Sneak in a Little #Cre8time... Ombré Monoprinting Technique by Susan M. Brown {sbartist}

Hello Amazing Crafters! Susan here sharing some monoprinting... mixed-media painting technique that virtually ANYONE can do – anywhere! Monoprinting gives me a painting fix and at the same time I can enjoy the randomness of creative play and make some fabulous backgrounds for other projects.

Just some of my monoprinting tools... all created with Amazing Mold Rubber. I have created many AMAZING DIY No Gelatin Rubber Plates in various shapes and sizes – pouring them in empty plexiglass frames and recycled crafty packaging. CLICK HERE to jump over and view how I created these. The Amazing Mold Rubber is more stiff and dense than the standard Gelli Arts® version, though it's much more durable.

Over my experience of creating these and trying out different monoprinting plates you can buy – you don't need to make them so thick to get the same results. Some of my earlier slabs are about 1/2" thick. I've since made some in recycled packaging that aren't thicker than 1/4" thick.

Don't forget... backsides of your molds can be a perfect slab for monoprints! A lot of my molds are round shaped, too. One side I can use the shapes/voids of mold as a mark maker and the other side is completely flat and perfect for a monoprinting palette {CLICK HERE to view examples of monoprinting with my round molds}.

I selected my ATC size plate that I use this for arting on the go. It's about 3" x 4" in size.

One of my favorite monoprinting techniques is an Ombré painted background. Hard to do when painting traditionally – but this is super quick and easy with a monoprinting plate and a brayer. This background is a great start for building up layers of texture and pattern... one pull at a time!

I begin by applying three colors of Ranger Adirondack acrylic paints {Lettuce, Bottle and Stream}. These have a metallic sheen and dry super fast - so these have been designated to my arting-on-the-go box. I also have a few recycled items at the ready for mark making and adding patterns as I go.

Using the brayer, I roll horizontally back and forth a few times to blend colors nicely. Areas that are a bit wetter create interesting resist areas... random is always good!

I gently press the a sheet of recycled book paper onto the paint and rub overall. This is where your hands get messy... in a fun way!

Gently peel back the paper and set aside to dry. 

Some paint will stay behind. This is good – monoprinting is all about layering. I love how the Ombré came out... but it's a bit bright and a nice beginning. I'm going to add another layer to add texture and tone the bright colors down.

I added some white Picket Fence Distress Paint and brayered across the entire plate – right on top of the dried leftover color from the last step. Don't waste that paint! Excess paint on the brayer is transferred onto a blank page in a recycled book which is now a growing art journal.

Since  the Distress Paint is more fluid, it stays wet a bit longer. I let it sit for a minute or two and press a cork repeatedly to make some interesting organic shapes.

Then I press my original Ombré background on top to add a second layer. Rub... rub... rub... then peel to reveal the magic! I had tried to make a pattern with a recycled pill blister pack and that resulted in few marks - but I did press the packaging on top like a stamp to remove the paint. This added several brighter white coffee bean shaped areas.

I'm really happy with this background, so I stop here and continue my monoprinting play and make some more ATC starters.

A TRIO of budding ATCs...

Monoprinting is quite addictive. Out of my short time playing {about a 1/2 an hour}... I have created a half dozen painted ATC book page backgrounds, and started backgrounds of several pages in a recycled day-timer book from cleaning paints off my brayer. It's so much fun!

What do you create with

your monoprinted papers?

Thanks for visiting! If you would like to see more of my creations,

please visit my blog sbartist : painting in the dark by clicking here. ~ Susan

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Seeing Circles and Spots for #MoldRubberMonday

Hello Amazing Crafters! I love to paint, but rarely have time to spend on having a go at a large canvas. So I've been having fun with MONOPRINTING recently... it gives me a painting fix and at the same time I can enjoy the randomness of creative play.

I can thank my Amazing Mold Rubber for providing me the ability to create AMAZING DIY No-Gelatin Printing Plates in a variety of sizes and SHAPES! Monoprinting is a great mixed-media painting technique that virtually ANYONE can do – anywhere!

