Anyway, yesterday, I received my much anticipated haul from Carabelle Studios. Some of you may know that Yorkshire's own Kate Crane is now designing for them and her first 'batch' is now available. Did I buy the whole lot direct from Carabelle in France because I was too impatient to wait for UK stockists? Yes. Yes I did. It was rude not to, quite frankly.
Stencils (including a nice little freebie mask)
Stamps
So much lovely but where to start? I had to have a place to pin all of my button badges (Kate Crane's) and a tote bag was the perfect place. I was so desperate to monoprint onto the canvas bag using the Art Printing Plates. I thought I had a 6" round gel plate but I only have 4" and 8".
I never need an excuse to use stencils. This Noughts and Crosses stencil is also available in a smaller size, but using the large one allowed me to do it in one go.
Magenta added when the Fuschia had been lifted.
Finger Painting in the centre. Lemon, Lime and Sky...
Squidge the Art Printing Plate on top...
And yum! A snazzy, bright mix of doodley patterns. I want to call it 'Crane Chaos' but only in a good way, you understand. It's for a tote bag and I'm going to keep it for myself so I can call it what I like.
Oh, it's looking hopeful! I should've wiped a bigger circle to allow more of the centre colours to show through...
But it just wasn't liking the canvas of the tote bag.
I finally managed to get some marks down onto the bag, but it was just a complete mess.
Taking the advice of Mick Jagger and painting it black...
So anyway, the edge is neater. I know I should probably have prepared it somehow; washed it, at least. Pff. I don't have time for things like that when I'm possessed by the muse. So, stencils, it is.
I managed to line up the Noughts and Crosses again...
Then I just had to jump in with the Fiesta round stencil and kill the gorgeous Polka Dots from the Art Printing Plate (there's no time to get precious about these things - I'm nearly finished!)
Perfectly bright and totally fab and groovy.
After I've carefully placed the button badges (available on Kate's Etsy store) my bag is ready to go. I already have black and white pens inside it ready for the final doodle thing.
I LOVE IT!
The moral of the story is, if you get that flat feeling when your project just doesn't look anything like you thought it would, just keep going. Try a different technique or different materials and media. Go right in over the top of the mess you created. Don't get frustrated. And, whatever you do, don't give up.
Love and peace,
Wendy x
PS Art From the Heart in Harrogate is one of the UK stockists, but I think a lot of the items sold out pretty quickly. They will restock, so submit an email request on the items you want.
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