Ray Ray’s Creative Circus Class of 2024 - Part 2 - Finnabair

 

After a mammoth task of trying to find a supermarket to buy some lunch and being run off the road by a fire chief in an unmarked car, we finally got back to the hotel in order to make a canvas like the one above with Anna (Finnabair).

So Anna's style of teaching is completely different and she has everyone come up to the top table so that she can demo what to do.  

So the plan was to gesso the wood, then use three different colours of acrylic, water them down and create a sort of wood effect on one half.  The more water, the more streaks.

Next we added tissue paper to the top half and dried it thoroughly because the next step was to add guilding flakes. I chose to use all 3 available colours (gold, silver and copper) and on the wings of the moth.

There were lots of different colour combos going on.

Everyone still having fun.

Next step was to create the composition and unfortunately I totally forgot to take any more photos, so here is what I ended up with.

 

I used the same 3 colours of acrylic (avocado, umber and ink black) that I used for the bottom half. We then used white gesso and gesso'd all of the elements.  I took the black acrylic and painted around the outside of all the elements and used lots and lots of water to get the drip lines on the bottom half and dried each time between the spritzing.  Now the next thing we did is totally new to me, I used a matt wax (sage leaves) but like paint and totally covered all the elements.  Next I used a green metallic paint and randomly painted over the waxed areas using lots and lots of water, sort of washing the paint away but leaving the mica behind.  This also created more drips for me. I kept drying between adding more water.  Once happy with this, I chose the silver metallic wax and used it to bring back the highlights on the elements for a contrast.  I still have to stick the moth and add some pebbles.

And a huge thank you to Anna for bringing my prize with her from the latest patreons party.  This is so generous because there is only half of it here, I shared the paper with Janet.

I absolutely love these sticker sheets.

I am happy to say that the drive home was much less eventful than the journey down there. In fact, nothing happened at all - lol.

Tags

I took a sheet of acetate dripped drops of alcohol ink and blew it using a straw. I used sailboat, raspberry and sunshine. The blue dried really quickly, hence they didn't spread as well. The images are stamped directly onto the tag and I cut the acetate out to sit on the top. I used double sided tape to stick it down and also used an eyelet in the hole at the top to help secure it further.

Again I'm entering into the PaperArtsy challenge.

Corrugated Hangers

I tied knots in a couple of pieces of string and glued them to the corrugated. I painted over them with gold, silver and copper acrylic dabbers.  Once dry I applied black to certain areas to highlight.  Using a template found on google, I cut the torso shape out of thick card, stuck small nails and shaved pieces of wood to it and covered with tissue paper.  Once dry I painted it with bronze eco friendly paint and again used the black to highlight.  Attached it to the background between the two pieces of knotted string and added a couple of nails and piece of string to hang.

I covered three pieces of a straw with text paper and painted them silver along with the corrugated.  Once dry, I dripped green patina eco friendly paint over the corrugated.  I singed a piece of light green organza and using wire I sewed the friendly plastic piece to it.  These are the leftover pieces from the key ring and brooch projects.  Using silicone glue I attached the organza and friendly plastic and the painted straws to the background. I added a piece of string to hang.



All the items that I've made over the christmas period have been inspired by articles in the following books which I got for christmas:



Friendly Plastic 101
Raising the Surface
Fusing Fabric



DVD's
Bend it, Shape it - Liz Welch
Polymer Clay Treasures - Lisa Pavelka

1 of a Kind

I started off using the birdcage from T!m's alteration dies as the bottom of a skirt.  I cut out a body with arms and just built on it.  I used wire and beads for legs and buttons for hands.  The flower stalks are straws covered text.  

A Challenge

I set myself a challenge which was not to use any words (as in large stamped words) or an image.  This is what I came up with.  Both are canvas's.  Top one had half a dictonary page attached and white gesso was applied.  Crushed olive distress ink was swooshed over it and royal purple stazon was used to edge.  I covered a small box and 3 cut down straws in text paper and used the purple again. I attached a piece of Angelina Fibre with fibre in it and a piece of wire mesh.  Inside the box is a piece of wire and a large clear gem stone.

This one actually looks more pinky / red than it really is, so I might try and get a better picture tomorrow in different light.  Anyway I wiped on various colours of acrylic paint with a baby wipe.  Covered a piece of wood in aged mahogany crackle paste and varnished it when dry.  I added a few nails to the top.  I bound a few oddments of metal pieces together for each of the circles and sat them on top of a piece of thick copper wire.  The mesh at the bottom is material which I attached with staples.

***Edited*** This photo shows the truer colours.

This one also fits in with this weeks Lotstodo Challenge - shapes