Month: December 2017

I didn’t think there would be a Brusho Part III just yet, but I’ve been playing around with one of the techniques listed on the product information sheet and have decided it’s definitely going to become part of my artful journaling arsenal. It’s just so pretty!

 

 

You will need:

• Brusho
• a small, very dry paintbrush
• bubble wrap or other textured material
• a water spray
• your journal
• a hairdryer or heat tool

First, spray your bubble wrap with enough water to make it dripping wet.

 

 

Next, using your dry brush, scatter Brusho over the wet bubble wrap. I’m using turquoise and purple.

 

 

You can spray extra water on, to get the Brusho to dissolve even more.

 

 

Click on this image to see how beautiful the Brusho and water look together!

 

 

Press your journal page face down onto the bubble wrap and gently smooth it out. I used a variety of papers, rather than my journal, so I could test how it worked with each one.

 

Peel back the paper to reveal the pattern. I think it’s best to dry it with a hairdryer or heat tool as quickly as possible to reduce bleed-through.

 

 

And here’s how each of the papers turned out. Click on the images for a closer look. The way the different colours separate out and mix is simple gorgeous!

So, what do you think? Are you tempted to try this in your journal? What other textured materials would be good for this technique?

Thanks for reading! Bye for now.

• Brusho Part I
• Brusho Part II
• Brusho Part III

Artful Journaling Blog Post Master List

I’m new to digital stamps; in fact, this is the first one I’ve ever owned, but I can already tell that I’m going to enjoy incorporating them into my journal. (See Sad Cat Makes Me Happy for more about this particular stamp.)

Below are all the ways I’ve used it so far:

 

 

I printed this one on mixed media paper, painted him using watercolour, then fussy cut him out and glued him onto the page. I really like this look, although I might give him a wall to sit on.

 

 

This next one is also printed on mixed media paper, but this time I coloured it in using Akashiya Fude Brush Pens. For now, I’m going to use it as a bookmark, but eventually, I’ll journal on it and turn it into a tip-in.

 

 

I printed this one on sketchbook paper and watercoloured it, but instead of fussy-cutting it out, I used my paper trimmer to make a 3 x 4 inch journal card and stuck it into my journal with a washi tape hinge, so I can flap it over and write on the back. For a closer look, click on the image.

 

I admit this next one is a bit weird: I printed kitty on a piece of acetate and stuck it in with a washi tape hinge down one side, then I used highlighter tape to create the bright yellow area in the middle. I think it actually looks quite cool because the tape is transulcent and you can see the stamp through it. Lastly, I stamped the date using StazOn ink.

And finally, I printed the image directly onto a sheet of 52gsm Tomoe River Paper, but it came out a bit smudged and wrinkled as my printer struggles with such thin paper. I’ll have to rustle up some 68gsm and give that a go.

So, those are all the ways I’ve used digital stamps in my artful journaling so far. How about you? What ways have you used digital stamps in your journaling?

Thanks for reading! See you soon.

Artful Journaling Blog Post Master List

(I received this digital stamp for free, as I am a member of the Bloobel.com design team.)

As promised, here is my second post on how to use Brusho to create beautiful backgrounds for your journaling. For those who haven’t read my first post, it tells you what Brusho is, and shows you one way to use it. Now, without further ado, I’ll tell you about this one.

You’ll need:

• Brusho
• a small, very dry paintbrush
• a larger paintbrush for spreading colour and water
• a water spray
• two pots of clean water
• your journal
• a hairdryer or heat tool

First, using a clean bush, spread some clean water onto your journal page, or spray it on if you like. (See Background Basics for more information.) Next, using your small, dry paintbrush, pick up a few granules of your chosen colour. I’m using Purple first. Tap your brush over the wet area, and let the granules fall onto the page.

And now I’m adding Scarlet. Click on the image for a closer look. You can see that the purple is made up of different colours.

 

 

Next, use a wet brush to help the colours spread around, or to dilute areas of overly-intense colour.

 

 

You can also remove excess paint and water by dabbing the page with a rag or paper towel. As with the first Brusho background, it’s best to dry the page with a hairdryer or heat tool to prevent bleed-through.

