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Monday, June 16, 2014

Texture, Texture and More Texture !

Hi everybody ! Toni here with a couple of journal pages I'd like to share with you. I was lucky enough to attend a recent workshop by the very talented Anna Dabrowska also known as Finnabair. It was a fantastic day and we were kept busy for the whole day. As well as being introduced to some products I had never used before Anna showed us some very useful tips that I'm sure would never have occurred to me. I also learnt something from the lovely Jackie who was sharing our table. That is certainly one of the great things about a day of total immersion in making art with like minded people !
 One of the tips Anna shared with us was to take a couple of blank pages and tape them side by side on our work surface, this made it a lot easier to add lots of gesso, texture paste and embellishments, so that's how I started this spread.
 I used masking tape as my first texture. I then employed the technique I learnt from Jackie. She tore strips from a piece of white fabric and adhered them to the page. This is how my page looked after I had set  too with the fabric.
I also added a fabric flower. Tearing the fabric leaves lots of threads which add to the texture. I adhered them to the surface with lots of Multi Medium, once dry, I gave the surface a coat of gesso. This process was quite liberating with all that tearing of fabric! Painting everything with gesso has the effect of bringing everything together.
Here are the pages after a few more layers, I got a bit carried away, as you do, and forgot to reach for my camera! By this stage I had sprayed with Dylusions Inks, stencilled with embossing paste, painted with Silks, and added a bit of stamping for good measure. Can you tell  how much fun I was having?  Once the pages were dry I decided to remove them from my work surface and separate them by cutting straight down the middle, before adding my final layer and embellishments.
 
I couldn't resist using another little Anna tip which was to adhere some tangled black cotton. This has the appearance of fine doodling and  I just love the effect. The dancing figure was cut from black card and embossed with transparent embossing paste. I also did a bit more stencilling with Wendy Vecchi's Gold embossing paste, the pics don't do this justice as the gold embossing paste is just .. well.. sooooo Gold ! Here are the two pages glued back into my journal..
You can see my final nod to Anna, the use of a 'selfie'! If you've seen her work, you will know that she often uses very beautiful images of herself. Here is a link to her blog. I had great fun creating these pages calling on what I'd learnt at the workshop. With my critical eye, I could say that I've probably over worked them and next time I will try and leave some white spaces, but it's so easy to get carried away when you're using such gorgeous products! These pages also fit into our current ePlay Challenge, which is to use fabric in a project. Why not hop over and see the gorgeous journal made by this month's challenge hostess, the wonderful 'Andiepants' as well as some stunning examples of using fabric by the rest of the design team. If my journal pages have inspired you to get your journal out, you can stock up on some fabulous mixed media products at Kim's lovely eclectic Paperie shop, just click on any of the pictures below to be transported there. Until next time ...x 

14 comments:

Helen said...

I think your pages are absolutely gorgeous!! A class with Finn is on my wish list, I love her style.

Stempelhexe said...

Zwei wundervoll gestaltete Seiten sind das geworden.
LG
Ulla

Unknown said...

Wow Toni, your post was chock full of great tips and inspiration!!! I love your spread and the colors are so rich together. Love, love, love!!!

Julia Aston said...

I bet your class was just wonderful Toni! I love the scene you created on your two pages - such great texture with the cloth, string and texture pastes!

BlackDamaskDesigns said...

So gorgeous!

Words and Pictures said...

So much fabulous texture! Love how you've taken the Finnabair inspiration and made it your own. Great pages!
Alison x

Jennie Atkinson said...

Amazing pages Toni - I can see the Finn influence but you have made them very much your own with the fabric and string which creates such wonderful depth as well as texture. Your colour choices are just stunning - love the pages immensely.

It was a fabulous weekend and I can see we will both be using techniques and tips learnt in our own work. I hope Anna will be proud of us !

Sue Lelli said...

Absolutely FANTASTIC, Toni! LOVE the white fabric! LOOKS like so much fun and these pages turned out so AMAZING! LOVE the selfie and the black thread!

Unknown said...

Such great tips! Wonderful spread. I love all the textures and the fact that you developed your own style from your class with Anna. Beautiful colors also. Congratulations to you for your amazing journal entry.

Astrid Maclean said...

This is so very, very cool Toni!! I absolutely adore the colours you have used and thanks for the step by step photos, a really inspiring journal spread with the most stunning textures!!

mamablitger said...

Toni... Such an amazing journal page. Just love what you created. Fabolous effect with all that different kind of textures you used. Very creative. I picked up lot of inspiration.
Thank you for a great tutorial.
Hugs from SPAIN

Micki said...

Awesome Toni, love all that texture and the colors!!!!!! I would love to take one of her classes but she has yet to come anywhere close to my area.

Broni said...

This is fabulous, Toni! Sounds like you learned a lot and had a fabulous time doing it!!

Andiepants said...

I LOVED my class with Anna and looks like you did too Toni. I adore your color combo and the graduated greens are just stunning. Great use of fabric too. {{hugs}}