Blade Rubber Blog

How to Marble Cards with Shaving Foam

2008-03-29T21:22:00.005Z

Techniques by Freyja - based on a Class given at Blade Rubber

Shaving Foam Card Gallery

Shaving foam is an ideal medium for marbling; it holds its shape and added colour without dissolving for quite some time. It is a little messy but fun to use and does not harm paper, card or surfaces. If using a large container it is suggested to only colour a half of the foam when practicing to save waste. Please note that every paper/card 'dip' will be different. Buy inexpensive foam without special additives which can prevent the transfer of colour.

Colouring Materials;
Strong, thin-ish water based colour works best.
Suitable colouring material:

Posh Impressions Rainbow ink both plain and metallic and dye re-inkers.
Drawing and calligraphy ink, both plain and metallic. These often have added shellac but clean up with water.
Acrylic paint - although most acrylics are not strong enough except for pale effects.
Stewart Gill, Luna Lights and Lumiere paints - thin to use.
Coloured and metallic pigment powder, obtainable from most art shops. Bronzing powders come in Gold, Silver and Bronze. I recommend every crafter to buy this; it has a long shelf life and mixes with almost any paint, medium or varnish.
There are many (expensive) professional graphic products that will also work. Food colouring is excellent, perhaps mixed with gold powder or gum Arabic?
Pigment re-inker will work when thinned a little. This is 'fiddly' needing a palette for mixing with water but the results are good...

Whatever the outcome the smell is divine!!!

MATERIALS

Foil or plastic freezer/chilled food container. 8”x 6” (20cm x 15cm) is good for experimenting
Can of shaving foam
Inks etc. as listed above
Plenty of paper towels and tissues.
Plastic knife and tea spoon for mixing, swirling and scraping
Paper /card plain matt or textured. Hand made paper is excellent, strongly absorbing colour.

METHOD

Spread about 2-3 cm thick foam into an easy to clean container.
Drip several drops of chosen colour/colours onto the surface in a random pattern.
Swirl colour around with a cocktail or kebab stick or a paintbrush handle making a pattern.
Gently but firmly press the card onto the foam making sure the whole surface is touching. (We will call this a 'dip')
The first dip/swill be lightly coloured; each dip requires a little more colour/colours which will gradually build up to stronger, more interesting dips. To re-lighten add a little more foam.
Lift off card and scrape off the cream and finish by dabbing/wiping with a tissue until clean.
The mixture can be re-stirred and added to until too 'muddy' or no longer viable to use.

ADVANCED METHOD
If you really like this technique take it a stage further for beautiful colour mixtures.

After several dips add another layer of foam adding new colours, without disturbing the first coloured layer.
Add colours as before for a few more dips.
Now carefully pull up some foam from the first layer, different streaks of colour will emerge and add interest to the mix. It is impossible to describe this adequately; you must 'feel' the mixture yourself.
Strangely nine out of ten mixtures will produce pleasant subtle colours when finally mixed. Don't waste; dip a couple of pieces of card for unusual colours to use later. Add a little foam, swirl a little and dip for a nice white/colour marble.
Rough chunky sheets (if with plant material, pull out first or after marbling if desired), tissue paper, mulberry paper, blotting paper, anything absorbent is good. However some card has fillers and coatings to counteract absorbency for writing, printing etc. so experiment.

SUGGESTIONS FOR USING
As Backgrounds

Add small panels of stamped images in toning ink colours and affix with foam pads. For a strong marble pattern choose a strong image.
Over-stamp with a suitable 'line design' image in a dark colour; one large montage stamp or several smaller ones, collage style.
Over-stamp and emboss strong, solid images for impact onto strong marbling.
Mount an attractive marbled panel onto several other toning mounts then onto a main card. Add just a greeting - stamped/embossed or a peel-off.
Use as frames or cut apertures to set off a variety of stamped images or greetings.
Lighter, softer samples look very good when dry embossed. Try embossing hearts etc and cutting out to add to other designs. The embossing is 'lost' on strong marbling.
Marbled backgrounds are lovely for Christmas cards; the soft tones are perfect for over-stamping with traditional designs or tag making. Try combining with coloured acetate panels, stamped glossy card panels and mount onto gold/copper embossed metallic card for rich Renaissance effects.
Cut one or two harmonising samples into squares, rectangles, diamonds etc. and arrange in a tile pattern onto a contrasting/toning card layer.
Weave strips, usually two colours maximum and mount into aperture cards.

Others

Marbling is excellent for book covers, and on paper for covering boxes and book pages. Add panels of marbled card to cheap notebook covers. Add a stamped initial and some thread for a personalised little gift.
Use underneath Vellum. Just add a greeting or some nice words to the vellum and mount onto the card with eyelets, paper fasteners or ribbon through holes.

Have fun and I am sure that you will find many more ways of using your marbled samples.
Freyja

©Freyja Lee for Blade Rubber Stamps 2007
Freyja is a regular teacher of popular Classes at Blade Rubber

Watercolouring Techniques

2008-02-24T22:19:00.008Z

Water Colouring and Twinkler's backgrounds

Techniques by Freyja - based on a Class given at Blade Rubber

Water colouring is a very versatile way of colouring stamped images. Most inkpads, pens and aquarelle pencils, dyes etc associated with stamping are water soluble.
Lovely soft, shaded effects can be achieved with little skill and colours mix and blend easily.
Too much colour and a wet brush stroked over will lighten; too little, add more and blend.
You can even brush a little over the lines; many watercolour pictures depend on this for their charming effect.
'Twinklers' are little pots of very shiny, solid pearlescent colour (sold in sets) perfect for colouring stamped images. Easy to use and store.
The secret of success is to experiment.

