LOC #80 upcycle/recylcle

Hello

Sadly this is our last LOC lay out for a while as other personal commitments have meant we're leaving them, but that doesn't mean you can't still play with them on their weekly challenge site.

with it being scifi month I went with this image  from Oddball art company she's a cute little believer that wants to be taken away.

The recycle bit comes from using cardboard from a beer box which I painted roughly in silver,  I then splatted some drawing gum on it and painted over it again with a mixture of violet and paynes grey (currently my favourite colour of all time) once its all dry, just rub over with a soft cloth and all the tiny splatters come away to give a very busy galaxy effect - helped a little bit with some teeny tiny stars.

I upcycled some metal self adhesive tape from the DIY store (thank you Chris!) and turned it into the Moon and Earth by dry embossing (using an tiny embossing tool) the design from the back and front to make the craters stand out,  then colouring with some black posca, I did the same with the earth but used glass paint to make the colours shine.. I also cut out a flying saucer but for the life of me can't find it, so that will have to be added later.

The lady herself I coloured with my usual watered down crayola pens, added the odd hint of metallic pen to give her boots and goggles a space feel.

finally stencilled the wording with silver paint and ran around the letters with a pen to make them seem more joined up.

Don't forget, there is only a day to share your sci-fi/geeky/fantasy creations here or on our facebook group for a chance to win crafty vouchers worth real money.

jaz x 

12. Gory movies

I loved, loved, loved yesterdays Zombie, thank you Rebecca, I'm definitely giving that one a try :)

Everyone has seen a horror movie or two, or a film that was just a horror to watch,  some of which have quote or tag line that make it into popular culture or just your inner ear worm.

Why not mix them up for a nice quick and easy splat challenge, to create a page for your junk journal to go with Lou's covers.

First: pick the first movie quote that pops into your mind or a film that has some gore in it, if you're stuck there are plenty internet sites that help you find the top 25 horror movies, or tag lines, top 101 film quotes etc.

Next decide what type of background you want for this, I've had a go at a couple of layouts to hopefully get you inspired, and went with the standard black or white base, which can be coloured as much or as little as you like.

Finally and most importantly get your runny ink, sprays, or water down some paint, a very loose bristled brush or old toothbrush, read the disclaimer* below before beginning (be warned splatting causes the ink to go further than in a spray bottle) stand well back and splat.

For a fine mist I dipped the toothbrush into some ink (or scraped some of the ink from the spare splats), using the very tip of my thumb rubbed against it. You can change the direction of the spray, short rubs will get bigger drops where as going against the whole of the brush will give a finer mist but have less directional control.  

I went with 2 different techniques for adding the quote, added after the splats (red ink and birds) the black background + psycho designs I added the wording first, using Pebeo drawing gum to mask off the lettering, once completely and thoroughly dry, gently rub off the gum, leaving the background to show through and stand out - if one or two stray drops have snuck through cover them with marker.

If you want your writing to show up clearer, you have to make sure you get it 'bright' around the lettering, if you don't quite manage it, use a similar shade pen to deepen the colour, using a tiny tapping motion getting lighter the further away you go.  You can see I didn't get the effect I wanted first time around so have added more white. 

For larger splats, either use a long loose bristled brush, or the straw type thing inside the cap of a spray bottle works great.  If using the spray cap thingy it has a lot of ink already inside it, so you should get a really good coverage just with that.  The less ink you load your brush with the better the effect than if its sopping. 

You can also get different shaped splats, if you flick against a vertical surface and touch your paper too it, its less circular drops/drips, more directional spatter.

With any project you can make it as simple or as complicated as you want, adding printed quotes, or adding background imagery, its totally up to you. 

I hope you have a go, and have as much fun as I did there is something artistically freeing about just inking up and letting it fly.. Good luck on the clean up xx

I have entered this into the A Step In the Darkness Challenge.

Jas x 

Psst,  if you have any pieces that you aren't quite happy with, keep them safe they might come in handy later on for another quick project.

*Disclaimer - I do all my splatting in the bath, a) because I've dyed my hair more colours than Joseph's coat so I know it will rinse down and come completely clean, b) I don't have to worry about getting the ink stains anywhere else. I also occasionally ink outside on the grass, because it'll either wash off or cut out, and in a week no one will know  the difference... DO NOT spray or splat without protection that you are happy with and any stray or permanent spots are not my fault. be warned splatting causes the ink to go further than normal spraying..