Does the weather effect the creative process? I think so. The heavy winter rains in Seattle have sent me towards my drawers of watercolor supplies in the last couple of weeks - the way the water mixes all the outdoors together when you're looking out a window certainly inspires me to blend color across some images.
But a dry technique that gives a watercolor look was what I was searching for as I got my plans together for a Valentine's demonstration at Rubber Soul and Impress last week. I remembered that fun technique where you stamp with Versamark clear ink and rub chalk powder over the image. The powder sticks to the stamped image, but not to the surrounding paper.
Could you do the same technique with a colored inkpad - instead of a clear Versamark? Yes, as it turns out, you can.
The key is to use a pigment ink - and I chose a Versamagic Pixie Dust inkpad for my project. The ink that you use for this project needs to dry slowly (so it's a little sticky) - if the ink was dye based, it would dry too quickly and the powder would not stick.
I used pearlescent chalks (any chalks will work fine) and a dry paint brush. I have lots of well worn paintbrushes from all of the classes that I teach - and I save the old ones for applying chalk gently to images like this.
Stamp the Batik Birds D1313 image in the Pixie Dust ink onto white paper. The advantage of stamping in a color, rather than a clear ink, is that you begin with a base color and can accent it with just a few colors - rather than having to fill in the whole image.
Rub the dry brush into the palette. Can you see the powder developing as the brush swirls around on the surface? Your brush will be full of this powder - carefully move it over to the stamped image.
Now apply the chalk to the image - right around the silhouettes of the birds especially. This will darken the ink around the birds - creating a deeper hue. Use chalk colors in pinks, browns and pale purples - so that the shading coordinates with the Pixie Dust color. Apply the chalk as gently as you can, swirling the powder over the image. Any excess chalk can be removed with a Swiffer cloth (those cloths you use for cleaning) because they take the dust off the paper, but leave the chalk on the ink - it works like magic!
Once you are done, this subtle effect mimics the highlights and color variation of a watercolor wash. It's really quite beautiful - and works with any shade of pigment inks, even darker colors!
My year, so far, has offered lots of opportunities to learn lessons - about family, business, balance and creativity. Our household includes my father in law, my wife and I and my two great kids. In the same week we were talking to our 11 year old about texting to his girlfriend, we were trying to plan the logistics of stairs and aftercare for an upcoming surgery for my father in law - multigenerational themes were keeping us busy!
Business has been quite brisk, as we launched our new design team for Memory Box and have had 2 releases on top of each other - Valentines Studio and Whats in the Box. We are thankful to all of the Memory Box fans out there for your business - and have lots in store for 2010.
I was lucky enough to meet a lot of Memory Box fans this last weekend, when I traveled to my demos. I saw lots of familiar faces - and was happy to see a customer who came to my demonstration at Rubber Soul in Poulsbo, WA on Friday and then see her again at my Valentine's event in Tukwila, WA at Impress on Saturday (a 2 hour trip by ferry!).
At one of the events, a middle school teacher named Jessica, told me about her 90 students (3 classes of 30 each). She rewards them for filling out their weekly homework planners by stamping a Memory Box Penguin stamp in their books every Friday - if they have it all filled in completely. She was proud to say that she had 100% participation - because the kids can't wait to see what penguin stamp they will get next! We realized that there weren't enough penguin designs to fill in weekly journals for an entire school year (I think she had 20 in her collection so far) - so I may have to design a few more, so that we can keep the peace at the middle school.
She brought some of the planners for me to sign - and I was honored to be a part of the learning process. Maybe one day, one of them will grab hold of their creative side, start a business and end up inspiring a whole new group of people. I have always been surprised at how a rubber stamp can add such value to the everyday - and I am grateful to be a part of the process.
Dave - what a great story about the middle school teacher! And, I LOVE your chalked image. So pretty and soft. I'm playing with my chalks tonight too! LOL!
Posted by: Linda | January 18, 2010 at 11:00 PM
That is a cute story! I can just see the kids giddy with excitement to see which penguin they will get. Pretty card!
Posted by: Janice | January 19, 2010 at 08:46 AM