AROUND THE STUDIO:  
The Old Island studio is a very busy and exciting place to be these days.  Very recently, we received word that we have been invited to participate in two major Christmas shows in Central Canada.  We are going to be at the One-of-a-Kind Christmas Show in Toronto for 11 days, November 25th thru December 5th.  Then we go on to Ottawa to take part in the Signature's Originals Christmas Show for another 10 days, December 9th thru the19th.  So, this year we will be doing Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Ottawa, and be on the on the road for 6 1/2 weeks!  Unfortunately, this means we are not going to see our stamping friends at Kris Kringle and A Touch of Salt Spring this year.  This will be the first time we will be shipping our booth, and so we are having to rebuild our entire booth display, as well as containers to ship it in.  In addition, to rebuilding the booth, we have to build up our inventory and so we are going at it seven days-a-week.  

It seems like there have been a hundred nature stories to tell since the last letter, however this one ties in with the above news.  I have an open air woodworking shop (See above).  The birds love it.  They use it for shelter at night, and nest in it in the Spring and Summer.  A pair of Juncos built a nest in the rafters, and raised a couple of little ones there in the spring.  When they left, a single parent mother moved in and built another nest two feet above my head where I stand at the table saw.  The noise never seemed to bother her.  On her comings and going from the nest, she would sit on an extension cord hanging above the table saw and chirp at me.  She did not seem to be warning me.  To the contrary, she seemed very friendly...even curious.  After a while, I even held my finger out to her as a perch.  My hand was about twelve inches from her, and there were a couple of times I  really thought she was going to land on it.  One morning I looked up on the beam she had built her nest on, and there was a baby stepping out of the nest on to the beam.  It is hard to tell in the picture below, but for his first day out in the world he was definitely having a 'bad hair day'.  The fuzz on the top of his head was sticking straight up.  Not overly concerned with his appearance, he quickly stepped to the edge of the beam and "flew" off.  He made a crash landing on one of the new cabinets I am building.  (Preview of the new cabinets at the right!)  That little black spot on the front lip of the cabinet is our little buddy (close-up at the left).  Mother was off to the left coaxing him to fly to her.  It took a while, but finally he got up the courage to try it.  It was a very difficult maneuver.  He had to take off to his right and gain altitude quickly to clear the side of the cabinet.  Not an easy undertaking for one's second only flight.  He took off, however, as with his first flight he was losing altitude instead of gaining it.  As a result, he flew right into the side of the cabinet and tumbled into the bottom of the drawer.  Undeterred, he climbed up a board which fortunately happened to be in the drawer at the time.  Mother was still coaxing him on.  So, he walked along the lip of the cabinet to the corner, and took off from there.  He crash landed next to his mother on the forest floor.  When last seen they were hoping and walking west through the forest.  Mother did pay me one last visit later that afternoon on the extension cord hanging over the table saw.  She was chirping to me.  She may have been telling me how things went with her baby...or thanking me for the hospitality...I could not figure it out, and she never came back to visit again.  Maybe next year.

MARGARET'S MUSINGS:  If you have had an opportunity to see our display at anytime over the past few years, you would have seen sample cards by our friend Margaret Appleton. Margaret is always trying something new, and comes up with some great effects with our stamps. She has agreed to write a short piece for each newsletter on stamping in general and on techniques slightly beyond the basics.

"Colour Blobs"!! That’s what I now call coloured shadow-shapes that you can make with paper stencils and stipple brushes. I have written before about this but now we will go a bit further.

Step one is to make a stencil by ripping a hole in a piece of paper making it any shape you want. Just dig your nail through the paper somewhere towards the center and begin to tear a shape. That is going to be your stencil. I used computer paper because it is easy to tear but if you want the stencil to last so that you can reuse it, you may want to try heavier paper.

Place and hold the stencil over a piece of white cardstock (plain or textured) and with a stipple brush, colour duster, or even a sponge and your ink pad of choice, fill in the opening with colour. Try these ideas:

»  shade by using darker and lighter tones of one colour

»  stipple two or three colours in different areas of the shape

»  stipple stripes or use daubers to make circles

The next step is to tear out the shadow-shape that you have just made, leaving a small white border around it if possible.  Tear carefully towards you so that you always get a rough-looking white edge around the shape. Those white parts are important to the final appearance of the shape.

Now it is time to choose an image that you would like to stamp on to the shadow-shape. I stamped many samples using black ink and I really like that look. But it is fun to try other colours, too. Don’t worry if you stamp the image a little off the edge. (If you do a few to this point, you will have the beginnings of great cards made for when you need one in a hurry!)

The torn out shape is now ready to be mounted to some coloured framing pieces and then on to a card. Now you will see how the white border makes the shadow-shape really stand out . The framing pieces can be light or heavy weight paper but don’t forget to consider all the beautiful patterned papers that are available these days. And don’t be afraid to stamp on those, too.

Add embellishments and you have a "Colour Blob" card !

I received a card last week that looked as though the images had been intentionally bleached by the sun. The card had such a soft, natural look. I am stumped! I absolutely love this look and would love to recreate it, but I have no idea where to begin. Any ideas?

Stumped in California

Dear Stumped,

What perfect timing! I’m not sure whether I’m inspired by the abundance of sunshine (and its effects on my hair) or perhaps my budget has just got tighter, but all week I have been experimenting with bleach. I think this is the look you are referring to.

»  I would suggest finding a small container with a flat bottom you can commit to bleach. You basically want to create your own inkpad, then saturate it with regular, household bleach. Start with a tablespoon, then add as needed. You can use paper towel folded multiple times into an inkpad sized square, or experiment with even more absorbent materials. I’ve been using an old shammy (used to dry off wet cars) and have had great results.

»  Diluting the bleach with water will soften the effect. It is not necessary, but go ahead and experiment.

»  Using bleach on your rubber-stamps will not damage them, but I would recommend cleaning with water after use.

»  Each paper will react differently. Generally speaking, the bleached area tends to turn a much lighter shade of the original paper. Some turn quite yellow.

»  Using a sponge, wipe an area of cardstock with the bleach. Allow it to dry and then stamp with regular ink on top. I have done this in the Gingko leaf card. After the card was assembled, I used the sponge to gently wipe the edges of the card, slightly lightening them. I also used this technique with the Echinacea card.

»  Use bleaching to create dramatic backgrounds. Simple designs tend to work the best.

»  Try Embossing on top of bleached images for an interesting look. I have used this process on the purple Christmas tree card.

»  For a cute finishing touch, bleach a single, simple image on the back of the card. It’s the little touches that count!

Cheers, -Emily

If you have a question for Emily, email her at oldisland@saltspring.com.