Saturday 23 March 2013

Fifty Shades of Candyfloss



      Hello everyone! Welcome back - I am so glad you have come along to have a peek at what I made.

        Ok..the title is a bit misleading - I haven't got Fifty shades of Candyfloss in this artwork...I originally called this blog post 'Shades of Candyfloss' and my DH laughed and said "Are there fifty of them?" So I couldn't resist! Certainly a more fun sounding title than Fifty shades of Grey...maybe the book should have featured candyfloss....Nope, don't want that image in my head and I apologise if it is now in your head too!

 This technique is a new thing for me - I seem to be wanting to spread my wings a little now and try new techniques. I found this one on Sandra's blog....I don't usually watch many video demos but I was really intrigued by the work so I sat and watched. Here is the link if you want to watch it for yourself.


    .Mine was always going to be different - firstly because we all create our own unique work, but also because - yes you guessed it! - I didn't have any of the materials! Luckily I did have the basic canvas, embellishments and glue - but I don't own the opaque Gesso, black acrylic paint and the vivid ink sprays...

    The technique - very simply stated is -

     Cover your canvas, book, object with any decorations you want
     Paint all over with Gesso
     Spritz with various ink colours
     Dry brush with Gesso
     Dry brush with black acrylic paint
     Dry brush with Gesso again

   In the video demo I watched there was another application of embellishments and I think further application of ink....but the above instructions are what I did.

    I do have Gesso but it is one that isn't very opaque...so I had to do two coats of Gesso and it still didn't cover everything very well.



I don't have vivid ink spray colours so I used my homemade distress ink sprays. These aren't as bright and intense as other ink sprays, but they do have quite a good depth of colour. So I thought, I will go for a more pastel look anyway.



    Because dry brushing the Gesso I have wouldn't have made any difference, and you want the white to be quite vivid to give highlights, I used white tempura paint. This is more opaque and allowed me to add more colour if I wanted to.



After the inks have been sprayed, I dry brushed the tempura paint over the embellishments.



I didn't want to use black acrylic paint...in the demo the ink colours used are quite dark, so I think it could handle black paint. My ink sprays were very pale, so I chose to dry brush some french Roast Fresco paint. This is quite a dark paint but it is translucent.



At this point I was thinking it isn't going to work and everything looked quite muddy....but hey presto! the last layer of white picked everything up again and made everything pop!



    I don't think it is my favourite thing I have ever made - but it was a lot of fun to do and certainly gave me more experience in decorating canvases. I really like the technique and I think it gives so many possibilities - I find it difficult to do the grungier crafts and perhaps I didn't quite master it yet - The results weren't hugely appealing to me, but like everything skill comes with practice. I thought about not putting it on the blog and this has been in 'drafts' for a few days while I tried to decide if it was 'blogworthy' or not. With some of my previous creations my least favourite pieces have been the most popular, so who am I to judge?....I really am not the best judge of my work and I do like using the blog as a diary of my progress in learning crafts so I decided it should be here....

    One lovely thing to happen with this canvas is that my daughter asked if she could have it and she plans to hang it up in her room! She loved it! - So I am very happy about that. There are things I would do differently next time....Larger canvas, better embellishments - I would definitely want to have some stronger colours - I think perhaps it is finally time for me to venture into new areas of crafts and buy some ink sprays!



So glad you are here....Thanks for stopping by!


I would like to enter this into the following challenges -

Happy Campers Challenge - Add Dimension





24 comments:

  1. Well, to my eyes you mastered it very well!! I love your paler pastel version of this technique, it looks wonderful! I am now also really intrigued how you made your Distress Ink sprays..... re-inker and water??? Whatever it was, I really love the subtlety of the colours!

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  2. Well we think this is lovely. We can see why your daughter wanted it in her bedroom. We love the way you make your flowers look so pretty. We always just plonk ours on but are inspired to try and do something more interesting with them since seeing what you and Butterfly do with them.

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  3. I really like the soft colours and the "ghost" effect from the white! This is very feminine shabby/chic!

