'Parchtangle'

Some more Zentangle on parchment.  At the recent Art Stamps England Stamp and Papercraft Fair at  Newbury I visited the Sweet Poppy Stencil stand -  where I fell in love with a particular stencil which I purchased.  There was a sample of its use to make a Zentangle  but on card and I wanted to use parchment.  I experimented with drawing around the inside of the stencil with my fine liner black pens but didn't find it very successful.  So I used a graphite pencil onto white paper and then used that to trace on to my parchment.

Here is my card - mounted on black, white and then black card.

The border has been taken from a card design by Wendy Walters in the current Parchment Magazine.
I enjoyed making this card and I like the good clean lines.  No sentiment chosen yet.

Hope you like it.
Carol
xx

Show report

We were very busy at our stand at the Show.  We met lots of  people interested in learning to do parchment as well as those who are old hands and surprisingly quite a lot who have tried it but fallen by the wayside.
It was nice to see some familiar faces- a forum friend Rona and  fellow CD Sunday teamie Jocelyn who came to see me and we managed to sneak off for a coffee break.

I worked on several things in between chats and demonstrations and did manage to complete a project from start to finish:

This is from a pattern by Judith Maslen and making this one enabled me to demonstrate embossing (deer , lettering, sun tool and edges)  Use of a grid to make the snowflakes and then  to show how to fix the finished glittered topper to the backing sheet I sewed it on using beads.

Christmas ATC's

I found this cream metalwork 'distressed' card display stand whilst on a recent visit to Bristol.  I did wonder at the time how I was going to use it to effect as I wasn't sure about the birds.  But is was too good a bargain to pass by.
I really needed to use it on our Stand somehow (Christmas theme) and suddenly had a brainwave.  Make the birds into Robins.  So I roughly cut out 6 'breasts' in red card and here it is.

The photo isn't brilliant I am afraid and I am hoping it will look better when it is displayed with everything else.  A couple of the ATC's (small bauble and Robin) are a new style copied from freebie patterns here.

Whilst on Debbees CD stand at Bluewater

I  copied the card designed by Judith Maslen in collaboration with Debs that appeared in February's Parchment Magazine- details here

Here is the card made.  My apologies for the non existing backing paper.  I hadn't taken any with me and  just had to buy a pack of plain  white cards to use. Also here is a photo of the stand. The demonstrator is conspicuous by her abscence  as she doesn't like her picture being taken.

Report on the Parchment Festival

Now that I have recovered from our fabulous festival I can write this little report.
I have had the most exhilerating and fun 3 days that I have had for some time.
Debs arrived on Thursday, late afternoon. Plenty of time for chat and a leisurely supper before we checked and rechecked everything we needed for the workshops on Friday. Our first workshop was with Kanny using colour pencils on black parchment. We learned how to use transfer paper and how to use white pencil as the base before going on to use layers of colour to create the most beautiful flowers. Orchids on this occasion. Kanny is soooooo talented. Her work is awesome and she is such a delightful person as well.
The afternoon session was with Dorothy Holness. I have had the privilege of having lessons with Dorothy before and I knew that I was going to enjoy every moment. Our project was to trace the image (flowers) with pen and ink and then colour using polychromos pencils on the back and the front. Then to emboss parts of the flowers to show shading and then bring it all to life. I have nearly finished this project and will post it when I have completed it. I must admit to being pleased with what I have done so far on this one and felt more at home with this kind of project. We don't all like the same disciplines and this was more in my comfort zone.

The Festival itself was on Saturday and we had a ball. I can't remember when I last talked so much about anything and everything parchment and other stuff. I met so many lovely people and we talked about how to do crosses, use a star tool, make flowers, removing greasy marks from parchment and even down to exactly which hand cream I use which doesn't mark the paper and where I get my tool stands from. So much I can't remember it all. Many of the show goers were ladies (and gentlemen) that I have met at previous shows and it was like seeing old friends again.

The second day of workshops was on Sunday. The first was with Tina Cox and she was as enthusiastic and as bubbly as ever. We learned so much abouting painting techniques on parchment using mostly felt tip pens and a very fine brush. My picture is almost finished but then there is a gorgeous grid border frame to be done before it is all finished and that may take me some time.
The last workshop was taken by Dorothy again who was standing in for Linda Williams who sadly couldn't make it at the last minute. Dorothy did a magnificent job of teaching someone elses designs and project which just goes to show how talented our designers are.
This project was awesome and I really - for the first time - felt that I was getting somewhere with my colouring on parchment. I am including a scan of the image at it's current stage but there is so much more to do. You really do learn patience in this craft along with all the other techniques.

There are several more stages to go through on this including adjusting the colouring on the face, and this is before attempting the border and finishing touches. The work is still attached to the pattern.

A special visitor with my Tutor

A special visitor to our Stand today. It was great to meet with Nigel again. I last chatted to him at the NEC. It is always a delight to meet and talk to Nigel. He is such a charming gentleman.

THE STITCH AND CREATIVE CRAFT SHOW - ESHER

My parchment tutor - Marilyn Pybus and her stand - 'The Art of Parchment' will be at Sandown Park again this month - stand H8 and I will be with her for the whole 3 days. 20th -22nd Jan. As always Marilyn will be holding a make and take parchment workshop each day which can be booked on the day.
My great friend Debs of Debbees CD's will be joining us on the Saturday.
I hope to see some old friends again and always hoping to meet new ones.
Our stand is on the corner right by the entrance to Stephanie Weightman's workshop room so you can't miss us.

Please come along and say hello.

Hugs
Carol


Click on the title for all the show details.