A Review of the Create Mixed Media Retreat 2013 Artist Faire in Irvine, California

  This year's  Create Mixed Media Retreat was held on May 29 through June 2, 2013 in Orange County at the Hyatt Regency in Irvine, California.  For those of you who may be unfamiliar with the "Create Mixed Media Retreat", it is a great event put on by the people from Interweave Press and Cloth Paper Scissors.  The Create Mixed Media Retreat events take place in various locations the U.S. and offers a variety of classes which can vary from making art journals to jewelry making.  They also have a great selection of technique based classes like art journaling methods, surface designs (including metal work), sewing, collage, polymer clay, power tools, and more.
  Joanne Sharpe (author of Cloth Paper Scissors Workshop Artful Lettering: Tools and Techniques for Discovering Your Style) taught a "Free Motion Tapestry" class where students learned to

Joanne Sharpe

design and create their own hand painted fabric.  They also got to learn some free motion sewing techniques that brought dimension to the finished pieces.  As you can see in the picture below, the pieces came out gorgeous.

Hand painted material by Joanne Sharpe

Lisa Englebrecht (author of Modern Calligraphy and Hand Lettering: A Mark-Making Workbook for Crafters, Cardmakers, and Journal Artists), also taught three classes at this venue.

Lisa Engelbrecht

Lisa taught a fun class on how to write on fabric and make some pretty terrific banners.  Some of the projects can be viewed on her flicker account.  She also taught a really cool "Hand Lettered" t-Shirt class.  The students got to create their inspiration t-shirt using the techniques that Lisa taught them in class.  In the past Lisa has also taught a variety of calligraphy classes and lettering techniques. Below is a video that is a sample of one of her writing technique demonstrations.



The third class she taught at this show, was a fun "Fascinator" class.

Sample Fascinator from Lisa Engelbrecht's class.

In this class the students learned the basics to designing their own Fascinators from a variety of materials, including feathers from sustainable farm grown flocks.  They were quite impressive to see in person (for pictures from her class, just check out Lisa's FB page to find a link).

Assorted materials and sample Fascinators for Lisa's class

They also have a great "Artist Faire" which is free to the public.  This is a great opportunity for the public to go and make purchases from a wide variety of art materials as well as work from the various artists in attendance.  One set of tables had four different authors in attendance, showing off their their artwork, crafts and books.

Amy Morinaka, Stefanie Girard, Jeannine Stein, and Lisa Englebrecht

I had a chance to talk to each author and take a few pictures of their work.  The first author is Amy

Morinaka, who's first book "Zakka Handmades: 24 Projects Sewn from Natural Fabrics to Help Organize, Adorn, and Simplify Your Life" was just released. For those who are unfamiliar with Zakka style, it is a fashion and home good designs style that has spread from Japan.  It specifically refers to hand-sewn items for the home, as well as simple clothing.  On her blog "Chick Chick Sewing", Amy has some great projects that vary from simple to advanced.  Like her book, the projects include some very clever and lovely designs made from some beautiful fabrics.

Amy Morinaka

Amy is an accountant who's love of fabric combine with her sewing abilities has inspired her to design some very fun projects for this book.

I also got to spend a few moments speaking with Jeannine Stein, the author of two books

(Adventures in Bookbinding: Handcrafting Mixed-Media Books and   Re-Bound: Creating Handmade Books from Recycled and Repurposed Materials ). Recently, her work has also been featured in the "Pages"magazine from Cloth Paper Scissors.

Below is a beautiful examples of the many creative ways, Jeannine uses ephemeral to accent the handmade books she makes.

This is another great example of the books she makes with both new and recycled materials.

The next picture is of a recipe book she made from a recycled box of chocolates.

Here is a peek at the inside of the book.

And a look at some of the ephermal kits she had on hand.

The kit below has some cool recycled materials from books, labels, and more.

Stefanie Girard, who blogs for Craftside blogger and Craft Gossip (recycled crafts), was also on hand.

 If you have never visited the "Craftside" blog or the "Sweater Surgery" blog, you are in for a treat.  Stefanie often posts some tutorials and other tidbits from the new books that are being released.

Stefanie Girard, is also the author of the book "Sweater Surgery: How to Make New Things with Old Sweaters".  In her book, everything is made from recycled sweaters with a fun variety of projects like the messenger bag below and the cute red cowboy boots for infants (behind the purse).

If you like learning new technique from some great teachers then I highly recommend the "Create Mixed Media Retreat".  Check their website to find out when one is coming to your area.

Disclaimer

A Review of the Strathmore Visual Journal

I recently attended a visual journal workshop at Catalyst in Westminster, California that featured Kari Foteff teaching multi media techniques on Strathmore's new Multi Media Visual Journals.  The class was offered by the Art Supply Warehouse and in conjunction with the fine folks at Strathmore.  

