Anything Goes Challenge

Hi everyone I had two experimental pieces on my desk since before Christmas and when I saw that Just For Fun has an Anything Goes Challenge I decided to put a card together with them and adding a stamped quote. Shhh! Don't tell anyone but I didn't use a Just For Fun rubber stamp. Thank goodness you don't need to use their stamps to enter the challenge.

The background is water color paper which I got wet and then put drops of Ken Oliver's Liquid Metals on the paper. Then used a wet bristle brush. While the Liquid Metal was still wet I sprinkled coarse salt. That is the spots you see. Although I tried this on smooth card stock I did not get the same effect. I think what happened is the texture of the paper trapped puddles of colors. I love how it turned out as I was not expecting this effect.

My focal piece and quote are stamps by "I Brake For Stamps" Neither stamp had been used as I forgot that I bought them.

I decided I wanted a vintage stamp to experiment with gesso transfers. If you decide to try this technique remember that the image is going to be reversed. In this case it didn't bother me that the text in the background was reversed.

The only thing I didn't like was after the gesso was totally dry and I was rubbing off the paper the ink bled on the paper and puddled on my transfer. I was able to mop most of the puddles up but there still ended up being some staining. I think it would better with an ink like Ranger Archival (I need to either buy a refill or a new ink pad). I used Colorbox pigment ink.

I rubbed Fantastix over the sticks of Soft Pastels I used for the coloring. (Fantastix by Imagine Craft is a handy tool to have on hand for coloring with chalk, pastels, and inks. They make coloring as easy as coloring with a crayon.) I decided to just color the skin, hair and violin. Sometimes I'm not totally sure how much to color.

I don't know if it was the stamp or my transfer but I didn't like the spot on the bottom of the dress. My freeform cut out quotations for the most part covers it. I don't know why the quote was giving me so much trouble stamping but I finally gave up after half a dozen tries to get it perfect.

If you wish to try stamp image transfer using gesso you will want to use an ink that is pretty much waterproof.  Spread your gesso on card stock or whatever you wish to use. I used 110# Georgia Pacific card stock. Stamp your image on thin paper like copy paper. Then place your stamped image stamped side down. I adhered it by pressing from the center out to try to keep my paper from wrinkling. I used a bone folder to make sure the print was embedded completely in the gesso. Then comes the hard part waiting for the gesso to completely dry. When it is dry spritzed the paper with water and rub off the paper backing like you would do in regular photo transfers. Although you can't tell in the photo gesso transfers whether using a printed image or stamped have a softer look than if plain paper or card stock is used.

There you have it my anything goes entry. I hope if you have time you will join in the challenge.

I'm waiting for images for Saturday's project but if I don't get them by tomorrow I'll have to go to plan B. Good thing I'm flexible. Besides my weekly commitments  I've been asked to do a guest designer post for Craftwell this month. 😄  Given the frigid temperatures this is a good time to be hiding in my playroom.

What do you like to do when it is too cold to spend much time outside?

Thank you for stopping by. Do come back Saturday for another Hiding In My Craft Room challenge inspiration piece. Wishing you Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again!