May/June 2022 Challenge - Flower Power

[DawninCal]

Michelle, I'm quite happy with today's results. There is a little bit of a Dr. Suess feel to them, at least in my mind. I hope to go on to the next step tomorrow, but if I'm not finished by the 15th, I'll share what I've done so far.

While I may not get it made into jewelry by then, I figure I did challenge myself and have something to show for my efforts. And, that's kind of what challenging ourselves is all about...I think.



Dawn

[caeterle]

Oh come on, as if we demand you to have finished on the 15th. Take your time!

[DawninCal]

Hmmmm...well, Cat, if I waited until I was finished to share my challenge project, you'd be waiting for weeks, maybe months!

I am not finished, but I've gone as far as I can for now, so I will share what I have.

For a long time, I've been interested in alcohol inks. I love the bright vibrant colors people are achieving with them. A while back, I bought some starter colors (red, blue, yellow, rust, black and a couple of others) and some special paper. I read a book about the technique and I watched youtube videos, but I didn't do anything with them because we were busy with the bathroom remodel.

Then I thought I'd use them for the challenge as I thought they'd be perfect for the flower theme. I'm here to tell you that there is a definite learning curve to alcohol inks. They aren't anything like the acrylic paint I'm used to. I had zero control over the inks; they just did whatever they wanted and blended together in a big muddy mess. My first attempts...



I actually considered giving up and doing something with wire, but I'm stubborn and I was determined. More practice and I ended up with something I thought would be usable. I should have taken a photo of it before I cut it up!



My plan was to put these in bezels and seal them with Glossy Accents which is like a quick drying resin. Scrap bookers use it for their embellishments, but I've used it many times for jewelry and it works great. It's especially useful when I have just a few pieces, but not enough to justify mixing up a batch of resin. Before I tried it, I did a test on the paper I cut the circles out of. Unfortunately, it reacted with the inks which ended up fading the colors and distorting the image.



After doing some reading this afternoon, it appears that resin will work with alcohol inks. However, my resin is packed away in a box that is part of a large stack of boxes, so that's not gonna happen at this time.

What I've done so that I can share with you what I have so far is to set the paintings in the bezels. They haven't been glued down yet, and of course, no resin yet, but it'll give you a good idea what they will look like when done:



I'm actually pretty pleased with these.

And, I wanted to share one last detail with you. The bezel I selected for the large pendant came out of my stash from The Olde Curiosity Shoppe, which sadly no longer exists. Lucky for me I have a huge stash from that place! Anyway, what made decide to use it is the spiral that is cut into the bezel and which matches the spiral I drew on to the pink flower. I thought that was a pretty good match.



When I get my studio finished, one of the first things I plan to do is to finish these pieces.

Meanwhile, Flower Power!



Dawn

[caeterle]

Those are so lovely, Dawn!
I love how you keep trying completely new things and how you manage to incorporate your painting skills into your jewelry!

I knew a few people who work with alcohol ink on polymer clay and metal components, but have never seen it used for jewelry on paper before.

[DawninCal]

Thanks so much, Cat!

*side note - thought you guys might get a laugh out of me falling asleep in my chair mid-post! Apparently, my finger was on the 'F' key before I nodded off*

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More tomorrow - going to bed now. HaHa!



Dawn

[caeterle]

See, I could always blame my cats if that happened to me Of course it usually is them.

[DawninCal]

Yea, no cats here to blame. That's not the first time I've done that. I remember one time sitting at my desk late one night, dozing off and doing a face plant on the keyboard. When I woke up, there were thousands of "Z's" in front of me.

I guess I should go to bed when I get tired instead of fighting it like I do!



Dawn