Oh No, Face Drawing!!!

Well Leandra you certainly know how to fill people with DREAD! Over on PaperArtsy's Blog the challenge this fortnight is Faces and I'm certain that I was not the only person who said out loud "No Way" but a challenge is a challenge after all-----
So I set to and watched various videos and I have to say the Dina Wakely's were for me the easiest to follow and encouraged me to put pencil to paper.

I decided to do a plain pencil drawing first to see how difficult it would be. Hmmm not too bad for the very first attempt since secondary school in the late 1960's.

Watched more videos and then made a background for my poor unsuspecting lady.

Not too dark Dina said!

Once I'd drawn the face in pencil I then decided ( or chickened out!) not to paint my face but to use charcoal instead.

I felt more comfortable with attempting the shading with the charcoal and I am very fond of the lovely texture it gives.

I added a little scattered straw DI to the edges which I felt added some warmth to the whole piece.

Well I'm pleasantly surprised with the finished piece, I know there are plenty of faults and I'm not really happy with the shape of the mouth but this time last week I would have said "I can't draw a face" so many thanks to Leandra and all at PaperArtsy for the challenge.

Hope you all have a good weekend and if you have a spare 15mins do watch Dina Wakely's videos as they are a brilliant place to start. Bye for now and take care, Jane x

Wearable Art !

Having just spent a few very relaxing days in Dorset I returned armed with a metal hair grip which I purchased in a wonderful craft shop in Dorchester called Frank Herrings ------ a crafters paradise, filled to the gunnels with everything imaginable from paint to spinning wheels, looms to Airfix kits! It's one of those shops that you need to go in several times as you don't see everything on the first visit.

Anyway back to the job in hand, I saw this hair grip and immediately thought of the Paperartsy blog challenge "Wearable Art ".

Click on the link to view a fab short video and all the other very clever entries here. 

I began by cutting 2 pieces of crunchy waxed kraft paper using a paperArtsy die, then I applied various layers of translucent paint. Next I stamped one with a text stamp and embossed in copper and the other using the larger stamp from set HP1004 which was stamped in black and then clear embossed. These were both scrunged up to form the flower shape.

Grunge paper was then painted with the 2 greens, stamped in black using the larger leaf from Jofy 15.

A thin leather flower was cut using a die and the flower centre was made from crocheting some jewellery wire and adding some tiny beads.

The hessian was frayed and slightly gathered before sewing onto the clip. I then added another layer of printed material for texture before attaching the flower and leaves.

The reason I chose the crunchy waxed kraft paper for this was that if the flower becomes flattened after wearing it can then be re-shaped.

This would show up more on someone with darker hair than me --- ( not easy photographing your own head!) This is perhaps not as adventurous as some entries but I had fun making it, and it was good to get back into the craft room and play again.

Thanks for stopping by and if you have a spare 5 mins do pop over to the PaperArtsy blog and see the other fab creations.

Take care and have a good Sunday, whats left of it! Jane x