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  4. This is beautiful Laura, love all that texture,lovely colors thanks for sharing and hope you have a great weekend..

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  5. Fabulous canvas, such wonderful texture and dimension. Beautiful candy floss colours. Tracy x

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  6. Hi Laura, this is a wonderful first attempt, if you ever saw my first attempt at this technique you would realise how good yours is! I think your Daughter wanting it in her room says it all really. Love the soft muted colours too. Beautiful! Hugs, Anne x

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  7. I cannot express HOW happy I am that you decided not to keep this gem a secret from us! Laura, it is TRULY gorgeous. I love this style of crafting and have always been immensely intimidated by the process and lack of supplies, BUT you've changed all of that for me. I love that you let this little beauty have its debut because it's sensational. The pastel colors, the embellishments are just perfection, your homemade sprays (love that!) and the outcome are amazing. No wonder your daughter wants it..she has incredible taste :)
    I'm in awe and completely impressed with this!
    hugs,
    Lisa x

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  8. Beautiful canvas love the soft pastel colors and the shabby chic feel . I can see why your daughter would want to hang it in her room .
    Marilyn

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  9. Looks gorgeous , Ilve candy floss and I lovethis!!! Another great make , hugs trace x

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  10. I'm definitely with your daughter here Laura - its fabulous! It reminds me of a lovely ice-cream creation, all those gorgeous soft colours and textures frozen in time. I love the way you just experiment with whatever you have - sign of a true artist!

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  11. Laura...I think your canvas is really cool and reading the instructions made me want to try it! It doesn't sound all that difficult to do...but I love your results. Thanks for sharing the steps. I also wanted to thank you so much for stopping by my blog and leaving such a nice comment. You are such a talented artist. I always enjoy seeing your work and reading about your creative process. Your compliments mean so much to me and encourage me to keep playing, keep experimenting and having fun! Hugs, Candy

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  12. Me again! In one of your other comments you left on my blog (thank you so much!), you told me about your 9 year old daughter and her love of your Distress inks and stains. I went to her blog and saw her Valentine tag! So pretty!! She seems to be following in her very talented Mother's footsteps. I wish her continued success as she creates and shares her art! Hugs, Candy

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  13. Let's give a big round of applause for this one brave lady! This is crafting in its finest my friend. Venturing into a new technique and adopting your own supplies as substitutes - yet with such a stunning effect! I absolutely love your canvas and love the pastel shabby chic shades - love love love!!! xx

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  14. This absolutely stunning - you daughter wanting it says it all! I love finding ways of using what I have to make things but you really have done it so beautifully! btw I can't believe I hadn't already signed up as a follower of your blog - I'm going to have to put you in my sidebar too as that's the way I can find blogs easily! Thanks for your lovely comments! Chrisx

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  15. Gorgeous canvas I love the soft colours & your embellishments are just perfect!! Love it!! Hugs May x x x

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  16. WOW!
    I Love your canvas,its very beautiful,the soft colors and texture in it its fantastic!!!
    I Loved all Details in it,georgus!!!

    Hugs Jeannette

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  17. Just love the subtle shades with the brushing of white Laura! So glad you didn't hide this and I WILL take a look at that video because I love trying new things too. I so had to laugh about your 'fifty' comments. . . . having devoured all three books, anything with that word in now tickles me pink (well, you know what I mean!!!). Beautiful.
    Juliaxx

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  18. LOL on the title! Love all the layers here...wow! The soft color is wonderful and I really want to touch this! Gorgeous!

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  19. How wonderful and so fun to try a new technique! This is gorgeous!

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  20. Wow this is amazing! Love that you've gave your own spin on it! Thank you so much for mentioning me on your blog and for following my blog! Drew is one funny boy, isn't he? Hugs, Sandra

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  21. Fabulous Creation Laura. The colours are so beautiful and I wish I could feel those textures. Hugs Rita xx

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  22. This does look good enough to eat Laura. Love how soft the colours end up being. Have a fantastic Easter, hugs Jenny x

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  23. WOW WOW WOW , this is Fantastic, love it , Thanks for joining in with us at Happy Campers xx

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