Noel Angel: A Stamped Study in Silver & Gold

Seasons' Greetings, arty friends! Today I have a Christmassy piece of art featured over at the Lost Coasters Review blog as part of Lost Coast Designs’ “It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas” rubber stamp art contest. Just enter your holiday-themed art featuring rubber stamps from any company, and you’ll be entered to win a gift certificate for MOAR STAMPS from the incredible catalog of Lost Coast Designs rubber! I am a fan!

So...on to the project and How To Mayke It.  ✨

I love the medieval/Victorian Gothic vibe of these Lost Coast Designs stamps so much that I had to combine them, with metallic silver and gold, for some holiday glitz and a bit of historical feel! Here's the piece:

↑  This is actually a scan of the piece, which doesn't capture the depth and sheen of all the metallics very well, so here's a photo taken in different light too, so you can get more of a feel for how the piece looks in person, when you move it in the light.  ↓

Here's how I made it.

First I took some acid-free scrapbook paper that was printed with a sort of linen fabric-looking pattern, then brayered on some thin layers of silver and gold acrylic paint diluted with iridescent medium. This gave a rich-looking shimmer to the background. (You guys know, if you read my blog at all, that I love me some shimmer on almost every piece! Right? You KNEW that.)

Next, I got out this awesome angel from the Fortune Women set, inked it up with black permanent ink, stamped it...

  

...and then cut out a mask of the figure. I placed the mask over the stamped image using repositionable glue, and got out this fab arch from the ATC Misc. Set 6...and stamped right over the masked image.

Next, I retrieved some (slightly used) washi tape from under the table where I’d stuck it (don’t judge me) and masked off the area below the gothic arch where I wanted to stamp this Clover Scroll border, which I love SO BAD:

Here's what those impromptu masks looked like before stamping. I threw in this photo just because some people do find weird pix like this to be helpful, and I’m a helpy kind of girl. 

But enough about me. So after adding the scroll border, I pulled out my trusty Rustic Alphabet Set with its strong period feel, composed the word NOEL, and stamped that once in my permanent black ink. Then I overstamped the word with embossing ink, offsetting it just a TEENY bit to provide a hint of shadow, and embossed it in gold powder.

Now it was time to add silver and gold gel-pen accents to the angel, border, and arch. And the piece was finished...

...Except for putting it in a frame, like so.  😊  

Et voila!--a shimmery angel in gold and silver. Wishing you and your family a very happy (and shimmery) Noel!

Medieval(ish) Stamp Art: "Le Lièvre" (The Hare)

Greetings darlings! Today I have some art featured over at the Lost Coasters' Review blog as a little designer's inspiration for their "Hip 2 B Square" project challenge. (Share some of your art and be entered to win a gift certificate at Lost Coast Designs' stamp store! Click here for details!) 

I thought I would tell you a little more about the thinking behind my featured piece--"Le Lièvre" (The Hare)--and how it was made...

For the "square" theme, I chose this Rabbit Square stamp  from Carmen's Veranda:

Although I assume from the "cracks" indicated by the artist indicated that this image is supposed to represent a tile, its "feel" put me in mind of something from a medieval tapestry, perhaps along the lines of the famous series of The Lady and the Unicorn:

...and at first I thought I might try to suggest a tapestry in my project. But the image ALSO reminded me of an initial from a medieval manuscript...something like this one from Orleans MS 9 at the British Library:

So upon further reflection, it seemed to me that it would be easier as well as more natural to suggest a manuscript than a tapestry, since mine would be a paper project after all.

To give the proper "medieval initial" gestalt, I needed GOLD. (You may have noticed by now that I rarely pass up the opportunity for a little metallic shine.) So I stamped the Rabbit Square on heavy ivory watercolor paper, and embossed the crap out of it with liquid gold. (Yeah, baby!!)

I then set about laboriously painting the image with water-soluble oil pastels in shades of green, blue, and gray, keeping the bunny buff-brown and "white." I didn't want the color to look flat and even, but to have a bit of watercolor effect to lend some life to the otherwise static composition. 

Next I wanted a border. In keeping with the medieval theme, Lost Coast Designs has the most awesome, ravishing Antique Text Border stamp that HAD to go on this project. I just love it. You'll probably be seeing me use it every chance I get!

Isn't that gorgeous and amazing? The letters definitely looked very tapestry-like and more woven (rather than written) to me (shades of The Bayeux Tapestry?), but it was super-atmospheric, and it was going on my project!

So I stamped the border on a scrap piece of the watercolor paper (instead of stamping directly around the painted image) because I wanted to miter the corners instead of having them overlap. I embossed the text border with MOAR SHINY GOLD before painting with the oil pastels, then cut it out and mitered the corners around the center image.

The finished result looked like this:

BUT because the gold isn't really shiny enough for my liking in the photo above, here's another where you can really see it catch the light. AHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhh...

Aren't these cool stamps? I am such a history nerd that I found these quite exciting.  :)  And there you have my finished project: "Le Lièvre" (or The Hare--but wanted to keep that French medieval vibe, you know!)  ;)

And hey--there's still time to join in on the Hip 2 B Square challenge--it runs through September 4! Enter your square-themed projects for one or more chances to win a prize. (The rules are on the Lost Coast Portal To Creativity blog.) Join in the fun!

Talk to me by leaving a comment below! I love chatting with you guys. Would love to hear what you think of these historical images.