   The mixed media visual journal from Strathmore solves the problem of pages that warp under the weight of different types of media.  The medium-weight paper was specifically created for both wet and dry media applications.  Strathmore offers several papers of different weights and types of paper (Vellum Finish, Bristol, Drawing, Mixed Media, and Water Color) in these journals. 

   The manufacturer claims that folks can use water color, acrylic paint, pen, ink, pencil, crayons, charcoals, markers, collage materials, and even some of the fun texture mediums that art stores carry in these journals.  To give you a better idea of what types of mediums and materials that can be used on these pages, I have uploaded some fun examples of techniques and materials that can be used to decorate these journal pages.

Example 1: Strathmore Mixed Media journal pages painted with Airbrush.

Example 2: Pan Pastels and Stencil used on the journal pages.

Example 3: Watercolor color with pen and ink.

Example 4:  Letraset AquaMarkers water-based twin-tips..

Example 5: Golden's Acrylics and hot sticks.

Example 6: Acrylic paint and colored pencil.

Example 7: Strathmore Mixed Media Visual Journal with acrylics, mulit media and ephemera.

Example 8:  Acrylics, Gesso, Golds liquid medium and various ephemera

Example 9: Liquid Acrylic Artist Ink and calligraphy (paper was smooth enough to utilize modern calligraphy techniques effectively).

Example 10: Card stock, liquid masking medium, water color, and crayons.

Example 11: Pigment Ink Marker 

Additionally, this journal has wire binding which makes it easier to lay flat while you are working.

The workshop was a lot of fun and had a "Mardi Gras" theme.  I wanted to share with our readers some pictures from our workshop and the finished pages made by various students using the materials they had a available to decorate our journal pages.

Example A:

Example B:

Example C:

    It was fun to see how each person used the same theme and materials to create a layout that was reflective of their own style and interpretation.  

    If you are new to the mixed media visual journaling trend, it is mostly the use of different media to reflect the attitudes, values, experiences, and/or thoughts of the person journaling.  It can also include visual images and the written thoughts.   There are many ways to do visual journaling and/or multi media journaling.  A search on Google, YouTube, and other online sources can provide you with more in depth information on this art form.  You can also attend a class at a local art store or find books on the topic.  If you want to learn more and cannot find a local source, Strathmore offers a free online course that you can register for.  They have a great one called "Doodles Unleashed: Mixed Media Techniques" given by Traci Bautista that you can learn some great techniques from, she also has a new book coming out on a similar topic.

   I also found a blog called iHanna,  that has a great tutorial on how to alter a journal.

Pros

• These journals come in three sizes with a choice of several different types of papers.
• The paper is thick and can hold up well to a variety of media.
• The books are wire bound which allows for them to be opened flat while working on the pages.

Note:    The price of the books is higher than some lesser quality books, however there are great deals to be found online and at local art supply stores and I found the quality to be worth the expense.

The journal papers can buckle or warp if you do not allow the pages to dry properly before closing the book and/or storing it away.  I also recommend using pallet paper between the pages until the ephemera, glues, media have set.  It will keep the pages from getting stuck to each other. Strathmore offers these books with various types of papers,  so be sure to read the label to make sure you are getting the type of paper you want.  By picking the right paper before beginning your journaling project,  you will not have any unexpected issues or disappointments.

I would love to hear from about your favorite journaling techniques and supplies. Please leave a comment and share your tips.

Disclaimer

Disclaimer

Review of the Mepxy Brush Markers

Recycled Soda Tab Earrings colored with Mepxy Brush Markers

I really enjoyed crafting with the Mepxy Brush markers (from the U.K.) because of their versatilty, ease of use, quality, and excellent color selection.  Above is a pair of recycled soda tab earrings that I made using the markers to color the metal.

The Mepxy markers are now being sold in the United States in art stores.  The markers bring Anime artists, calligraphy artists, and crafters a new choice in alcohol ink markers.  Mepxy even has a blog dedicated to anime artists with a fun gallery and ideas for using the markers.
The set that I got is the Mepxy 12 colors basic set which includes:

• B06 Peacock Blue
• L07 Natural Green
• 006 Cadmium Orange
• V06 Iris Purple
• C05 Cyan
• M09 Magenta
• P04 Lavender
• W07 Light Mahogany
• G07 Vivid Green
• N18 Sepia
• R08 Vermilion
• Y06 Bright Yellow

and separately, I purchased:

• 00 Colorless Blending Pen
• Marker Blending Palette

I had a opportunity to test them out and here are my findings in using this product.  The colors are high pigment that makes for a very rich color.  I made a color chart so you could see how they look on ivory card stock.

The inks are also translucent which makes blending the inks very easy to accomplish.  I did a sample blending using two of the colored ink markers and the colorless blending brush.

They all worked very well together and I was quite pleased. The dots pattern on the dress was done with the colorless blender pen.

