... Today is my first Ta Da Thursday. I decided I would share & demo all of my messes projects that I do on a regular basis. I have tried a lot of quick projects & recipes because of Pinterest. (You can click on the word Pinterest to view & follow my boards) I can't promise I will do this every Thursday but I will "try". :)
I am working on 2 mixed media/collage projects for 2 friends. I might share these projects at a later date. I don't do a lot of mixed media/collage but I love it. I had forgotten how it sets you free & really turns the light on in your right brain, your creativity really gets turned up a notch. Because I don't do a lot of mixed media or journaling I don't have a lot of stamps. So this week I tried the Styrofoam Faux Lino Carving I had in my Crafty Cravings Board. After a great supper of take-out Chinese Chicken & Eggplant from our local favorite, I cut out & washed the lid of my Styrofoam container. BTW I hate eating food that have been in those containers, I always take it out of those before I store it in the frig. I used to wish they would use paper cartons, now forget about it, gimme that Styrofoam. Here is the "Pin" that was the inspiration for me to try it...
I drew a little portrait. You can see I messed up on her eyes. This taught me that there are no do-overs on this foam. If you want a clean cut, then I suggest you draw your image on thin paper & trace onto the foam. If it isn't deep that's ok you can always go over it & make it deeper. Obviously I didn't take care to wash the stamp between colors, just went crazy stamping.
You can see by the print in the upper left corner in pink how you can paint only a portion of the stamp, even get fancy and add several colors. (those eyes! haha) Humm... if I took my time, a new world of possibilities...
After printing this, honestly I dug through the garbage to get my son's carton to try writing on it. Thankfully it wasn't buried or I'd be calling in another order! haha I knew it would print backwards but does anyone really read the printing anyway? Next time I will slant my writing to the left so that it will print out slanted to the right more like the stamps that you purchase.
I didn't use ink. I used acrylic paint (Americana craft paint) for this experiment & old Bristol vellum coated paper that I used for charcoals. I think you would definitely get a smoother print with ink & different papers. The acrylic paint picks up the grainy texture of the Styrofoam so most likely it would with ink as well...
So all in all I was pleasantly surprised with the results. I didn't feel like it was a waste of time to try it. It's definitely easier to carve than lino. Also I think in a pinch that Styrofoam could work nicely as a quick stencil as well if you pressed the foam to flatten it out. I plan to make some stamps for mixed media, journaling or collage with Styrofoam... Hum... a good excuse to eat out. I need another doggie bag!
If you try this I'd love to see it! Is there something new you have tried lately?
Create a Great Day!
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