You have defeated the gremlins, and successfully completed your studies with Quinn McDonald in the Raw Art Journaling Workshop.  A mega “HUZZAH” to our awesome instructor, and the following graduates:

Arlene Holtz

Barbara Roberts

Bo Mackison

Cheryl Gebhart

Creative Crocheter

Debbie Bacca

Diana Caho

Janet Burditt

Janice Bryant (Rabbit)

Jeanne McCarthy

Kim Fortin

LaTrecia Raffety

Linda Hartley

Lynda Gunderson

Melanie Kiser

Nancy Wheeler

Pam Hoppers

Pat Miller Evans

Suzanne O

]]> http://artistsoftheroundtable.wordpress.com/2011/11/14/48/feed/ 2 Jacqui mickey-mouse-graduation http://artistsoftheroundtable.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/creative-lettering-class/ http://artistsoftheroundtable.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/creative-lettering-class/#comments Wed, 25 Nov 2009 06:42:08 +0000 Jacqui http://artistsoftheroundtable.wordpress.com/?p=34 ]]> Artwork by Nicolette Anderson

A.R.T. is moving strong with the Creative Lettering Class!!!  Check out all of the beautiful lettering arts in our SmugMug gallery:

http://artistsoftheroundtable.smugmug.com/Online-Classes/Creative-Lettering.

The workshop is hosted by the lovely Nicolette Anderson!  To see more of her work, visit her blogs.

http://www.nickieblog.blogspot.com

http://www.nicolettescreativeltettering.com

Here are valuable tips that Nicolette shared with the group!

Lettering Tips:

Now, with the first assignment, please keep yourself casual, and relaxed.  Tension is going to show up in your lettering!  That is why the more you practice, the better it will get, because you will be more relaxed, as it will come more natural to you.

Try to step away a LITTLE from your usual handwriting at this point.  If you write with quite a slant to your letters,  try to keep them as straight up and down as you can.  Try to make the round parts of your letters (like in o’s and e’s, b’s and d’s) as full and round as you can.

Imagine that you are teaching a little one how to print the alphabets.  Sticks, and circles, remember?  And I know that when I print with my regular handwriting, I may do a “d” in one big stroke.  With this style, it would be TWO strokes….the stick, and then the ball.  Break each letter into pieces, and you will see a difference.

Make sure to SLOW down!  You will get the best results.

Use whatever pen you want, but experiment with some different ones.  Tell me your favourites!

————————————————————————————————————

Remember to keep your letters as straight and tall, and as full and round as you can….

And if you haven’t done it yet, try to break each letter(except for “O” for obvious reasons) down into several separate pen strokes.  It may help at first to lay down one stroke, and then lift your pen right off the page, then put it down for the next stroke, etc.

You will notice a definite difference in your letters.

———————————————————————————————————–

Keep experimenting with different pen widths, etc…lets see how different things can look when we work with a thicker or thinner line!

When you are creating d’s or b’s – do you draw the “stick” first? or the “ball”?  If you draw the stick first, you may not even draw a full circle, you may just attach a curve….try reversing what you do – it’s hard spacing-wise, but try it a couple of times just to see what your letters look like with the full “ball” on the stick….do you like it better?

The more you do, the better results you get.  Find places to practice – keep a doodle pad by the phone, in your purse so you can practice while waiting in the Dr’s office, etc.

Scribble, scribble!

Be well aware if you are rushing things….slow down, breathe, and take your time.  Think about it in terms of drawing a picture, not scribbling notes.  You will find that you have better results.

Read what members of ART have done to achieve the same results as
Nevr Dull, yet without the harsh smell.

(left) Artwork created by Diane Knauff

*************************************************************

I think I have an alternative… steel wool. Steel wool will remove
the color from a magazine image and you can choose to rub a
little, remove a little color or rub a lot, remove a lot or all of the
color. I wasn’t sure how it would work along with glue so I took
a scrap of a magazine page and put some Glossy Accents on
it, let it dry, and I was able to rub around it and remove color.
You do need to be a little careful, but it worked. Yay!!!

