Created byhand Tuesday Challenge

Crow Border
This week's challenge was using VersaMark stamp pad. Here is my contribution. You can read how to do this Murder of Crows in the Quietfire Design Project Gallery

Gilding!

Well, I just had to. I couldn't resist going to a workshop where everyone was splashing around gold leaf! It's been years since I've had gold fingers.


The Fairbank Calligraphy Society had a weekend workshop on gilding taught by Georgia Angelopoulos. What a blast! Everyone did something very cool - you didn't need to be a calligrapher to make something that you would have been proud of! Georgia did a wonderful job of showing what could be done and how to get there. She's done lots of research and experimenting. If you get a chance to take a course with her, run, don't walk to register!

The letterforms for this class were borrowed from a manuscript - the Stockholm Codex Aureus. I thought the letters in the manuscript were nasty - I wouldn't have been happy if I'd done them! Maybe my aesthetic intelligence needs enlightening.....



What did I do in class? As usual, I bit off more than I could chew! With the Teller quotation from the last blog entry fresh in my mind, it became a pretty interesing choice with words that were easily chosen to highlight in gold. This piece is far from finished (guess you figured that if you've read the Teller quote) and the rest of the quote will be added in a cursive hand. I figure I'll be able to ruin this piece in about half a second. I tortured myself trying to decide if I should add the cursive lettering at the workshop where I would get all kinds of encouraging sympathy from my fellow calligraphers or ruin it in the privacy of my own home.... I guess I chose the latter!


The other piece I worked on was on black - metals just !pop! on black. It was an experiment and it worked quite successfully. To get the effect of the metal fading towards the light, I sprayed the leaf still adhered to the transfer paper prior to applying it to the black paper. I borrowed the words from the Teller quote

Materials used for this piece

Drawn letters on
Arches Black Cover
Gold Size
24.5 Carat Gold Transfer Leaf
Spray adhesive

Do you want to see how the other metals (copper and silver) looked in the hands of a pro? Click here!!

Happy creating! Suzanne

Created byhand Challenge - Wings

Sorry, this is another re-tread! I'm working on new rubber (oh, how clever... retread, more rubber - didja get it? huh?) - that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

I just love this quotation and would really love to do it as rubber, but I need to check out the attribute more thoroughly and potential copyright issues.... Email me if you have any insight!

For this atc I used:

Kraft atc

Collage sheet Vintage Children 1

Wings charm

Copy transfer using Chartpak Marker Blender

Happy creating! Suzanne

Quicky Playtime Artwork

I needed something for the byhand Newsletter pronto, as I really wanted to publish it before we went away for the weekend! So it's not my most exquisite lettering..... sorry! You can see the newsletter here.


I wanted to demostrate the 2-line Automatic pens and how you could letter with acrylic ink and then paint over it. I didn't get the drama in the watercolour wash I was hoping for, darn it! (but I was after delicate colour - can you have delicate and drama - oh, ya, but not today.... smile!)

For this project I used

• #9 2-line Automatic Pen
• Magic Color Cobalt Blue
• Arches HP Watercolour block
• Pigma Pen Black 08
• Gesso Brush
• French Ultramarine Blue (FUB)
• Rose Madder Genuine

I really enjoy a 2-line pen - the Automatic pens come in several sizes of 2-line. I also carry the Scroll marker here. It sure makes you pay attention to your pen angle!

I lettered Home with the Automatic pen using the Cobalt Blue Magic Color ink and allowed it to dry. Acrylic ink dried waterproof which is fun because you can do a watercolour wash over top and the lettering won't budge. (I don't like acrylic ink for small formal lettering though, I've never been able to get good hairlines with it)

I used the Pigma Pen to letter the rest of the quote. The Pigma ink is also waterproof when dry.

I mixed up little watercolour puddles in my palette (I love the Robert E Woods palette and use it exclusively for painting). When I began painting, I took a workshop, but then I learned *a lot* from pouring over Jeanne Dobie's Making Watercolour Sing. I used a wide Gesso Brush and slopped, yes, pretty much slopped, the water onto the watercolour paper (which I didn't have to worry about stretching and buckling because it's a block). I wanted a delicate colour mixing, so I had to water down that strong FUB quite a bit.

Tip the watercolour block to allow the paints to mix before they dry. Magic!

Created byhand Tuesday Challenge - Fabric

Okay, so I'm cheating by using something old, but hey, I just dreamed up this challenge yesterday!

