Something Old, Something New!

Welcome to Magpieheaven. I love having new crafty things to play with and I'm still experimenting with the new Lynne Perrella stamps from PaperArtsy. I wanted to see how they would work with Lin Brown's exciting new Limited Edition Paints so I started to play with some Tikka Fresco Finish and I was struck by how like a ceramic glaze it looks. Now, what would happen if it was put together with some of my old favourites, Fresco Finish blues like Antarctic and Inky Pool? Could I also incorporate my favourite Shrink Plastic painted with Fresco and stamped?

 I decided that, together with some Grunge Paste, the combination could suggest the beautiful ceramics of Luca Della Robbia, the fifteenth century Florentine ceramic artist. You can see some of his beautiful Madonnas here. Although I can't be in Florence right now, I thought, maybe I could hop on a train to South Kensington and admire the Della Robbias in the V&A, or better still, try to evoke Florence with a little hanging, some paints, those lovely new stamp images shrunk down to miniature, embellies and Grunge Paste. My  hanging is nothing like as beautiful as Della Robbia, of course, but I did enjoy bringing together the old and the new in creating it.

 I started with one of these little hanging boards from PaperArtsy, giving it several coats of Nougat Fresco to begin with, then applying Gesso to the string, sprinkling with Aged Copper Frantage and heating up.

Now it was time to add some depth. I love the movement, the wonderful swirling draperies of Della Robbia as well as the gorgeous colour and texture of the ceramics. I had a little Melissa Frances resin Putto from the Funkie Junkie boutique and some pretty corners also from FJ. I fixed these to my hanging along with some jump rings and a Prima Mechanical because I liked the idea of raised circles. When these were all in place, I mixed up some Grunge Paste with a drop of Tikka. I applied it to the edge of my hanging rather like rough icing a cake; used a fine paint-brush to create a tree trunk and branch design down one side with it and then squeezed it through a stencil of flourishes by Prima. After all this was dry and firmly fixed, I got out my misters and sprayed with watered down Antarctic and Tikka Frescos. As you can see in the bottom of my photo I also sanded a piece of Shrink Plastic and painted it with a very thin coat of Nougat. What you can't see in the photo is the sheet of Shrink Plastic I started with, which was an Antarctic blue.

Sorry, but I then became carried away with what I was doing! I'll try to remember! Deep breath...I sprayed then with some Inky Pool and some more Tikka. I then painted over my Putto with Nougat and just a little Tikka to age him. I accented his curls with Florentine Treasure Gold and the robes and foliage around him with some Green Amber Treasure Gold. You can see that I added a Prima wooden butterfly painted with Mermaid Fresco and then sprinkled with clear, gold and Shabby Blue UTEE. I added a little metal leaf and then - the Shrink Plastic Lynne Perrella images! I stamped these onto the painted Shrink Plastic with Onyx Black Versafine because the Fresco Paint, as long as you don't apply it too thickly, allows you to stamp with any ink and get really good results.

  However, my play with Shrink Plastic resulted this time in one of those 'happy accidents' people take about. First I stamped my images from LPC030 onto SP painted with Antarctic, die-cut and then coated in clear UTEE. I really didn't like the result. It just didn't go with the rest of the hanging because the images somehow look too glossy against the chalky, painty background, but I recklessly stuck the images down! I decided to make some more; stamped onto SP coloured with Nougat this time and dispensed with the UTEE: would it work if I stuck them on top? To my relief, I think it did! The new images placed on the old ones were raised up and they no longer looked insignificant on the hanging as they had before. I think they became much more focal because of this.

I accented with Florentine Treasure Gold, pearls and gems and I stamped with a PaperArtsy Mini26, one of my 'all time' favourites to suggest ancient script.

Some coloured seam-binding and a hint of Wendy Vecchi Cornflower Blue Archival script from LPC28 complete my tiny hanging. Thank you so much for visiting today.
 I should like to enter my plaque for Fashionable Stamping Challenges, Anything Goes here and 
Country View Crafts Challenge Painty Pleasures here.