 The colorless blender pen is used to remove excess ink from the image or to blend colors.

Like the other quality alcohol ink markers in the market place, these markers come with two tips.  The marker has a fine brush tip on one side

and a wide chisel tip on the other.

Shading with these markers is pretty easy.  You can add color by going over the same area with the marker or use a darker color.  The colorless blender pens are great for lightening up areas to create more dimension in a picture.

I read on the Mepxy website that the ink is toner friendly and won't react to it nor would it remove images from it.  So I did my own test on this.  I used five colors and none of them lifted the image from the paper.

I decided to test the markers on different surfaces to see how they looked.  I started by testing them on metal soda tabs.  I used the markers to color the metal soda tabs.  These have recently become popular in recycling craft projects but are often hard to find in nice colors.  So I colored a few with the markers and as you can see some of the colors are more opaque than others.
INSERT PICTURE
I also tried the Mepxy markers on wire hooks.  I used the markers to color the wire in various colors and it worked perfectly.  This also worked well on plain metal staples.

Then I tried it out on a cut up piece of aluminum soda can that I had run through my Big Shot machine.  This also worked really well.

Note:  When working with metal, allow the ink to dry in between coats of different colors.  Also use a toothpick to hold the metal during the painting process to avoid smearing the ink while it dries.   I decided to heat set the ink to ensure that the ink would remain colorfast and permanent on the metal.

For my First Project, I decided to make some simple Soda Tab Earrings with materials I had on hand.

Next, I decided to try test them on some plain cloth flowers.  I took apart the flowers and used the yellow color to paint the center of the petals.  I let them dry for about a half hour. Then I proceeded to wet the outer surface of the petals (one at a time) with the colorless blender pen which was immediately followed by inking the surface with the orange marker.

The finished flowers looked great.  I liked the vibrancy of the colors and I think the colored flowers are much cuter than the original plain flower.

Then I decided to see how these would work on canvas that has been prepped with gesso.
      For my second project, I used the markers to make a page in my altered art journal.  First, I colored the background with the markers.  Then I stamped several designs onto the page. I  filled in the color on the skull with the Mepxy markers.  I could layer the ink without blocking out my stamped images by doing only one coat.  I quickly finished off the page by adding some simple embellishments.

Mepxy Alcohol Ink Markers used in Altered Art Journal Pages

My third project was to use the markers over various card stock to see how it would hold up.  As you can see in the photo below, it worked great on the canvas, card stock, and the various trims that I combined to make a fun wall hanging for my daughter.

      The Mepxy Alcohol Ink Brush markers worked well together with all the different elements that I tested them.  I certainly got the results that I wanted from them.  This product seems to work on so many surfaces that the possibilities for crafting use are vast.

      The Mepxy Alcohol Ink Brush markers also work great on shrink plastic, air dry clay, epoxy clay pieces, lace, assorted papers, various metals, and more.  I enjoyed the versatility of these markers and the intensity of the pigmented alcohol inks.  They are very easy to work with, however, I can not stress enough that once the ink is applied to a surface, it will dry quickly.   Make sure to plan your project with this in mind.  Personally, I love that it dries quickly because it lets me move on to the next project phase.

    The markers are also sold individually at around $10 (but I found them online for less) which makes it easy to collect the colors you like.  The sets retail for $72 to $74 but again, a google search listed them at several retailers for various prices.  These markers would be great for the art students, journaling, or crafter's.  My kids love them for doing Anime drawings because of the smooth flow of the ink and the double ended tip.

Tips:

• Immediately place tips back onto markers so they do not dry out.
• I was told by the rep to store my markers horizontal.
• Do not use with Staz On ink, because it can react to it.
• These are rich colors and will seep through cheaper quality paper, so take that into consideration when planning your projects.
• If you decide to color soda tabs with alcohol ink pens, you have to clean them and sand them to get alcohol ink to stick.  Then you need to heat set it (I use my embossing tool).  The intensity of color you get depends on the amount of ink you use and the brand of ink you use.  
• I found the ink adhered differently to different types of metal.  So I recommend you do a test first to make sure the alcohol inks will work on the metal you are planning on using.

New Disclosure: I am not affiliated with Mepxy Brush Markers, however they did provide these markers to me to do a honest review on my own blog and on the Craft Critique blog.  If you want to read the pros and cons, then go to the Craft Critique blog post and scroll down to the bottom.  The I do Craft Critique Reviews, they like us to post both the pros and cons of a product. I just do not have room to do that on my own blog posts here.

Additionally, I am an Amazon associate and will earn a few cents (literally) from your clicking on my Amazon links and make a purchase. This year was my biggest earner, I earned a total of $9 from my Amazon associate link. Every penny helps when trying to get supplies to do reviews and tutorials.   However you should know that you do not have to use my links. You can do your own Google search and find the best price for your budget.