Hello

With That's Crafty! website stocking my favoured carving block, from Speedball, I decided that for this week, I would return to another hand-carved stamp, this time a bird.

I am not making any claims that this bird is anatomically correct, for me it was all about enjoying the process of carving my own bird stamp and not so much about exactness, I can certainly see the flaws! Although I have bird stamps I could have inked up, none were to the dimensions of what I was seeking for this project, that is the beauty of carving our own stamps.

I could not resist reaching for the quote from PaperArtsy Eclectica Designed by Alison Bomber.

Supplies

PaperArtsy Eclectica Minis EM40, EM46 Designed by Seth Apter
PaperArtsy Eclectica EAB11 Designed by Alison Bomber
That's Crafty! Surface MDF Chunkies 8" x 8" Pack of 2
That's Crafty! Medium - Gesso White
That's Crafty! Multi-Surface Paint - Black
That's Crafty! Multi-Purpose Craft Adhesive
Speedball Speedy-Carve Block  (Speedball Carving Kit for tools)
PaperArtsy Fresco Chalk Acrylics: Venice Blue (Seth Apter)
PaperArtsy Fresco Chalk Acrylics:  Midnight, Steel Grey, Slate, Little Black Dress
Archival Ink Jet Black
Mister Bottle
Extras: Cotton Rag Paper, Lokta Paper Scrap, Re-cycled Tissue Paper Style Packaging.

Instructions

First task, assembling the Chunkie which is a breeze to do, working with That's Crafty! Multi-Purpose Craft Adhesive which is then given an application of Gesso. To this, I layered re-cycled tissue paper style packaging, smooth out air bubbles but happy for there to be creases.

Then beginning to apply paints, which I applied either directly from the bottle and blending, with palette knife or watering down the consistency. There is no plan, I like to go with the flow to see what textures I achieve and working in layers, never covering the surface area completely with any one colour. As I am unable to work on a project from beginning until it is completed, I will happily play around with this stage, then leave it for another time where I might well go in a different direction, either completely obscuring the work so far or allowing areas to remain before continuing.

Once I am as satisfied as I will ever be,  heavy body white paint was scraped on with a palette knife, to bring lightness and texture.

A panel of cotton rag paper would be later adhered to the Chunkie but first, Gesso was applied, randomly to the cotton rag before rubbing That's Crafty! Multi-Surface Black paint into the panel. In some areas, misting with water to create a diffused, organic effect, to symbolise stormy skies.

In this photo, the panel is not adhered, I worked with the panel on top of the Chunkie to provide a reference point.

To the upper right side, I cut three pieces from another piece of cotton rag, painted with similar paints to the Chunkie.  Adhering to the cotton rag panel, I edged with a Stabilo watersoluble pencil.


To bring interest to the panel, I wanted to include small, stamped detail.  PaperArtsy Minis designed by Seth Apter provided the touches I wanted.  Inking only the bottom area of EM40, as seen in the photo below.





From the outset, all I had in mind for this project was to work with the MDF Chunkie and to carve a bird stamp.  Speedball Speedy-Carve, maybe because I am such a novice, is for me the best, meaning the easiest, for carving, although that said, this bird was always going to be simple in design.




The hand-carved bird, stamped onto tissue paper with Archival Jet Black ink, then adhered to the prepared cotton rag panel.

The wonderful quote from PaperArtsy Designed by Alison Bomber (some of my favourite and most often inked up stamp sets), stamped onto scrap of Lokta paper.


A side image of the Chunkie, where you can see the colour and detail were carried over to the edges.


Thank you for visiting today.
Wishes
Lynne