against me . . . . . . it had to be a couple of quick projects – well, if you believe that , you’ll believe anything! Up therefore, to ‘The Making Lady’s abode and a quick sort through stamps and stencils.

And this is what emerged!

Materials:-

·         Stencil:- Clarity NDSC 15 Dream Catcher

·         Groovi:- Plates - Small Alphabet Picture Frame, Nested Stars; Parchment tools

·         Paper/Cardstock:- 1 x A4 white parchment sheet; 1 x A5 white parchment sheet; 1 x Clarity Papers sheet; 1 x A4 sheet silver mirri; 1 x A4 sheet lilac mirri; 1 x A4 sheet white card; I x A4 black card

·         Misc:- glue pen, fine glitter, white pencil,

Instructions:-

1.       Trace the Dreamcatcher onto parchment and emboss. Add star and words.

2.       Pierce with double needle tool. Cut to form picot edging.

3.       Dot with glue pen and apply glitter.

4.       Mount onto trimmed Clarity paper of choice.

5.       Mat onto silver, black, lilac, white – in that order.

And to my second example:-

Same Stencil - Different Take!!!

The texture paste images on the canvas having been staring at me for a few days and I had one or two ideas as to where the next steps would lead. . . . . but how to get there? As the theme included ‘Words,’ I decided to stamp onto such and my library houses some old poetry books, bought from a country school sale many years ago when, as an eight year old, I loved the richness of leather bound books and one of them, a collection of Longfellow’s works, contained ‘The Song of Hiawatha.’ The rest, well, you can work it out.

Materials:-

·         Canvas:-

·         Stencil:- Clarity NSDC 15 Dreamcatcher

·         Stamps:- Clarity Rope Frame Scene – horse and rider, Scarecrow Field – crows, Native American Man, Alphabet

·         Ink pads:- Staz-On Black, Distress Oxide - Iced Spruce; Distress – Hickory Smoke, Black Soot Artistry – Aged Stucco

·         Paper/ Card:- Recycled Poetry Book, tissue paper

·         Misc:- Transparent texture paste; Tonic Nuvo glitter – Graphite, Silver, Black; pages from poetry book; charcoal pencil; Mod Podge – matte, gloss; Perfect Pearls Mists – Green Patina, Pearl, Mint; Cosmic Shimmer; gesso – white; Faber Castell Polychromos

Instructions:-

1.       Coat canvas with mate Mod podge and apply tissue paper sheet over. Trim at reverse.

2.       Paint ‘tissued canvas’ with white gesso. Allow to dry.

3.       Spray Perfect Pearls Mist to suit. Brush the canvas with a large paint brush to create an uneven finish.

4.       Attach ‘Dreamcatcher’ stencil onto canvas with low-tack masking tape and pull through a layer of texture paste; allow to dry. Leaving stencil in place, sprinkle over silver glitter and pat down gently. Allow to dry.

5.       Pull translucent paste through chosen feather at each corner and add black glitter. Allow to dry.

6.       Pull translucent paste through a different feather around perimeter spaces, add graphite glitter and pat down as before. Allow to dry.

7.       Using Staz-On (Second Generation) and onto poetry pages, stamp Native Indian man, horse and rider, crows, ‘I dreamed a dream in time gone by.’

8.       Colour Native American man using grey Polychromos.

9.       Rip around stamped words to leave a border then edge with Hickory Smoke and Black Soot. Further enhance edges with charcoal pencil and smudge.

10.   Attach all stamped images to suit on canvas using double-sided sticky tape then dab over Mod Podge gloss to cover.

. . . . . . and there we have it!
Stamps and stencil may be found on the Clarity website - claritystamp.com
Best wishes in the Challenge!

Shelagh
'The Making Lady'