Just some of my monoprinting tools... all created with Amazing Mold Rubber. I have created many AMAZING DIY No-Gelatin Printing Plates in various shapes and sizes – pouring them in empty plexiglass frames and recycled crafty packaging. CLICK HERE to jump over and view how I created these. The Amazing Mold Rubber is more stiff and dense than the standard Gelli Arts® version, though it's much more durable.

In my experience of creating these, I've realized I don't need to make them so thick like the original to get the same results.

Then I had a EUREKA moment...

Round monoprinting plates are the lastest craze and it dawned on me that I also have loads of round shapes lying around, too! A whole pile of them!!! Several of my mold rubber molds sitting in pretty little stacks like crafty pancakes.

One side I can use the shapes/voids of the mold as a mark maker and the other side is completely flat and perfect for a round monoprinting plate.

First I applied some colors to one of my rectangular plates with a brayer, then pressed my nut and bolt mold into the paint – this leaves a beautiful circle with hexagons in the negative space. Then I can stamp off the color from the MOLD onto another print or blank paper. Gorgeous!!!

 

Monoprinting is all about layering. This is the results after a few layers and combinations of removal and stamping back. This is so FUN and a great beginning to a brand new base for arting.

  

Some basic monoprinting with a brayered layer of the Mermaid Lagoon Ranger Distress Paint. The fluidity of the paint makes some nice texture as it beads up on the surface. If I want to add patterns into the paint – I let the Distress Paint set for a couple minutes to thicken up as the moisture evaporates. Look at the amazing pattern from the bolt mold voids!

  

How about pulling designs on the round base using a texture tool... also AMAZING!

What items would you use to create

pattern and texture on a slab

of Amazing Mold Rubber???

Please leave a comment below to share your ideas -or- please, ask us questions! If you would like to see more of my creations, please visit my blog sbartist : painting in the dark by clicking here -or- check out more videos on my YouTube channel here. ~ Susan

Thanks for stopping by and have a creative Wednesday!

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#Cre8time Double Duty COOL TOOLS for Arting... by Susan M. Brown {sbartist}

Welcome to another Mold Rubber Monday! Susan here to share some molding and casting techniques to make yourself some Cre8time tools for mixed media using Amazing Mold Rubber... to give me thin resin shapes or layers for embedding in my mixed media creations.

Remember Lonnie's post from a couple weeks back where he shared how to make DIY colored resin sheets/film for arting?? Well - that set me off running on a tangent while I was preparing things to demo using Amazing Mold Rubber at the Winter 2015 Craft and Hobby Association Mega Show. Thanks to Lyneen Jesse for catching a quick glimpse of us in action amongst all the hustle and bustle.

Amazing Mold Rubber is available at Hobby Lobby and Micheals Stores, other retail locations and also at the moldputty.com website – so please feel free to search our archives and get inspired and excited about mold-making and casting... and MORE! 

Amazing Mold Rubber is an easy to use, high strength liquid silicone mold making rubber that is strong, soft and flexible - great for undercut parts and cures in approx. four hours. Amazing Mold Rubber is a two-part liquid rubber used to make extremely elastic molds to produce quick and exact reproductions of your original. Replicas can then be cast in Amazing Casting Resin, Amazing Clear Cast Resin for plastic parts - or use other materials such as plaster, wax, clay or polyester... and that's just the beginning to all the fabulous uses just waiting to be discovered!

What I did... I made a double duty

Amazing No-Gelatin Printing Plate!

Started with using some recycled packaging courtesy of Ranger

as a mold box and a transporter for my new tool.

I spray mounted the base of the container and placed in varyied sizes of microscope slides {you know you all are hoarding these too} and small glass tiles. I had some empty space, so a cut up wooden stir stick as well.

Filled in with about a 1/2" of Amazing Mold Rubber and when cured I will have a monoprinting slab on the top... AND...