Blessings, Wanda H in Iowa
My Picturetrail http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?p=6&uid=606639

*****************

Another idea that I use if I want to ‘burnish’ a picture……….it
doesn’t ‘disolve’ it like the never-dull does, but it ‘white’s’ it
away………..is rub firmly with a baby wipe………the white sections
on my journal page ‘To Adorn Her’ is done like this……….

hugs 2 U

Keron, Melbourne, Australia
blog: http://thecolourguru.typepad.com/

******************

Piggy backing on the ‘another thought’, is sand paper. It doesn’t rub
away with smoothness, but sometimes I like the rubbing away it does
that roughs things up a bit.

Red Dog

******************

I had initially mentioned using the citrus and I am so glad it worked
for you. I often make backgrounds with it, by simply taking a
magazine page (my favorite are National Geographic pages) that
has some wonderful color, then taking a foam paint brush and
painting over the page with the citrus. Amazing results each time.
I then just let it sit to dry.

******************

Hi A.R.T. Artist Buddies!!!!!!!!!

Just to let you know that I used BRASSO, a metal cleaner at
Home Depot, as a substitute for NEVR DULL, which I couldn’t
find locally . . . it worked just fine!!! YES!!!!!!!!! I said BRASSO
with a BR . . . I’m NOT being a Michi Nasty Mouth THIS
time!!!!!!!!!!! LOL!!!!!!!!!!

******************

Call me lazy or cheap, but I didn’t want to buy Nevr-Dull if I might
have a reasonable substitute in my stash. I tried a citrus-based
solvent but wasn’t impressed with the results. I remembered that I had
some Transfer Ink by Stewart Superior. I had used Glossy Accents by
Ranger Industries to outline areas on a landscape picture from a
magazine. After it was dry, I sprayed the Transfer Ink onto the
picture, saturating it. Using a paper towel I removed much of the
ink. Because the paper is saturated, I was careful not to tear the
paper. I love the way it turned out. The best part for me is that I
never had very good luck using the Transfer Ink spray to transfer
images but the product worked great for this purpose. Just thought I
would share my results.

Diane
http://www.stoneangelarts.blogspot.com

” I used 2 of my very bad gel transfer attempts for the background. I had black and white copies of the coloured art I was trying to transfer. I cut out the face on the black and white image and mounted it over the transfer. I then covered the atc with black french netting.

These are 2 of my favorite Paper Whimsy Images that I tried to transfer. I just could not throw out all of my mistakes.”

Check out her beautiful artwork!

Still feel a compulsion to discard what you “perceive” as failures?

To see more of Pamela’s outstanding work, visit her PictureTrail gallery at: http://www.picturetrail.com/panseygirl

For some, the transfer technique can be both tricky and frustrating! The question was raised as to how to succeed in doing this technique. There were members that were very helpful in their reply. Here are a few of the tips that were mentioned.

If you have a heat tool – it works beautifully with laser prints.
Tammy H.

****************

Over the years I have done a lot of transfers to T-shirts and canvas. I use my regular photo copier to copy the image I want to transfer (I do not own a color photo copier). It is important to remember not to make your copy until you have everything ready…the transfer works best if it has been freshly copied. For T-Shirts, I place a heavy cardboard, about the size of the front of the T-shirt, inside the T-Shirt, and fold back the excess fabric to make the image area taut. I generally take painter’s masking tape and tape the excess to the back of the cardboard. I then make the photo copy (not inkjet or laser, btw)….place it (image down) in the area you want it, then Iron the back of the image paper. Use a firm press, gently move, motion. If using a regular iron, turn off the steam. I use fabric paints to then color in the image, being sure to paint inside the lines, so you don’t obliterate the outlines. Leave the article (as is) for a couple of days to thoroughly dry, then place white copy paper over the colored image to heat set it. Then it will remain intact when washed. HTH.

