Graphics Fairy Transfer

Months ago, I picked up a silverware box at Goodwill.  It was black with a black velvet interior.  It was only a dollar or two, so I figured that I couldn't go wrong - certainly, I could turn it into something.

I've been a subscriber to The Graphics Fairy blog for a long time.  I love looking at all the beautiful things that so many creative people have made.  It's also amazing how many nice graphics they have.  They have lots of florals and French topography.

Since, I'm really starting to love anything French, I decided to try a Paris Apartment Sign.  I printed it in reverse so that when I laid the copy on the box, the letters would face the correct direction.

As usual, I forgot to take a picture of the box before I started.  Here is a picture after I had applied two coats of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Paris Grey.  (the box is actually sitting upside down because I had just added a coat to the bottom)

 

 

Since, this was my first time trying a transfer on chalk paint, I wasn't sure if I should wax it first or not.  I decided to add a coat of Annie Sloan Clear Wax.  Then, I did a little distressing with 220 sand paper.

 

Next, I printed out the design in reverse, as I mentioned before.  Using a regular brush, I applied Golden Matte Gel Medium on the area of the box where the design would be.  I brushed gel medium on the paper and, carefully, placed it down on the box.  I don't know why I didn't cut the excess paper away from the design before I attached it to the box.  It was crazy, but I continued on.  I used an old credit card to rub across the design to remove the bubbles and wrinkles.  I feel like I applied a little too much gel medium because so much was coming out on the sides.  I just wiped it away.  I left the access paper "un-glued" because I didn't want to have to rub all of the paper away.  

 

 

I let the box sit overnight to completely dry.  The next morning, I took a deep breath and spritzed the paper with water.  I didn't soak it, but I did get it wet enough to get the paper breaking up when I started rubbing the paper with my fingers.  This is the part that takes the longest.  I just kept rubbing off paper, spritzing more water, rubbing off paper, spritzing more water, etc. etc.

 

I got to a point where I wasn't really getting any more paper off.  There was still sort of a shadow around the design, but I kind of liked it.  I sanded the top of the box to make it look older.  I added another coat of clear wax and that was it.

This isn't the best picture, but I am pretty pleased for my first try.  This box still has the dividers in it for silverware.  It would be great for jewelry.

 

I still want to put a design on the coffee table that I chalk painted.  However, because of the size, I think I might transfer the design onto the table with carbon paper and then paint it.  I'll definitely use a Graphics Fairy design.  I'll just take it to the copy center and have it enlarged.

 

Peace,

Cyndi

Girl Number 3

I'm on a roll.  I painted another girl on the back of a cereal box today.  Again, this one is very Kelly Rae Roberts-esque.  I tried another new technique.

I covered one of my rubber stamps in gel medium, instead of ink, then I stamped it on the surface.  I used water color to paint over it.  The gel medium acts as a resist to the water color.  It looked really good.  I wish that I had taken a picture of it right after I used the water color.  I ended up painting over it with acrylic paint because the dress needed to be more pronounced.  You can still see the stamp through the acrylic, but not as much as with the water color.  I want to try it again on something else.

New Collage and Two Girls

My sister came to visit the other day.  She spent the night because her husband was doing a sleep study.  This gave us the opportunity to gossip and create some art.

She taught me how to draw cats and I taught her how to do gel transfers.  She's writing a children's book about a cat that finds a home.  My sister has always been able to paint.  A couple years ago, she gave  me a beautiful hat box that she had painted.

While we gabbed, I taught her about gel medium and she transferred a photocopy of an old map onto a canvas.  It turned out perfectly.

Here's the collage that I just finished.  I started out with two transfers on the blank canvas, then started layering on top.

Last night I did some doodling while watching "Girls" and "Enlightened" on TV.  I'd like to add these girls to a collage.

Egg Timer

It was so windy today that I wasn't able to let my chickens out of their coop. I guess that's why I was thinking of eggs when I started today's art journal page.

For this page I used Golden acrylic paints, stencils, rubber stamps, Stazon ink, Gelatos, charcoal pencil. I copied the map from a book, the eggs from a Clinique ad, and for the large symbols in the upper right corner, I just typed on my computer then enlarged it on the copier.

I also started working on a collage today.  I'm really into doing transfers with gel medium.  It is the greatest thing. Even though the ink from the photocopy transfers onto the canvas, you are still able to see the paint through the transfer. I like the way it looks so aged.

Visual Journal Pages

Here are my two latest visual journal pages.

On the first one, I did a little gel transfer action.  First, I painted my background with some acrylic paints.  I used some stencils that I picked up at Michaels.  I made the stencil for the "rays" myself, by drawing it on some cardstock and cutting it out with a craft knife.  The palm tree started out as a picture in a book.  I made a copy, enlarging it a little bit.

Then I, liberally, brushed matte gel medium on the front of the copy and on the journal page in the area where I was going to place the transfer.  I laid the palm tree copy, face down, on the journal page, using a credit card to flatten out the palm tree and remove any air bubbles.  You want to make sure that the picture is touching the paper everywhere.  If there is an air bubble, the ink won't transfer in that area.  I waited a few hours for everything to completely dry.  I suppose that I could have hit it with a hair dryer or heat tool, but I wasn't in a hurry.  After it was dry, I spritzed water on it from a spray bottle and started rubbing the paper off.  You have to keep spritzing and rubbing until it's completely removed.  Voila!!  I added some rubber stamping and washi tape and here it is.

On the next one, I did some Zentangling. If you are not familiar with Zentangle, here's a link.

I started out by writing the words to the Rolling Stones song  "She's like a Rainbow".  Then I started zentangling.  I painted some of the areas with paintbrush markers.  I used a Pigma Micron 05 Archival Ink pen to do the zentangles.

                                                                      





Thanks for reading!

Beautiful Evening

Here's a couple pictures that I took this evening while walking around the yard.  I like to take pictures of the trees because I envision using them as backgrounds in my artwork by using the gel transfer technique.  I'm a procrastinator, so I haven't actually finished a piece yet, but I'm working on it.

Here are a few video tutorials showing various transfer techniques: