2016 Topic 1: Transparent Art Well hello everyone, Leandra here and a warm welcome to 2016 ! It's all about transparent things over the next 2 weeks here on the PA Blog. We have a lot of stunning arty ideas lined up for you, and I think you'll be surprised what a wide variety of substrates we can explore under this topic area too. Let's take a look at some of those, and there are plenty more ideas on my Pinterest page . Perhaps you may like to play with clear UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel) by tinting, dipping or coating other objects. It doesn't have to be complicated, look at this wonderful shrink pendant by Tammy Tutterow, check out how she made it here. Actually, I stumbled across a video where Leonie Pujol was using Crafty Notions gilding wax and Crafty Notions Gilding flakes (2013) and she made a video that shows how to use the melt pot and dipping into it, very fondue styley. The video is quite funny (as Leonie always is)...random fact: Leonie was actually the first person to demo our stamps in a public place by the way, that would have been back in 2005, our Ink and the Dog Collection! Yikes! Of course all kinds of things can be dipped into UTEE. Watching shrink plastic unravel in a melt pot is always great fun. The process: stamp onto clear (great idea to die cut your shrinky bits first), stamp text or pattern on top, add colour and fling into the Melt pot - it shrinks and gets a nice coating all in one. Tweezers (non stick) very helpful for this procedure! See tutorial here from Annette Green. Note: Annette didn't use a melt pot, she shrunk the items and then coated the Shrink with versamark and added clear UTEE to coat the pieces, 2 layers. By doing it this way, she got a clearer result, as UTEE does tend to yellow in the Melt Pot over time - great if you want a vintage effect, not so great if you want sharp colour. So that is a cool tip, and I like how her edges are more rounded due to the surface tension effect inherently generated too. While we are on the topic of dipping things, Tammy Tutterow also made a charm necklace using the same concept. One point to note, UTEE does not wear well, it scratches quite easily as the resin is pretty soft, it easily dulls with wear, so if you are thinking of making jewellery or wearable items, I tend to think a coating of resin is a better option long term. There are plenty of videos on YouTube, many by the Queen of UTEE, Suze Weinburg herself. She taught me all I know about the stuff, and there are so many stunning effects you can get with UTEE, it does pay to look around online before you jump in. I have been to Suze's house a couple of times, and on one of those visits I did manage to show Suze a technique I developed that I knew she would love - it was one of those 'why didn't I think of that' moments for Suze. She named it the 'Leandra Bead', she made a video on the technique...check it out! I have never done a video myself on this, so I am going to show you another version later in this topic, but for now, enjoy the incomparable Suze! Funny that in the video Suze states she's not so good at making the 'loop' for the bead. But since Suze retired, she has become a jewellery EXPERT! She sells here amazing items on Etsy regularly. And in fact, she is back at CHA teaching next weekend, details here, and of course she's teaching a necklace project, so go say Hi to her if you are going to the show! Ok, so lets move onto some other clear things...I think I may have shown you this book before, but I love its simplicity. You can easily do things like this by trapping items between sheets of mica too. In fact, here is a book by Hede Kyle using mica in a 'flag book' configuration... ... and how about some surrealist photography?? This one tickled me, here's the site to investigate further... And while we're looking at photo's here's a rather bendy one...which also amused me... So while we are in the plastic zone, lets talk acetate! Here is a great example by Lisa Stenz for a card, simple, effective. And here is another version, this time stamped ... Mark Montano has a project using these flowers made from 1.25 litre fizzy drink bottles. He goes on to spray them glittery, but i think they look fab clear, and alcohol ink could be cool too! Glass artist Phillipa Beveridge created these gorgeous glass purses, each purse reflects memories or ephemera of its owner trapped in the glass detail. So clever, and very beautiful... Tumbled glass used to be a big thing, so I found some cool crafty makes with that to share with you first up combined with driftwood... ...how about a wreath? Or Mason jar lights... ...or jewellery ...that's a serious soldering job! and even decorating glass bottles for interior decor project can be fun too... Lastly we should take a look at resin. In the craft sector, resin has become a useful skill to master, jewellery is the easiest way to start off I guess, but you can also take it the next level too, so many things you could explore here! These are pretty cool, dandelions preserved in resin, if you follow the link, there is a video showing how! And here is a crafty altered altoid tin... So there you have it, the first PaperArtsy blog topic of 2016, just a few ideas here tonight, there are so many other things you could do that are transparent in vibe. Maybe you might like to follow along with us this year by keeping a journal reminder of each topic as we move through the themes? Most of the topics we do can be represented in a flat way pretty easily, so, just like Darcy's video at the end of last night's post showed us, what a great way to have a reminder of one part of your creative journey in 2016. I really hope you learn lots of new things this year, and most importantly, that you have fun! There is no correct way, its just about jumping in and having a go! Don't forget to follow my pinterest page if 'Transparent Art' interest you, there are plenty more examples to whet your appetite there! I am really looking forward to seeing what you create over the next 2 weeks! And you can show us by joining in the blog challenge, details below! Happy new year to you all, and welcome to our 2016 journey! Leandra 2016 1: Transparent Art - PaperArtsy Blog Challenge We'd love you to share your ideas and link up your creative response to our current blog topic. Take a minute to read the challenge guidelines below. All links go in the draw to win a voucher to spend on products of your choice from the PaperArtsy online store. The Transparent Art link will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday Jan 17th, the winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00. 1. The challenge is a for you to show how you are inspired by the current blog topic. Your entry should contain: - a mention of which post inspired you and why, and - a link in your blog post to that original post on the PA blog. The whole concept of this challenge is 'play along with us'. You are encouraged to put your own twist on ideas you see on our blog, do your own thing - whatever grabs you! 2. The link you put on our linky page must lead directly to the specific post on your blog where you have explored the technique/ idea mentioned in point 1 above. Don't link to the home page of your blog. 3. We prefer your challenge blog post is created exclusive to our challenge, but if our topic fits perfectly with another challenge, then you may link to both if appropriate. 4. You are most welcome to use stamps/ products/ substrates you have to hand from a variety of companies, we do not expect you to exclusively use PA products - it's lovely when you do though! 6. You can enter as many times as you like. We don't want to restrict your creativity! NB. Link closes at 17:00 Sunday 17th January, (London Time) 7. The winner of the random draw will receive a £50 credit voucher to be redeemed on the PaperArtsy Website. The credit voucher includes VAT and postage. We request that one of your purchases is an A5 rubber stamp. You can add any other items to your basket, but the final total should not exceed £50. 8. Each fortnight on Sunday, the winner will be announced at 19:00 (London time). In the same post, the link for the next fortnight will be posted. 9. It's your responsibility to claim your prize coupon from Darcy. email: [email protected] Good Luck! If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!