Do you remember One Sheet Wonders from the early days of stamping and cardmaking? What this was was a full sheet of cardstock that you stamped all over with different images and colors, maybe sponged some ink on, etc. You were basically creating custom patterned paper with stamp images. Then, there were patterns to help you cut up the sheet in different ways, wasting nothing, to create TONS of cards with the pieces. As a matter of fact, you can see an entire library of more than 3,000 of these templates and samples here. Those really used to be all the rage.
That has a cousin in what's now called masterboards. A masterboard is usually a single mixed media piece that is then cut down to create smaller pieces of art for things like Artist Trading Coins/Cards, etc.
I thought a fun thing to do might be to add some details to a Gel Press print to create a masterboard for my art journal spreads and for cards. I used my 8x10 Gel Press so that I could get large masterboards for multiple projects. Even better would be the 12x12 or the 12x14, neither of which I have. At my last retreat, my mixed media queen attendee - Kyra Sanders - had some Gel Press prints that she had stamped and drawn on and they were so beautiful. Her work is VERY detailed and layered and gorgeous - so not to be the bearer of bad news - but mine isn't nearly as pretty :). It inspired me though to come home and take my incredibly large Gel Press prints in the UFO pile and add some details to them in my own style and see what happened. What happened is I got both pieces that are great for cards AND lots of two page spreads I can add to my art journal. I took prints that I considered pretty, but that lacked some punch and I added details with a variety of pens and pencils and man - what a difference that made. The patterns in the background moved into the foreground, and some things popped out at me, like the little scene I used to make this card, which was very vague in the unembellished print - you'll see that in my video below. I used this human figure stencil and this fishnet stencil for the background. The sentiment is from this set - how perfect is that for that image?
Before that little bit of doodling, the prints were pretty, in terms of color, but they lacked structure and focus. Here are some more of the "afters" - you'll see the "befores" in the video. I've linked each photo to the stencil I used on that print - where there are multiples, they'll be in the supply list after the video. In this print I used my Moroccan mask
I love the simplicity of the circles over the more detailed Moroccan stencil in the background.
Again with the circles and the Moroccan Mask, but this time I made the mask the foreground - look how different that looks from the previous one.
Here I put the circles in the background. I had a large geometric shape drafting template that I printed with and I moved those to the foreground. But just a shift of my outlines here would reverse that and give you a totally different look. My apologies on the large geometric shapes stencil - it's one I got in the early 90s at a scrapbooking store and I can't find anything similar online.
Now - put your hands together for the fishnet, the Moroccan, the people AND the circles hahah - I guess I was in a groove the day I printed these.
Can't you see those as two page spreads or across 20 unified, but unique artist trading coins? That's how I created these coins - with, but I didn't embellish these, and now I wish I had.
So are you ready for the video of me doodling? Here you go!
Here are links to all the supplies I used - thanks so much for stopping by.
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These are so totally “extra”! Love them!
ReplyDeleteThank you. I love your card, and loved seeing the way you embellish your masterboard.
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