Marbling Paper and More

It's a beautiful new day. I just saw a video on Natalie Kalbach's blog (nathaliesstudio.com) and want to share it with you. Have your speakers turned on as you watch an expert marbling paper:

http://vimeo.com/24709888

There are a lot of videos on youtube.com showing how to marble paper and how to do so many other things. I learned how to install the upgrade to the RAM on my computer by watching a video on You Tube!

I've also done some paper marbling. I'm not an expert at it, but it's still fun. Below are some pix showing some of my results. Then, below that, I'll tell you how easy it is to do, even for a beginner like me.

To dye paper this way, just do the following:

1. Fill a shallow pan with water.

2. Drop alcohol ink into the water OR touch the surface of the water with the tip of the brush containing the color of acrylic paint you desire--and you can do this with several colors.

3. Leave the water as is, or swirl it a bit with a simple tool like a fork or a thin, pointed object.

4. Place your absorbant (but not too thin) paper on top of the water and smooth out carefully.

5. Pick your paper up (also carefully) and you will see the kind of design you have.

You can use these paper in collages or other types of art. You can also use them to wrap small gifts or whatever else you desire.

My girlfriend and art buddy decided to try and dye small pieces  of paper in the water where the acrylic brushes were standing, and that works too. Of course, I also did it. She's only 10, but she has taught be a lot with her little experiments ... and I have taught her many things from my experiments and the workshops I've taken from Julie Fei-Fan Balzer (her DVD workshops, that is) (go to balzerdesigns.com if you want to check her out).

Lastly, I'll tell you that the other day I was taking trash to the dumpster and came across a charming chest of drawers that someone was disposing of. I opened a drawer and found a Nautica(R) jeans tag, which I scooped up to use for the art tag I made:

I painted the back with black acrylic paint and sprayed it with Jim Holtz Copper alcohol ink to give it some sheen. Then I collaged the front of the tag with some paper items that I made from stamps, glitter glue, and metal findings added with Instant Krazy(R) Glue, the brush-on kind which is safer to use. I also sprayed the front with a little of the copper alcohol ink. This was my first art tag ... you can keep these tags for yourself or use them on gifts.

Well, that's all for now. No side comments for today.

Have a lovely one!