28 Jul 2010

Baubles and Beads

This is my necklace tree. Actually, it's a mug tree but I use it for my necklaces.

To be honest with you it's not really red - it's cream. I painted it cream originally and then put in the messy background and the tree looked a bit overwhelmed, so I changed the colour to red. That was a disaster so I frantically wetted the paint and blotted it out so now it's a rather horrendous looking mixture.

I think this is a good lesson for me to know when to stop fiddling.

I put in the date at the top with my new Lamy Joy calligraphy pen. It has three sizes of nibs - 11, 1.5 and 1.9 and this is the latter. I ordered a converter with it so I could use any ink in it rather than just cartridges and I filled it with Noodler's grey which is supposed to be one of their bleed-proof inks but isn't really.

I'm thinking of experimenting with lettering a bit. I've seen a few people doing this and it can be great fun. But first I'm going to have a go at putting a background onto paper using acrylic paint and a brayer (aka a lino roller). I watched an interesting YouTube video recently which showed techniques such as winding rubber bands or bubble wrap or anything with texture around the roller. It looked fun! And messy ...

8 comments:

  1. We are our own worst critics, that's for sure. I think this is a fun little piece! nancy

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  2. I think this piece turned out very well. I've been through you're little disaster scenario many times, so I know what you're talking about!

    Regarding the ink, I don't have the gray, but with my black which says bulletproof, it will still bleed if I don't let it dry for a LONG time. Sometimes I won't add watercolor until the next day even. Your lettering is very nice!

    And your idea for a background sounds exciting!

    I know I've already said this, but I really think your banner looks terrific!

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  3. I think this turned out ok...artisic licence I think it's called!
    I like the idea of a background done with a roller.

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  4. I don't know what's messy about it, I think it totally rocks! =)

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  5. I think this turned out really well. I love the lettering!

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  6. A really nice sketch - an excellent job. If you hadn't mentioned your difficulties, I would never have guessed! I do hope you will post some pictures of you backgrounds - I would love to see what you come up with ...

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  8. I was so intrigued I checked uTube and found the video
    Thanks for the tip, I'll have to give it a try.

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