 

And this is what it looks like when dry:

With this method, I think you get have less control over the intensity of the paint, and the granules don’t dissolve as thoroughly – once they hit the wet page, they tend to stick where they are – but that’s not necessarily a bad thing! It’s also worth noting that it will behave differently on papers of different absorbancy.

Brusho can be used in other ways in your journal. You can:

• spray a textured surface (like bubble wrap or a stamp) with water, sprinkle a little Brusho over the top and then press your journal page face-down onto it.
• paint using diluted Brusho as you would with any other watercolour.
• mix unique colours by mixing the granules either before or after the addition of water.
• mix Brusho with acrylic, gesso or texture paste to create different effects.

So, are you tempted to give Brusho a go? Let me know in the comments.

Thanks for reading! Until next time …

• Brusho Part I
• Brusho Part II
• Brusho Part III

Artful Journaling Blog Post Master List

Hello and welcome to this post on creating beautiful backgrounds for your journal using Brusho, highly pigmented watercolour crystals made in the UK by COLOURCRAFT.

Brusho comes in little pots containing 15g of powdered pigment. You can buy them individually, or in sets. I have the set of 12 which costs about £20 depending on where you buy it from.

Top Row: Scarlet, Bright Red, Orange, Yellow

Middle Row: Lemon, Leaf Green, Emerald Green, Ultramarine

Bottom Row: Turquoise, Purple, Dark Brown, Black.

Once you start using Brusho, one of the first things you’ll notice is that a little goes a VERY long way! I created these puddles of colour with water and just a few granules of each of the powders. I think the most controlled way of getting the powder out of the pots is to gently lift it out with a very dry brush. The instruction leaflet suggests using a pepper pot or poking a hole in the lid to make a shaker, but I think this would lead to adding more than you really need.

Before trying these paints in my journal, I swatched them out using the puddles I’d created above. You can see how vibrant and saturated they are – click on the image for a closer look. Obviously, if you want a more intense colour you just add more powder, or less water. (The black came out more of a grey-purple, but that was because I only used a few granules.) I did wet-on-dry and wet-in-wet for all the colours, and they took beautifully to the watercolour paper, producing lovely washes. Another thing you’ll notice about Brusho, is that some of the colours are made up of a mixture of pigments, the greens, purple and brown for example – when they first dissolve you can see all the colours dispersing.

Now, onto using Brusho to make a background.

Obviously, you can make puddles of colour and simply paint them onto the page however you’d like (See Background Basics for one idea.), but you could also try this blotting method I learned from Marta at Maremi Small Art. You’ll need:

• some Brusho
• a craft mat or something nonabsorbent and non-staining like a non-stick reusable cooking sheet
• a very dry paintbrush
• a water spray
• your journal
• a hairdryer or heat tool

First, spray your mat with some water – just enough so it beads up.

Next, using your brush, pick up a small amount of powder and drop it onto the beaded water. You will probably need to tap the brush to knock off the pigment. Be careful not to get your brush wet, or the powder will stay stuck to it. You can spray the mat again if you need to dilute your colours further.

Use as many colours as you like. I chose turquoise and emerald green. You can see that these two pigments are made up of more than one colour. The green is made up of multiple greens and also has yellow in it, and the turquoise has at least two shades of blue. (Click on the image for a closer look.)

 

To get the colour onto your journal page, just press your page face-down onto the mat. If you’re using thin paper, like 52gsm Tomoe River Paper, don’t press too hard. If you press too hard for too long, you can actually force the colour through the paper and out onto the next page!

 

Now, lift up your journal, and take a look!

If you’re not happy with the distribution of colour, you can press it down again and again until you are.

 

I’ve found it’s best to dry the page with a hairdryer or heat tool to prevent the paint bleeding through the page.

 

 

And here it is, the finished page. You can see how the paint has run and dried and spread and mixed, and you can still see some of the individual pigment granules dotted about. I love the variety of colours and effects the Brusho has left on the page.

Tomorrow, I’ll be posting about other ways you can use Brusho in your journal. What about you? Have you used Brusho or similar powders in your journaling? What effects have you been able to achieve with them?

Thanks for reading! Bye for now.

• Brusho Part I
• Brusho Part II
• Brusho Part III

Artful Journaling Blog Post Master List