Hugs, Gayle

**************

I used watercolor paper. I liked that one the best of any in
of the techniques in this grouping.

Thanks!
Tammy (Red)

****************

I tried several times to get the inkjet transfer with water on watercolor paper to work and never got a decent result. I played around with a couple methods, and found that using an inkjet transparency with water onto watercolor paper gives a different look than the other methods, and it worked extremely well! I just wet the paper, put the transparency face down, used the brayer and there was the transfer!

Hilery

*****************

I think you can use nail polish remover that contains acetone or you can use a certain kind of blender pen.

Anne

******************

I used soft gloss gel and transferred to the watercolor paper. I went back and did a second transfer with the same image and it came out better than the first one. I guess less ink makes a better or more crisp transfer.

Cathy

****************

I have a heat tool designed for use in wood burning. Mine has a flat little attachment that works well for transferring not only to wood, but to paper and fabric as well. I LOVE using it for transfers, it’s practically fool proof. You just have to be really careful because it gets about as hot as a soldering iron – and I always worry about burning the house down! LOL!

Tammy (Red)

*****************

Try soft gloss paper. I just tried it with my HP inkjet and it worked great. Well, not great….lol, but I have an image and I had no image when I used the regular photo paper with. Just wet your paper and lay your image very carefully on the watercolor paper so it doesn’t smear.

Cathy

*****************

Gel medium works great with a laser printer. We have a black/white lazer printer and I love making and tinting gel medium transfers with it.

WarmHugs
~ Tyra L.Smith

http://netnet.net/~cloud9

******************

I had better luck with the transfers if I put the gel on smoothly with my finger, directly on to the image, not to the ATC. But that didn’t work with my previous printer because the inks smeared. My new printer has water resistant inks so you can smear them with wet gel – BUT you can’t do the water transfer. You CAN do transparency transfers if you work quickly.

Some of you had problems with some colors not transferring. If your original looks fine but the transfer lacks some colors, that is due to your printer, you are not running low on a color. Some printers in more than one pass, and the top color transfers but the bottom colors may not.

If you have a laser printer you may be able to make a heat transfer or an acetone/solvent transfer. Use a craft iron or heat transfer tool on high (cotton) and place your image face down on the ATC. Rub on the back. Acetone and other solvents may work too. But it’s not your fault if it doesn’t work. The newest toners are printed with higher heat and use less toner and they are absorbed into the paper so well that they don’t always release with heat or solvent. Old copy machines usually transfer beautifully with these methods. You can do gel transfers, but instead of lifting the image while still wet, you until it has dried and rub the paper off from the back, like you would with a packing tape transfer. This only works if the ATC can tolerate the water. I cover my whole ATC with gel, smooth it with an old credit card “squeegee”, then place the trimmed image where I want it. Then once it has dried thoroughly you can wet the back of the image and carefully rub the paper off. You’ll get a fairly good image, but it’s always hard to get all the paper fuzzies off without removing some image. I’d love to hear from others if they have fairly new laser printers.

Debbie K

********************

A photo blender pen (contains Xylene and is tres toxic) works perfectly to transfer laser prints (print on copyweight paper and color the back of it when you have it on wherever you want to transfer it).

Alternatives are fingernail polish remover (I’ve used with and without acetone with equal success) applied with a cotton ball OR you can use a hot iron!

Basically all the same transfer techniques that work to transfer black and white laser prints to carving material!

Rabbit

********************

You know how hard it can be to get rid of all the paper fuzz when you
do the transfers? Clean off as much of the paper fuzz that you can.
Make sure your transfer is completly dry, then go over it with a light
colored Copic marker. Somehow it seems to make the paper fuzz
disappear. I learned that little trick in a class last year. Wish I
had that marker! Guess I will have to buy one of my own….lol

Cathy

**************

I have tried just about every way, shape or form to try these
transfers. this is what I found works the best It took a little of
these techniques and transfer techniques from “Artist Journals and
Sketchbooks” by Lynne Perrella,

Ink jet print image onto “ink jet transparencies: do not use laser
transparencies for copy machines.

