Saturday, May 31, 2008

In Under the Wire!!



As you know, I have been participating in Michelle Ward's Street Team Challenges for several months now. The latest challenge was to make our own paper castings using rubber stamps and paper pulp. i decided to use one of my own hand carved stamps and toilet tissue. In an effort to use what I have on hand and to avoid lots of time spent trying to find a used blender at a thrift store, (of course I have had several, the most recent being in our last home in Oklahoma where I did not use it enough to justify giving it precious non existent space in the moving truck!!) I tore up approximately 25 sheets of Scott's two-ply and soaked the bits in water. It is truely amazing how quickly this stuff starts to dissolve! No blending aggitation necessary!!!! I swished it around a few times and squeezed out a small lump to remove excess water. After wetting down the stamp with water and applying one intact sheet to the surface of the stamp, I added on lumps of pulp till the entire stamp surface was covered. Then I pressed down on the whole thing to remove any excess water and left the whole thing to dry overnight. After I was sure that it was completely dry and carefully peeling off the cast, this was the result.

Next I very carefully coated the surface of the casting with matte medium as I was not sure how the TP would deal with watercolor paints. Once the matte medium was dry, I played with some watercolor paints.

(Sorry that the picture is a bit blurry!!)

I am not as pleased as I would have hoped with the painted result but I am sure that this is a technique that I will use in the future! Thanks for the challenge Michelle!!

(Maybe, fingers and toes crossed here, by posting this in the nick of time and on my Birthday to boot, i will get extremely lucky and win the drawing!! A girl can dream , right!?!)

7 comments:

michelle ward said...

Elizabeth - Happy Birthday!! What a beautiful casting - love it white, and then you show us color too!! How cool that you used one of your carvings as a mold! This creative element is totally your own from start to finish. Thanks for sharing with the team.

Bel said...

Hi Elizabeth, great idea with the loo paper it looks great. My friend Veronika makes her own paper and we had a day of it. I know its yuk but I made some textured paper and put some of my dogs fur in it :) so I can add it to my journal for keeps sack. Oh a big "Happy Birthday" to you. Belinda

inge said...

Hello Elisabeth,

happy birthday !

I also tried to make a cast with a handcarved stamp and it came out great just like yours ! Fun to do with your own stuff !
it's amazing how easy it is and how you hardly need anything special. The details come out great too.

I keep your tip in mind to brush the paper mold with gel medium. I just used chalks because I was afraid to ruin the cast, but you used aquarelpaint ! So , I want to try this too. Someone of the other participants used a bit of gel medium in the water to make the paper casts steadier. So, that's a clever idea too.

I think I start a paper cast this afternoon and try your technique so I can maybe paint the papercast in a bright color.

greetings
Inge (from Belgium)

Jane B. said...

I was wondering the same thing about using the water color paints! Good suggestion to use the Gel Medium first - what would one do without it? Loved the pretty colors in the flowers. Happy Birthday to you!

moi said...

great cast and a really great idea to use your handcarved stamp. that would have never occured to me. thanks for sharing.

Lucy Edson said...

Your hand carved stamp is beautiful! I like the painted cast. It has a textured watercolor apearance.

And it looks like "Happy Birthday!" to you too!

Thanks for visiting my blog. :)

Kristen Robinson said...

What a lovely casting!!!!! Happy Birthday I hope it was a lovely one.
Warmly-
Kristen

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