...perfect pristine molded glass slide voids on the other!

Perfect for creating 1/16" tiles or thin resin sheets and layering items for embedding.

I had fun experimenting with this double duty COOL TOOL that has another AMAZING No-Gelatin Rubber Plate on the other side. The glossy detail of the glass slides has been captured beautifully and transfer perfectly to the clear resin pour! I gave a few of my examples away at CHA and I'm looking forward to see what crafty goodness comes of them.

What items would you love to cast

in Amazing Mold Rubber???

Please leave a comment below to share your ideas -or- please, ask us questions! If you would like to see more of my creations, please visit my blog sbartist : painting in the dark by clicking here -or- check out more videos on my YouTube channel here. ~ Susan

Thanks for stopping by and have a creative day!

...........................................

Want to Socialize with Amazing Crafting Products?

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Painting Everything Under the #Cre8time Sun... Mold Rubber Monday with Susan M. Brown {sbartist}

Welcome to another Mold Rubber Monday! Susan here to share another use of Amazing Mold Rubber with my favorite new friends... Faber-Castell Gelatos®.

Amazing Mold Rubber is now available MICHAELS!!! It's also available in Hobby Lobby Stores, other retail locations and also at the moldputty.com website – so please feel free to search our archives and get inspired and excited about mold-making and casting... and MORE! 

Amazing Mold Rubber is an easy to use, high strength liquid silicone mold making rubber that is strong, soft and flexible - great for undercut parts and cures in approx. four hours. Amazing Mold Rubber is a two-part liquid rubber used to make extremely elastic molds to produce quick and exact reproductions of your original. Replicas can then be cast in Amazing Casting Resin, Amazing Clear Cast Resin for plastic parts - or use other materials such as plaster, wax, clay or polyester... and that's just the beginning to all the fabulous uses just waiting to be discovered!

To view mixing and preparation of Amazing Mold Rubber and how I created my AMAZING No-Gelatin Rubber Plate CLICK HERE! To view a second video which is a test run on my faux gelatin plate... and my FIRST TRY at Gellin' – CLICK HERE.

Now with the business out of the way...

how about some creative magic??!

I joined a summer themed tag swap at Viva Las VegaStamps! and I wanted to have a painterly background to showcase my stamped images. Faber-Castell Gelatos® are my current favorite go with me everywhere tool and this was a perfect occasion to do a little Cre8time experimentation with monoprinting on my AMAZING No-Gelatin Rubber Plate.

Using an assortment of yellow, green and blue Gelatos®, I colored directly to my AMAZING No-Gelatin Rubber Plate. I added a few spritzes of water and then pressed a natural color cardstock onto the top, rubbed and pulled off the monoprint.

The yellow is pretty strong and still has some color left after the first print. I added a little more blue and green, spritzed again and repeated to create a half dozen prints with similar color... each with it's own painterly personality.

Here's what two of my collection of Gelatos® monoprints looked like before stamping.

And the completed tag after stamped and inky goodness!

Total summer fun!!!

Now it's time for project cleanup {boo-hoo}. Despite my best efforts, the Gelatos stained my AMAZING No-Gelatin Rubber Plate and wouldn't wash off very easily {they do have a bit of a waxy composition to them}. No worries! I have a crafty fix-it... pour resin on it and peel it off! I rubbed a sheet of blank cardstock to make sure it was completely DRY and FREE of water/moisture before proceeding with resin.

My apologies I didn't get a photo of the resin mixing/pouring step {CLICK HERE for mixing/preparation of Amazing Casting Resin}. I prepared a small batch of Amazing Casting Resin and poured directly on top of Gelatos – spreading around with stir stick evenly to edges. For added stability and to help speed up curing of thin layer of Amazing Casting Resin, I gently pressed a crumpled sheet of deli paper into the liquid resin – careful not to press so hard to squeeze the resin out off the edges of the rubber plate. Just enough to get a bond of resin to paper.

