Friday 21 March 2014

Fox Frenzy!

Recently I have been paying attention to my Etsy store and adding some new shrink plastic jewellery. I have fallen in love with this process and it gives me such a thrill seeing my drawings turned into jewellery. I have talked about this before but I thought I would revisit it.

Shrink plastic is a fantastic process! I start every piece by drawing first with my fine-liners markers. Here is my little owl illustration which I thought would be ideal for jewellery.

When I am happy I scan the image into my computer and then it is printed onto an A4 sheet of special plastic. Next I cut it out before placing into an oven. The plastic is then baked at a very high temperature for only two minutes. During this process the design shrinks to approximately 40% of its size. Once removed from the oven it hardens quickly as it cools. The piece can then be finished, hand coloured and then varnished or sealed. The shrink plastic that I use has a slightly textured surface which I like as it is quite tactile.



When I have a few pieces ready I start to turn them into jewellery. I have made lots of brooches, rings and necklaces but this week decided to try out earrings and key rings. I used my foxy illustrations as these have proved very popular. I now have lots of foxy items but quite frankly (I feel) you can never have enough fox themed pieces! Anyway here is a peek at what they turned out like.



...and my owl drawing? I turned him into a brooch!


Feel free to visit my Etsy store or leave a comment below!


Monday 10 March 2014

Paperlove Blog Hop

The PaperLove Blog Hop is a celebration of all things paper! Follow the links to discover more bloggers who love paper and use it to inspire and delight. And if you want to explore a whole world of paper, and stretch your paper passion further with a host of creative projects, why not join the innovative new online course PaperLove (starts March 31). Led by book artist Rachel Hazell, PaperLove is a five week creative adventure for paper lovers. Find out more here.
  
Hi there and welcome to Slumbermonkey Designs (alias Lindsay Buck).  Hopefully you have just arrived from  Giova Brusa to see more papery goodness...
 

 I LOVE PAPER! There;  I have made my declaration and said out loud what I have thought and felt about this wonderful thing ever since I was a small child. I always had paper with me; as a sketchbook, in scraps or sheets and even as unwound lolly sticks that provided a perfect small square of white loveliness to draw on. As I got older I used paper in lots of different ways, always trying out new ideas and techniques. One of my most recent passions is cyanotype printing and now that the weather is getting a bit sunnier and the days longer I am feeling the lure again!

What is Cyanotype?

Cyanotype (sometimes called blue print)  is a photographic process discovered in 1842 by the English scientist and astronomer Sir John Herschel. However it was Anna Atkins (regarded as the first female photographer) who really brought the process to life. She documented plants by placing specimens on specially coated paper and exposing them to the sun, thus creating incredibly detailed images like the one below.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/Anna_Atkins_algae_cyanotype.jpg

My Work

Inspired after reading about Anna Atkins I decided to investigate how easy it was to try for myself. I actually found that all you need are the two chemicals ammonium citrate and potassium ferricyanide (which I bought from an online craft store) paper and bright sunlight! For my prints I decided to use some found graph paper. It had quite an old fashioned feel to it, slightly yellowed but with a clear and interesting structure. I experimented with lots of different things and these are some of the results.




For the top one I created a very ordered feel by using some of my collection of buttons in a grid system. The bottom one is based upon a photograph of a gate that I took. I made a negative by printing onto acetate in black and white and exposed it to the sun in the same way.

Some of the smaller pieces I used to make cards and hand embellished aspects of my prints. As you can see I have used recycled card. I love the slightly rough texture and unfinished feel of this type of card and paper.






What do you think of my cyanotypes? I would welcome any comments and if you are interested in my work do get in touch (links to the right!)

Thank you for stopping by to look and I hope you will hop on to the next on the list for more paper appreciation via Beka Buckley.




Majo Bautista /  Tona Bell/ Louise Best Cathy Bluteau / Jennifer Bomgardner Giova Brusa / Lindsay Buck / Beka Buckley / Joanna Caskie / Jonathan Chapman (Mr Yen) / Halle Cisco / Sarah Clare / Cathryn Clarge / Dawn Clarkson / Rhiannon Connelly Jenny D'Fuego / Molly Dhiman / Ian Dudley / Ayisatu Emore / Akmal Farid / Monika Forsberg / Claire Fritz-Domeney / Louise Gale / Chrissy Gaskell / Julie Hamilton / Emma Hawman / Rachel Hazell / Holly Helgeson / Claudine Hellmuth / Kim Henkel / Sarah Hoffman / Joanne Hus / Paula Joerling / Beth Kempton / Julie Kirk / Eos Koch / Katie LaClair / Kristy Lankford / Michelle Manolov / Doreen Marts Rosie Martinez-Dekker / Tori Mears / Maria Mederios / Lise Meijer / Debbie Miller / MaryJane Mitchell / Suzy Naidoo / Grace Noel / Hannah Nunn / Camilla Olsson / Jo Packham / Rachelle Panagarry / Monette Pangan / Melanie Paul Nicole Piar / Jen Pitta / Liz Plummer Julie Reed / Michelle Reynolds / Lisa Rivas Angee Robertson / Natalie Ryan / Aisling Ryan / Elisabet Sapena / Kyrrha Sevco / Jamie Sprague / Elizabeth Steele / Terri Stephens / Juniper Stokes / Mary Tanana / Maike Thoma / Linda Tieu Gabrielle Treanor / Tammy Tutterow / Deborah Velasquez / Jordan Vinograd Kim / Cat Whipple / Brooke Witt / Katie Wood Amelia Woodbridge

Friday 7 March 2014

Happening next week!

Next week I am taking part in the Paper Love Blog Hop! On Monday I am going to share with you my love of all things paper and talk about a creative technique that I enjoy when the days get sunnier and the temperatures a little bit warmer.

What is the Paper Love Blog Hop?

The PaperLove Blog Hop is a celebration of all things paper! Follow the links to discover more bloggers who love paper and use it to inspire and delight. And if you want to explore a whole world of paper, and stretch your paper passion further with a host of creative projects, why not join the innovative new online course PaperLove (starts March 31). Led by book artist Rachel Hazell, PaperLove is a five week creative adventure for paper lovers. Find out more here http://www.paperphilia.co.uk/paperlove

So join me on Monday to celebrate the wonderfulness that is Paper!