Dream: Stamped Paintbrush Doll

 

I'm a little kid at heart, and when I get new art supplies, its like Christmas and my birthday rolled into one! Upon opening my new package with Gwen Lafluer's stamp set EGL48, I pulled out my art journal, my black archival ink, and started experimenting. The patterns were inspired by henna tattoos, and there was such an interesting mix of images I hardly knew where to begin. There were animals, medallions, a flower, and some interesting soft and hard-edged geometrics. 

I tried using the long, thin "band-aid" shaped designs to make borders and frames for ATCs, with some of the other shapes as the central focus. 

The stamps also looked like they might make interesting mandalas, so I tried a few quick ones in my journal.

Here's a mandala that I added color to, using brush tipped markers:

My heart belongs to dolls, and I saw one of the shapes as a wing, one as a crown, and another as a sleeve, so I stamped a few doll doll ideas in my journal. (The final paintbrush doll was a combination of the two journal sketches.)

I had an idea, sketched in the photo above, of stamping on ribbon and having that create a fluttery skirt, but the ink blurred on the satin ribbon. Then I spied a well-worn, chunky old paintbrush in my supply cubby that called to me as I was creating, and I decided to make a paintbrush doll rather than make an articulated paper doll. I stamped various designs on cardstock and tissue paper, cut them out, and arranged them on the brush.

I painted the bright yellow plastic brush with a couple coats of creamy tan acrylic, and also painted watercolor paper to match. When all the paint dried, I stamped the various designs onto the papers, then cut them out. 

For the face, I used a vintage image from The Graphics Fairy, carefully cutting out the center of the large medallion so her face would peek through. The outside of the medallion suggests a halo or crown.

I wanted something extra between the bristles and the stamped pieces, and "auditioned" beads, fibers, Turkmen metal pieces, and buttons. While rummaging through my stash I found some small wooden letters, and used them to spell the word dream. I glued the letters onto a half-inch wide sheer pale gold ribbon. When the glue was dry, I carefully arranged the ribbon where the metal and bristles met and attached it by tying a little bow on the back on the brush.

Here's a closeup detail of the final doll. I fussy-cut the small floral, which fit perfectly between the triangular shapes and the bottom bar.

I hope this gives you lots of ideas about the many things that can be made using Gwen's new stamps!