 

When cured after about 20 minutes, I gently peeled the resin back from the rubber plate which completely removes all of the gelatos. It's so AMAZING!

Side-by-side the clean rubber plate and my paper-backed resin pull.

My plate is clean now and I also have a wonderful painted resin base for mixed-media arting.

How would you paint using Gelatos
and Amazing Mold Rubber???

Please leave a comment below to share your ideas -or- please, ask us questions! If you would like to see more of my creations, please visit my blog sbartist : painting in the dark by clicking here -or- check out more videos on my YouTube channel here. ~ Susan

Thanks for stopping by and have a creative evening!

...........................................

Want to Socialize with Amazing Crafting Products?

Twitter at @AmazingCrafting | Facebook at AmazingMoldPutty | YouTube at AmazingMoldPutty

Amazing Mold Rubber Inspires #Cre8time Improvisation... by Featured Artist Tina Walker

Hello Amazing Crafters! Today we continue our "Featured Artist" series here at the Amazing Crafting Products blog. Each month we feature one artist who joins us to share a special project and some inspiration using Amazing Crafting Products. Today Tina Walker is joining us for Mold Rubber Monday and sharing a bright and colorful mixed media canvas utilizing Amazing Clear Cast Resin and her Amazing No-Gelatin Printing Plate. CLICK HERE to head on over to Tina's Blog "A Dog's Life" to see more of her fabulous work. Enjoy! 

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An AMAZING Resin Canvas...

In January, while at CHA, I was hanging out at the Amazing Crafting Products booth with Susan Brown. She had created a 'Mold Rubber Printing Plate' and I was intrigued by the process and creative possibilities. Susan was a super sweetheart and made me my very own Rubber Plate. I carefully carried home with me and couldn't wait to create something with it.

At the show, Susan had added paint to the top of the rubber and let it dry. She then covered it with a thin layer of Amazing Casting Resin {CLICK HERE to view the CHA demo}. I loved this idea, but what if you used Amazing Clear Cast Resin? Then you could see the color/pattern underneath the resin. So I went to work.....

Here's my rubber plate with acrylic paint.

And when the paint was dry. I made a batch of Amazing Mold Putty and applied

it around the mold rubber slab to make a 'border' to contain the resin.

Okay - this is where I need to confess. I had NEVER used the Amazing Clear Cast Resin before this project, so I wasn't quite sure what I was doing. Soooooo, when I poured the resin into the mold, it was thicker than I wanted. Here's the clear resin casting.

My original intent with the resin, was to cut it into small (1"x1") pieces, but because it was thicker than I expected, I had a hard time cutting it. So while it was still 'soft' and curing, I cut it into pieces I could manage. The pieces were not 'perfect' squares, so I accepted them the way they were. :)

I did love how the paint was embedded into the resin, and the great texture that was created, but because my original plan wasn't working, I wasn't sure what to do with my pieces. 

How about a canvas?

You can never go wrong with a canvas.

So I took a raw canvas and painted it with watercolors. I thought this would create an interesting background behind the resin pieces.

But, I wasn't getting the effect I was looking for. On to idea #2.

How about doodles? I love doodles!

So I drew randomly shaped flowers (with Montana Markers) on each square.

I really liked how this was looking.

Now what?

I placed the painted resin pieces on my canvas in a pleasing design. I drew around each rectangle and painted it in with white paint. I then outlined each square with black.

  

  

I threw in some floral doodles around the squares and outside edge!

  

I really LOVE how this turned out.

A project 'failure' into a piece of art that I really love.

So what project failure have you created

that was turned into a piece of art?

I'd love to see them - please comment below with a link. ~ Tina

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You can see more of Tina's scrapbook, Home Décor, and mixed media projects on her blog, "A Dog's Life" at http://adogslife-thirteen.blogspot.com.

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Thanks so much for dropping by! Check back Friday when we pose our fun Questionnaire to our Featured Artist Tina Walker... you don't want to miss it! Hope you are having a wonderful day! :) Sb