Raidiant Rust Workshop

When I saw that Ink Pad NYC was offering a class called "Radiant Rust" with the super talented Seth Apter, I jumped at the chance to sign up. I love his work--the way he creates art that has a grungy look, but artfully so. And he had just debuted a line of new embossing powders--Baked Texture, produced by Emerald Creek--so I couldn't wait to learn from the master himself. The class was held in the small West Village shop, so it was cozy and intimate.

We all followed Seth's directions for layering on the paints (we used Seth's line of Fresco Finish chalk paint, which dries faster than regular acrylic) and distressing them to get the signature grunge look. But...we also added sprays of gold and a stamped, embossed texture with both the Patina Oxide and Chunky Rust, which added extra depth and texture to the grungy background.

Seth's Chalk Paints were used to create our Radiant Rust pieces.

A background of midnight chalk paint was covered with strokes of terracotta and smoked paprika.

Layers and layers of paint were added, in different colors, to achieve the grungy look.

On the left, textured paper was used to apply the paint; on the right is the finished background.

Step two was creating a stamped center piece to go on top of the rusted background. We started with a piece of watercolor paper, and painted it with Green Patina chalk paint, then added texture with Terracotta. I liked the painted aqua piece, which would then get stamped with one of Seth's designs, and placed on top of the larger, darker rusted background.

Top: painted green patina/terracotta piece. Bottom: textured paper that was used to apply the colors.

 The sample that Seth showed us looked fabulous. We all aimed to have a finished product that would look as good. Mine, however, did not. I went a little overboard with the stamping and basically made a mess.

Finished Radiant Rust piece by Seth Apter.

I added a few of Seth's stamps, but wasn't happy with the color choices.

I added more and more stamps in the hope that it would look better.

I wasn't happy with the designs I stamped, or the colors I chose, so I didn't finish my piece, but brought it home and worked on it the next day. I used  Gwen's Art Deco Sun Medallion stencil with with acrylic paint on some aqua painted deli paper and liked the effect. While it was wet, I sprinkled Patina Oxide powder on it, then blasted it with my heat gun. Later, I added more of the chalk paints over it and around the edges to create a distressed look and a rusted edge.

The deco stencil with Patina Oxide.

Various chalk paints were added to achieve a distressed, rusty look.

Below is the finished deco center section, with a black paper border, placed on top of the rusted background. It looked good so far, but kind of empty, and I knew it needed more.

I auditioned several items to possibly go in the center of the green deco design. While at the Ink Pad workshop, I purchased some Lynne Perrella stamps, so I printed two of them to see how they worked. I decided on a small face, printed it in black on deli paper, and once dry, also distressed it to create a rusty, aged look.

One of the arrangements I considered for the center included the word "seek."

She seemed to need a crown, so I chose one of the Dresden Trim Bourbon Crowns from Gwen's website. It was way too shiny to go with the rest of the elements, so I used a little of the chalk paint to distress it.

The piece seemed to need more, but I wasn't sure what, so I send a few "process photos" to my Artist Tribe sister Jackie Neal for her input. She suggested adding something organic. Since I live in midtown Manhattan, organic matter is in short supply, so Jackie, who lives upstate and has lots of woods and lakes near her, mailed me off a "care package." I received dried flowers from her garden, feathers, rocks, ferns, sticks, bark, dried berries and tree fungus.

Tree bark and fungus were auditioned for the center of the piece.

A feather might have worked, but this one was too large and too dark.

The final choice was a rusted crown, fungus and dried berries.

I settled on using the dried tree fungus and dried berries, and was really happy with the way they looked together. The tricky part was getting them to stay on the artwork. A strong glue worked for the fungus, but the berries and branch were too delicate and didn't sit flat, so I carefully poked a few strategic holes with my awl and stitched them to the piece.

A closeup of the organic matter in the piece. A few of the stitches are visible around the berries.

I love the combination of the faux rust with the forest elements...it might just be my favorite piece ever!

In February, many of the Gwen Lafluer Artist Tribe members are showcasing creations that honor Chinese New Year. You can check out their work here, and also save 15% on any of the items in the Exotic Orient section of the website with the coupon below.

For information on Ink Pad NYC, click here.
For Seth Apter's website, click here.
For Lynne Perrella's stamps, click here.

Heat-Distressed Recycled Tyvek Inchies

Inchies...I really thought that 1" x 1" would be too small to do anything interesting so I didn't immediately sign up for the exchange in our heARTist trading group http://heartisttradingcards.blogspot.com/. But...I loved the inchies Karen Musgrave and Marie Johansen made and didn't want to miss out on receiving some tiny treasures, so I joined the inchie madness.

I don't usually work huge—I like anything from ATC size to 5"x7" to 24"x24", but really, what could I do on a 1" square? I started by rummaging through my scrap box. The box isn't leftover junk, it has leftover pieces of favorite projects that are too small to use, or unfinished projects that didn't quite come out right but still have interesting elements.

I found a special scrap I had been saving from a project a while back—it was a rectangle of tyvek, made from a recycled USPS mailing envelope. I had painted the inside with an goldish-olive metallic Lumiere paint, splattered it with gold, white, copper and turquoise Lumiere dribbles, then (after it was dry) distressed it quickly with a hot, dry iron. Tyvek, especially the recycled kind, puckers and bubbles and melts unevenly, and you never know what the result will be. (If you try this, please wear a mask and have good ventilation!)

I randomly chopped the piece into 1" squares, then sorted through them to find the most interesting sections. Some I used as they were, and others I hand-stitched together to make them more interesting. I added teeny turquoise seed beads and some tiny chunks of turquoise stone. I backed them with peltex for stability, and instead of using glue, I attached the peltex with tiny criss-cross stitches to add texture. The final touch was adding brown fabric marker at the edges to cover the white peltex that peeked out.

It is interesting that a man-made fiber—tyvek—can have such an organic quality when it is painted and melted. The technique doesn't work as well using ordinary acrylic paint—I have found that only Lumiere gives me the effect I like.

Now I'm ready to do more inchies! They are the perfect way to use up the itty bitty scraps that are too pretty to thow away, but not big enough for any other project.