Bird Girls -Metal Embossing and stamps

Hi Everyone,

I am Elitia Hart, metal art instructor and mixed media explorer, and this is my first post for the 100 Moons Creative Collaboration blog. I almost always use some form of metal sheet in my projects and am so excited for the opportunity to incorporate Artfoamies, 100 Proof Press Rubber Stamps and Rubbermoon stamps into my work.

When I first saw the images of 100 Proof Press stamps used to create these two small mixed media and metal tiles it reminded me of a poem by Christy Ann Martine :

" You can't keep her in a cage, 

clip her wings, tell her lies

say that fragile birds 

were never meant to fly.

Watch her live behind a rusted door, latched tight, 

her spirit slipping away so you can keep her in sight

Beautiful creatures cannot be confined.

Her wings will grow, 

she'll find the sky. " 

Supplies :

Stamps from 100 Proof Press : 

SWplate55 Three Birds Plate 55 

6496 Bird Legs

Stamp from Artfoamies :

Gypsy Soul Fragmented Rings Foam Stamp 

Stencil from Rubbermoon :

Kae Pea Doily Stencil ATC Size 

2 x Small Square grey Ceramic Tiles 4 inch

Liquitex Basics Gesso White

Rustoleum Clear Satin Spray Lacquer 

Stazon Solvent Ink Pad Jet Black

Stazon Solvent Ink Pad Black Cherry

Tim Holtz Ranger Adirondak Alcohol Ink Red Pepper

Tim Holtz Adirondak Alcohol Ink Cloudy Blue

Permapaque Dual Black Marker

Dreamweaver Stencils Metallic Silver Embossing Paste

Plaid Mod Podge Dimensional Magic CS11215

3D Foam Squares (Scrapbook Adhesives) 

Scorpal Sook Wang Double Sided Adhesive Tape Sheet+

Acrylic Block , scissors

Lead free Pewter Sheet 36 gauge or Aluminum 40 g

Aluminum Foil Adhesive Tape 

Craft Foam sheet and hard smooth surface 

Teflon Tip Embossing tool or pencil 

Blending Stump/Paper Pen  

Small piece of Mat board or cardboard 

~

Instructions : 

Please use these notes along with the video as I got a little frazzled during filming and might not have addressed the order of business as well as I could have : ) 

WATCH THE VIDEO 

 

The Tiles : 

I painted two grey ceramic tiles with white gesso and stamped the wet paint with the

Gypsy Soul Fragmented Rings Foam Stamp . Once the gesso was dry I added droplets of alcohol inks in the design circles and allowed it to "bleed". 

Once the ink was dry I sealed the tiles with Rustoleum Satin Spray lacquer to create a better bond on the tile*****(this is an important step) 

I then stamped the corner using Stazon Black Cherry and spiral stamp from the SWplate55 Three Birds Plate 55 

I used the Rubbermoon Kae Pea Doily Stencil ATC Size with Dreamweaver Stencils Metallic Silver Embossing Paste to surround the spiral. Once the embossing paste is dry you could apply another coat of satin Rustoleum Lacquer. 

I cut strips of Aluminum foil adhesive tape and attached it to the edges of the tiles burnishing it well to adhere. I used a texture wheel on the foil to add some engravings and then applied black ink with the Permapaque marker, wiping away the excess ink while wet. 

The Metal Embossing : 

I stamped the 3 images on lead free pewter sheet (you can use aluminum 40 gauge too) with Black Stazon Ink. The images were placed on a thin foam craft mat and I went over all the primary design lines using a teflon tip tool. The metal was flipped over and on the back relined just on the inside of the primary line created from the front. I used a paper stump (blending stump) to push out the inside of the design and then placed it face up on the hard surface flattening the background. The concave areas on the back were then filled with Mod Podge Dimensional Magic and left to dry overnight. 

Once dry, I applied Sook Wang double sided adhesive tape sheet to the back of the metal pieces and used scissors to cut out the girl and egg. The Bird girl was attached to mat board and the edges folded over.

 All the metal pieces were a sprayed with Rustoleum Clear Satin Lacquer prior to adding the colored alcohol inks. 

Once the ink was dried I used foam dots to attach the rectangular piece to the tile adding some height. The small girl was attached to the tile by removing the backing tape of the Sook Wang tape and the egg with a foam dot. 

Spray the completed tiles again. 

~

Hope you had fun watching and learning- I certainly enjoyed the process!

#rubbermoon #100proofpress #artfoamies #100moonscollab 

For more on metal embossing see

www.pewterart.ca 

You can find me on Facebook Elitia Hart Metal Art 

Instagram : metalartchick

You Tube Channel : Elitia Hart 

Story Girl Writes a Letter

I've only just returned recently from my second summer residency in my MFA program, and even though I'm studying poetry, "Story Girl" resonates. Below is the ATC I made just prior to leaving and the mail art is the letter I wrote to a friend about the residency upon my return.  Both use these wildly funky Gretchen Ehrsam backgrounds that with enough play on page can be mesmerizing.

For Story Girl, I inked up the Typewriter with Heart (kp5044) using StazOn Jet Black ink.  This I stamped onto a precut glossy cardstock piece just shy the size of an ATC.  I stamped an identical version onto a sticky note to serve as a mask.  Once I applied the mask to the card, I used about five different hues of Distress ink on Gretchen Ehrsam's background stamp, Umbrellas (ge2843).  The expression Story Girl (kp5059) was stamped out on a scrap glossy strip.  It was glued first to black cardstock and layered onto the card.  Once the Distress inks dried, I adhered the card to an ATC back, and added a bit of colorful acrylics and glitter glue to the edges.

And just for kicks - here is the mail art that began its flight to Paris yesterday...for this I used Mixed Border (mk592f) and Evening Starflower (db4785g).

Rubbermoon: Something to Crow About

I was not quite sure where I was headed with this piece. Initially, I simply started blocking out 2" Twinchie Squares from Inchie Arts using Caran d'Ache watercolor crayons.  Ravens always speak to me, so I pulled a handful of Rubbermoon's infamous black birds (Crow Silhouette, Happy Feet, Squawk, Crow Looking Over Shoulder) and went to Twinchie town.  Each square became home to blackbird using Staz On Jet Black ink and clear embossing powder.  The little guy in the lower right hand corner endured a bit of eye block due to the embossing powder, but as in good ephemerical order, I simply added a tiny Swarovski crystal for an eye because, afterall, ravens ARE magic.  And artist Gretchen Ehrsam added her magic touch to most of these blackbirds, so crystal eye is well-deserved!

To continue drawing out color, I pulled out a variety of Distress Inks and applied various shades and color to each square using Rubbermoon's Inksplat stamp.  I stamped splat around each bird.  After, I outlined each bird and a handful of splats in white to mirror the white Gesso frame I planned to add to the top of my acrylics on the 5x5 background canvas panel piece.

The background piece was an interesting challenge.  At first I thought to mirror the colors and texture of the Caran d'Ache I'd use Distress Stains.  Sadly, they did not issue the brightness I'd hoped for.  Next, I tried to spray a variety of ink sprays by Dylusions.  They achieved a deeper richness in color, but still too watery.  Finally, I brought out a handful of acrylic paints and brushed them acorss the canvas using sections of paper towel.  Once these tried, I daubed on white Gesso as frame.

Finally, I offset and adhered my raven birds to the panel and added a wire hanger.  The hanger includes a few twists, wraps and even some beads.  With a quick spray of a sealer, my "Something to Crow About" is ready for the wall!