I had such a good time making this ATC. I think it just needs to be finished off around the edge with a blanket stitch..... One of these days.....

You can see this as a project on my website.

Happy creating! Suzanne

Created byhand Challenge - Charms

Here is my submission! I was suppose to go to my first ATC swap yesterday, but didn't quite make it (for a really wonderful reason, though!). The theme was marine things, so I made this atc and thought the charm was a teasing poke at fishermen who "embellish" the sizes of their catches! (There are a lot of fishing types in this part of the world!)

This atc is done on Tyvek using Magic Colour Acrylic ink to colour the background. The fishy stamp is Fred Mullett, the flourish is Quietfire Design Flourishes. The One Inch charm can be found here and the brads are here!

The Brag Flag Book

Here is a Special Project for you!
I was delighted to be asked by Tim Hammonds of Scor-it and designer Judi Kauffman to create the first piece for a series of Scor-it articles on Scrapbooking.com, the online scrapbooking magazine.
Here is a direct link to the article with instructions, in their Paper Crafting section, and you can see the slide show below.

Supplies you will need:

• Scor-it Board Original (On sale this month at 20% off! You won't see the reduced price till it's in your shopping cart)
• Bazzill Basics Monochrome Cardstock in Greens
• Bone Folder
• Life Journey Words Rubber Stamps
• Flourishes Rubber Stamps
• Italic Caps, Double Stroke Alphabet Rubber Stamps
• Italic Alphabet Rubber Stamps
• The Moment a Child is Born Rubber Stamp
• VersaMagic Dew Drop Tea Leaves
• VersaMark Stamp Pad
• Decorative paper, Edera Italian
• Double-sided tape or glue stick
• Temporary adhesive such as a Post-it Glue Stick
• Awl and Brads
• Ribbon

byhand Newsletter 7th Anniversary Contest

The Featured Quietfire Product for this project is Distress Embossing Powder!

This is one segment of a scavenger hunt for a $30 gift
certificate from Quietfire Design, celebrating the 7th Anniversary of the
byhand Newsletter compiled and designed by me.

Read the details of this hunt here!

Good luck!

I also used Flourishes, one of the Mini Images, Walnut Ink and a collage image from Suzanne's Favourites.

Walnut Ink Background Variation

This is my contribution to the byhandartists Background Swap! I've just discovered the special effect of Distress Embossing Powder! Combine it with Walnut ink and what is there to lose? Add some of the incredibly brilliant Tro-Col copper and you get the glitz with the texture. Wow!








Here's what you need:

• Spritzer Bottle
• Walnut Ink
• Brush
• 140 lb Arches Cold Watercolour paper
• Distress Embossing Powder
• Tea Dye
• Fired Brick
• Schminke Tro-Col- Gouache - Copper
• Little Bitty Scoop
• Heat Gun

Instructions:

1. Mix up the strongest batch of Walnut ink you possibly can. Make
   sure all the crystals are dissolved.
2. Spritz a piece of watercolour paper with water.
3. Begin brushing the Walnut Ink over the paper.
4. Before the Walnut ink dries, begin randomly sprinkling Distress
   Embossing Powder on the surface.
5. Sprinkle Tro-Col Copper onto the surface. If the surface has begun
   to dry, spritz it again as you don't want everything to blow off
   when you begin heat setting.
6. Heat set a small area at a time, working your way over the entire
   surface of the paper.
7. You will have wonderful texture! Don't worry if some of the Distress
   Embossing Powder flakes off. It's meant to do that!
8. Have fun!!!

7th Anniversary of the byhand Newsletter

Well, I've been putting out the byhand Newsletter for 7 years. Way back then, I really wondered if I'd be able to scrape together enough to say to keep it going. But with lots of help from many very talented artists who've submitted their wonder creations, here we are today! How time flies.

It takes me about 3 days of work to put together a newsletter and I love doing it. Only rarely do I feel like I've gone through labour and delivery and those are usually newsletter that require a huge amount of photo-editing.

The next newsletter is almost ready to go.

!!!Check it out - we're having an Anniversary Party!!!!!

I'm giving away $100 worth of gift certificates in 3 separate "contests". Stay tuned for contest details in the newsletter!

To subscribe to the byhand Newsletter, visit the News Department in the right hand column of the Quietfire Design.ca homepage!

To see back-issues of the newsletter, click here!

Good luck! Suzanne