Lay down gel medium onto surface and put transparency face down.
Burnish with bone folder. If transferring onto muslin, do not rub too
hard. Then lift image. I have got some amazing transfers with this
method. especially onto muslin.

Carrie Todd

The ART being posted in “The Castle” is unbelievable!!! Not only are we being inspired by the art….the experiences shared are quite motivating, and the tips of enormous help. Here are a few tips that were shared as an alternative to NevrDull. This will prove to be helpful, especially for those who have a sensitivity to smells and/or suffer from allergies.

*******************

I think I have an alternative… steel wool. Steel wool will remove the
color from a magazine image and you can choose to rub a little, remove
a little color or rub a lot, remove a lot or all of the color. I wasn’t sure
how it would work along with glue so I took a scrap of a magazine page
and put some Glossy Accents on it, let it dry, and I was able to rub
around it and remove color. You need to be a little careful, but it worked.

Yay!!!

Blessings, Wanda H in Iowa
My Picturetrail http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?p=6&uid=606639

*****************

Another idea that I use if I want to ‘burnish’ a picture……….it doesn’t
‘disolve’ it like the Nevr-Dull does, but it ‘whites’ it away………is rub
firmly with a baby……the white sections on my journal page
‘To Adorn Her’ is done like this……….

hugs 2 U

Keron, Melbourne, Australia
blog: http://thecolourguru.typepad.com/
website: www.artisttradingcards.com.au

******************

Piggy backing on the ‘another thought’, is sand paper. It doesn’t rub
away with smoothness, but sometimes I like the rubbing away it does
that roughs things up a bit.

Red Dog

******************

I have Nevr-Dull……lots of it here in Canada. But, another thing that
might work for you is something I use quite frequently with very
similiar results to those of us using Nevr-Dull. If you have a cleaning
solvent type of product (I use Citra Solv and another product called
Super Citrus) They are all purpose degreasers with natural citrus
oils…..a concentrated cleaner. Well, if you take a cotton swab, and
put ‘eve-so-little’ on it, you can get similar results when you wipe it
over your magazine paper…..it is important not to have the cotton
ball/swab wet…..just slightly damp and use it sparingly on your
paper. Just a thought, in case you cannot find Nevr-Dull.

Hugs, Gayle

******************

Hi A.R.T. Artist Buddies!!!!!!!!!

Just to let you know that I used BRASSO, a metal cleaner at
Home Depot, as a substitute for NEVR DULL, which I couldn’t
find locally . . . it worked just fine!!! YES!!!!!!!!! I said BRASSO
with a BR . . . I’m NOT being a Michi Nasty Mouth THIS time!!!!!!!!!!!

LOL!!!!!!!!!!

****************

Call me lazy or cheap, but I didn’t want to buy Nevr-Dull if I
might have a reasonable substitute in my stash. I tried a citrus
based solvent but wasn’t impressed with the results. I remembered
that I had some Transfer Ink by Stewart Superior. I used Glossy
Accents by Ranger Industries to outline areas on a landscape
picture from a magazine. After it was dry, I sprayed the Transfer
Ink onto the picture, saturating it. Using a paper towel, I removed
much of the ink. Because the paper is saturated, I was careful not
to tear the paper. I love the way it turned out. The best part for
me is that I never had very good luck using the Transfer Ink spray
to transfer images, but the product worked great for this purpose.
Just thought I would share my results.

Diane
www.stoneangelarts.blogspot.com

***************

For more of these fine tips and a gallery of some of the most beautiful
ATCs, head on over to the A.R.T. message board and files!! http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ArtistsOfTheRoundTable/