The Art Journal Challenge February 1, 2020
It's time for the next part of the challenge. The last issue we talked about our first page. I mentioned rubber stamps and watercolor pencils. My journey started out that way but took a turn, as creative expeditions often do. Below is a photo of the first two journals I am using as we progress, along with a third one I could not resist. The first journal I purchased from Sugarboo & Co., as I did the 'fairy' diary, the tiny one. The middle-sized one was purchased from Michaels. (I will list all product information at the bottom of the article.)
We are going to start with the fairy diary. Quite small, it worked well with an older stencil I had. The stencil was marked A-608, Petema, CA ©1990. A tiny bee, it seemed like he was meant for the small diary. I used a random stamp pad and stamped him with black ink. BE SURE to allow the ink plenty of time to dry. I then used some Loew Cornell watercolor pencils and a small pointed Royal & Langnickel Mini Majestic Monogram brush, size 20/0 to add color to the design, pulling paint from the pencil onto the brush. The linework and lettering were done by hand with a Rotring Tikky Graphic 0.1 pen.
While going through my stencil collection it occurred to me how dated they were, considering they were all bought at the beginning of the stamping craze decades ago, it made sense. So off to the arts & crafts stores to see what I could find for the next journal. I ended up with a Tim Holtz® Collection stamp set that also came with a stencil. Bonus, it matched Tim Holtz's paper that I already had! Hence the turn in the journey. Below you see the largest of the journals. I took some of that lovely paper and tore the edges, creating a shape of sorts. I decoupaged this onto the page using the DecoArt Americana Decou-page medium. (Tip - Lay your paper on wax paper to brush on glue.) I then decided I wanted to try the DecoArt Media Fluid Acrylics on this journal. Next, I stenciled a bit using fluid acrylics. I stamped the page towards the bottom as I did on the tiny journal above. I added color to the flowers on the paper and the stamped images using the fluid acrylics and a Royal & Langnickel Mini Majestic size 4 angular shader. I used the ink pen mentioned above to darken some lines and add detail when needed. I had stamped a saying in the middle of the page and it didn't print properly so I added the sticker.
It seemed to fit!
The middle-sized journal was stamped with the same stamp used on the larger one. I stenciled a bit first in the background with the fluid acrylics. I used General watercolor pencils on this one, coloring direct to the paper then using a wet brush to blend. I added the sticker just because and left the open area on the side and top for comments or notes.
In conclusion for this issue, I thought I would make these observations... I have way too many stamps and stickers. Okay, that isn't important, lol. The paper in each of the journals is very different. I preferred the handmade paper in the larger journal. I find the middle size journals paper to be very slick. I prefer the paper to have 'tooth', so to speak. When stamping, less detailed stamps seem better on the handmade paper, it depends on your paper. I mentioned before and I say it again, let the stamped image dry. I found overnight worked best for me. Don't worry about copying exactly what you see here, use your own supplies and just have fun!
Products Used
Sugarboo & Co., Journals, Fairy and Artisan
Mitform - Scrapbooking Findings in Fairy Book photo.
All photo credit - DigiArt by Di ©2020