Riikka Kovasin - Paperiliitin: Stamp play, day 3

Friday and day three out of three! It's the final day of the new series of posts for the Seth Apter Creative Team. You can find Seth Apter's site here (link) and more about the Creative team here (link). I've included a list of products to the end of the post with links to Seth's own store.

As I told in the first post, this time I decided to tackle stamps. Here's the link for the first post (link) and here's for the second post (link). As I got so much lovely, enthusiastic feedback from the first series of posts with the art journal process, I followed that partially with this series, too. But this time the steps are a bit different. First I shared several easy ideas with stamps and then built with those or onto those in the following video. Today it's the process video of the finished page with the elements I've created in the course of the two earlier days.

Like I've been telling, today it's the process video of the finished page. I use the collage as my background, but still build layers on top when it's adhered in my journal. I also end up using just cut elements from the bigger transparency sheet as the background is so vibrant already and has a lot of things going. But if I would have just adhered an old book page as my first layer, that colored transparency with the embossing might have been a perfect layer on top! That's the beauty of mixed media, just going with the flow.

For this series of posts I actually wrote down some dates. Because people tell me I'm very organized I thought to share with you the process not just the actual creating process, but everything else that goes into it. My goal with this is to be open and maybe help someone struggling with timing and getting things done.

The first idea of this post I had on the 12th of November - and that was actually jotting down my process. I had a talk with Seth on the 9th and I guess the seed was planted in my mind then, but the 12th is the first date I have on my list. Then I actually miss some dates as the next one is the 11th of December when I recorded the video elements going into this series. But before that I had thought about the theme and angle (stamps + process), thought about which techniques or ideas to show and share and how they would be then follow each other. Probably that was some days before filming, along the work week then. Usually I get my ideas while going to bed and luckily I recall them the following morning so I can build onto the idea.

I took also the step pictures on the 11th but the pictures of the finished piece and the details were taken on the 12th. Then a couple of days later, on 14th and 15th I actually edited the individual segments. Like I then checked the lighting, sped things up, flipped the video and such. That's the first edit. It took me over a week to get into the second edit, which then included deciding the order of the snippets, putting the texts and pictures together, all ready for narration. This second edit was on the 29th. Before that, on the 16th, I edited all the photos for the posts. So, the video pics and the pics in these posts. I recorded the narration and edited those in on the 1st of January 2021. The final checks for the videos and uploading to the YouTube happened on the January 4th.

The final phase of the series was writing these blog posts and adding the links, videos, pictures all together. That happened on the 4th as well. I wrote the posts, timed them also to social media and sent the links to Seth. Then a couple of days later I actually returned and proof read everything once more. So there's a lot of steps leading from the first idea to the finished post. But what you should get out of this all? I mean the dates. Well, one is that it takes a lot of time to make a post, yes, so that's why I want to be organized. But more than that, I'd like to share some my go-to ways to make things easier.

First of all - plan ahead. Before mounting the camera on tripod I had been doing a lot, a lot of thinking and planning. While my creative process is free flow, especially for these three day series I plan a lot in my head so it's then really easy just do.

Second - work in batches. As you have the camera and lights and set up for filming, use it for several videos. At least I don't have a separate work space so the equipment can't be out all the time. Also, make sure on the previous day that you have enough battery and space in memory cards and just record a bunch of videos one after the other. Then edit those videos as a lot and take pictures as a bunch, too. When you have the set-ups done, use them maximally. Sometimes you might need to shoot just a couple of photos, but usually I have five, six projects ready for a photo shoot and then I have hundreds of photos to edit. Same as with actual creating, when you are in the zone, things go smoothly.

Thirdly - allow yourself some time to finish. As you could see from the dates, making especially these series is a process. While I hardly ever proofread a basic blog posts more than once the time when I've written them, articles and these series are a different thing. You tend to go blind to your mistakes so it's handy to do something completely different for a couple of days - or even hours if you are in a hurry - and then go back. You kind of have a fresh pair of eyes then. Working ahead is my key here. Then I'm able to work in batches and also have time to finish.

Fourthly - use sketches, lists, calendar... I can only speak for myself, but seeing the amount projects I need to finish as well as how many of those need a video makes me organize and prioritize. I usually start with the video project (even if their deadline would be the last) as the editing part takes a lot of time. When I have days off my full-time job I jot down a to-do list for that day and what I want to accomplish on that day. Remember to have free time, too!

I hope you have enjoyed this series! In the time of writing this, I already have the idea of the February post theme and a date reserved for filming the videos for that. By the time you are seeing this post, the videos are probably already edited at least once.

Thank you for stopping by today! Wishing you a lovely, creative weekend!