A Note on Paper/Cardstock
There are recognised standards of manufacturing and quality for art paper when you buy art watercolour or pastel products you know what textures, colours and weights are available, the materials used in production, and how the product will behave when used. Craft papers are a mixed bag with varying qualities depending on the fillers and coatings used in manufacture. Acid is the enemy of artwork and cheaper paper is made from wood pulp, which is acidic, fine for cards, or crafts that are ephemeral but will fade and spoil after some time. Well known paper manufacturers are usually reliable. The coating used for card effects the way a stamped image will look. Lightly coated or absorbent surfaces will 'swallow' colour, so always use water colour paper for archival (long lasting) work. However, some other cardstock do work well if not too much water is used.

Brushes
Brushes nos. 1, 0, and 00 are needed for fine work, finer than you might expect. Buy craft brushes or brushes for acrylics - they are very inexpensive. Nos. 2, 3 and 4 are suitable for larger areas. If you really like water colouring then try a sable brush. Inexpensive water colour brushes with a reservoir for water are very easy to use especially with pencils.

Watercolour Pencils (Aquarelle Pencils)
The more expensive brands have better colour depth and softer leads but even inexpensive children's pencils are good. Dip you brush in water and stroke over the pencil tip to take up the colour then paint with it. For large areas colour as usual and go over with a wet brush but beware of harsh lines. Just varying the intensity of colour will give a pretty shaded finish. For an alternative methods, draw colour onto a plastic surface and pick up/mix the colour with a wet brush, or draw around the edges of an image and 'pull' the colour into the centre with a wet brush.

Marker Pens
Markers can look harsh and unsubtle when used alone so use as paint instead. Scribble the colour onto a plastic palette or CD, or even cling film and use with a damp brush. Try colouring the stamp surface with markers and Spritzing with a fine spray of water before stamping. A 'second-generation' impression will be softer than the first impression. This technique is best with a solid image.

Inkpads

* Use a damp brush, blender pen (Dove or Marvy) or Fantastix to pick up colour from your pad, or around the edge of a new 'juicy' pad. Dabbing the pad onto the lid or cling film will give you time to mix a little colour. Brilliance inkpads as very good for this, but even dye ink works well.
* Another attractive technique is to stamp with a rainbow pad and then pull in some of the colour with a wet brush to fill the image.
* Using water colour card dampen with a sponge, swipe a rainbow pad diagonally across the surface and brush colour to blend. This makes a great background. Brilliance ink is especially good for this technique as it does not 'grab' the surface too quickly.

Watercolour Crayons
Wonderful for backgrounds. Just scribble on colour and spritz or brush for a stunning rainbow effect; over stamp for a quick and easy design. Alternatively, colour the stamp with the crayon, spritz finely and stamp for a lovely romantic effect.

Watercolour paints
Tablet paint is easier to handle than tube paint for small projects but tubes are better for large areas.

Twinklers
Well spritz the surface to soften before use and you can use a CD or white food jar lid as a palette for mixing colours.
Use a large bristle or nylon brush.
Light or dark card is suitable for beautiful, gleaming pearlescent effects.

For backgrounds

* Well dampen a piece of mulberry paper placed over a similar sized piece of card.
* Pick up paint with the brush and dab patches or lines of colours onto the surface. Place blobs of paint on the CD and use from there to avoid contaminating the pots if you want to mix or change colours without washing the brush each time.
* Spritz or brush more water over until the colours merge together.
* Dry with a heat gun, but natural drying is best. The lovely iridescent result will only be seen when dry. Press overnight to flatten.
* The tissue will be darker than the under card.
* Over stamp when dry. Both pieces are useful, the top for bolder designs and the under card for more delicate stamping.

Tissue paper
Use non colourfast 'Spectrum' or similar paper. Tear off pieces and scrunch; wet and dab onto card for backgrounds colour.
Press damp layers onto rubber stamps and stamp for a lovely watercolour effect. This requires practice but worth while as the results are lovely and quite different from other techniques.

Skill develops as you use water colours, do share your discoveries with other stampers who love to try out new ideas.

Have fun

©Freyja Lee for Blade Rubber Stamps 2007

Paper Artsy Card Gallery

2007-10-23T12:23:00.000+01:00

Several more cards have been added to the Paper Artsy card gallery - lots of ideas and inspiration.
Paper Artsy have just released a six new unmounted rubber sheets for Christmas.

Crafty Individuals

2007-10-10T22:24:00.000+01:00

We've now added Crafty Individuals to the online shop.

On 10th November we have a class making Christmas cards using Crafty Individuals and Paper Artsy stamps.

African Hunter by Freyja

2007-10-08T22:35:00.000+01:00

This is one of several cards made using Marvy Metallic markers.

Monoprinting Cards by Freyja

2007-09-28T22:33:00.000+01:00

Freyja who gives regular classes at Blade Rubber on Saturdays has emailed these lovely cards made using Monoprint technique.