Inspired By... Vol 2/2018

It's time for this year's second Inspired By! As you remember, this year we are doing it a bit differently than before. Let me remind you about it. 

Inspired By is something sweet Marsha and me have been doing for years now. Until this year it was that we chose a subject to be inspired by and then did something inspired by that theme, a piece of art or a book. The inspiration could be anything but we both turned that into some kind of project and blogged the creation on the 10th. 

Inspired By is a playground, a concept we can use to explore, to play and to discover. We can do as much or as little we want and have time for. I guess it's not a surprise then that we both enjoy Inspired By very much but after doing it the same way so many years, we thought to change the things a bit.

This year, 2018, we both just post on the 10th with some source of inspiration we found that month. Or rather on a period from the 10th of previous month to 9th of the current month. It can be a series of photos, a book we read, an artwork we saw, just a pebble on the street or a new product we bought. We can make something using that source, but it's more about sharing just the inspiration. Consider it as a window to our creative minds!

You can browse the past "Inspired By" posts from here (link).

I'm not surprising anyone I guess, when I say that for this post I chose as my source of inspiration Creativation. It was a huge thing for me to be able to attend and even more to work there! I felt so grateful for the opportunity! I actually didn't walk around that much but mostly worked at the Prima booth the whole time more or less but I did went to see familiar brands and faces, people and products I love. One of those was Carabelle Studio. I just adore their stamps! 

What I found out in their booth was that they had a completely new product, Texture Plates. Thin stamp like plates for monoprinting. You can see all the designs by Birgit Koopsen here (link) and all the designs by Alexix Toupet here (link). If you want to see glimpses of the booths in Creativation and Creativeworld, please see Carabelle's Instagram (link). 

Alexis was actually demoing the product for us, Keren Tamir and me, when we visited the booth. He was working with Distress Oxides on gel printing plate and the effect created with the Texture Plates was super precise! I was so happy and thrilled when he gave me a couple of designs to be taken home and play with. 

Here's something I created with the first goes of the plates! I used acrylic paints on my first tries as that's a medium I normally use for gel printing. I immediately noticed that the sun patterned plate I got was too delicate for acrylic paints but remember it performing perfectly with the inks. So I changed to the more random, more solid designs of bubbles and letters which you can see there beside the ready page. Oh boy! I especially loved the letter one! Such a great, great pattern! 

I created a couple of sheets with the plates and acrylics and then wanted to try something else. I really loved the botanical design of one of the plates, designed by Birgit. I didn't get such a good print of the design as I'd wanted so I decided to try the other way around, trying to use the design as a stamp! First I tried black acrylic paint, but I didn't manage to transform the design completely and detailed that way. Next I tried two different inks with the same problem. Then I realized that maybe the problem wasn't the medium but the paper instead. I had been using the monoprinted papers with several layers of acrylic paint so the surface wasn't either absorbing nor sleek and smooth. So I inked up the Texture Plate again using Archival Ink but this time applied a tissue paper on top instead. And voilà - perfect print with details and all of the design showing! 

For the page I tore the printed sheets into pieces and collaged them together using Soft Matte Gel. Then I adhered the tissue paper piece on top using same medium and masked the line of the piece even more with stamping. Lastly I added some doodles and scribbles here and there with black and white. 

I really enjoyed my playtime! I tried something new with something I already knew to love. It was fun to play with colors and see how the Texture Plates worked with different mediums. I still need to try them with inks at least! And maybe water soluble oil pastels. And... If I find myself lost of ideas to try with the plate concerning mediums, I can always go to GelliArts blog for inspiration. I really love what Marsha and Birgit are sharing there! Here's a direct link just in case you haven't visited already (link). 

Now's your time to check what Marsha has been Inspired By this month! I can't wait to see either as I have a hunch that she's using Creativeworld as her source and maybe there's some fantastic photos of the event in the post! Here's the direct link (link)! 

Thank you so much for visiting today! Wishing you a great Saturday! 

Materials: Carabelle Studio, GelliArts, Prima Marketing, Talens, Ranger