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Sunday 28 April 2013

How's your weekend going...

...are you having fun?

If you have a spare moment or two...grab a cuppa and have a browse as this post is quite photo heavy.

At the moment on this bright Sunday morning the sun is shining, the sky is a fabulous blue (bit hazy) but boy is it cold - - still; at the moment it is dry.

Yesterday the weather wasn't too great - blooming cold first thing, bit of sun shine then rain and hail (in places) - but did I care? Nope!

I was sitting getting a 'numb-bum' watching Andy (Pinnacle Crafts) demoing PanPastels.

Andy showed how you could create the basis for scene background just by giving some thought to where you are placing the colour...
...and then you can start adding your stamped images to build-up your scene.
If you want, you can go for a more 'all over' colour...
...because PanPastels are eraseable (is that a word?) - just by using a pencil eraser you can take the colour back which is great if you have been a little heavy-handed in places or you can use this technique to add highlights...
...you can also add more colour to areas after stamping if you think there is an imbalance or something just doesn't look right.
Andy had prepared a lot of samples...

...this scene looks so soft and peaceful.
He showed everyone just how easy...

..it is to gradually build up the scene...

...and how effective keeping to a monotone can be...

...everything stamped on this piece was done in the Olive shade og Memento but most of it was done with the 'second stamping' to give a paler result - just the two pines and the figures were stamped straight from the inking.

This piece was done using a single colour of PanPastel and mainly the grape shade of Memento.

Andy showed how even when things don't quite look right...

...he intended the church to be a little higher. You can use colour or 'filler' stamps to adjust things. In this case he used a blue Memento so you could see where he had added some 'water' to create a lake effect...

...which when done in the same shade as the rest of the stamping would blend more seamlessly.
This finished sample shows how the use of clouds...

...and sedge...

...help to pull everything together without 'white bits'.

PanPastels can also be used to just create a colour base for images.





A random use of colour over the background can create the perfect colour base for the images and of course you can even create background 'papers' to match in with your projects. Andy said that the tiger sample had used a tiger-print paper but there was nothing in the shop to match in with the cheetah...

...well after a quick play with the pastels - there was!
Some of the samples showed just how effective different colours could look...

...when you see 'orange shede' in the pot it is not a colour that you would think that you would get a lot of use from - however...

...as you can see - looks can be deceiving. Doesn't it look effective.
PanPastels need to be sealed as they attract moisture and the last thing you would want to do after all your hard work is to ruin the effect with a very noticable finger-print. Cheap hairspray works fine but if you want a slight sheen there are sprays that will do the job (Spray & shine or Spray & sparkle) - just don't be too heavy-handed otherwise you can obscure your work.

The pastels are very forgiving and for those of you who love the effect created by brayering (but can never quite get it to look like the pieces produced by Barbara Grey) here is a medium that you could try.

They are quite expensive (around £6 per pot although colour stacks do work out a cheaper option) and there are currently 80 shades in the range (mega OUCH to the wallet) but you don't need to have all 80 - you can build up the intensity of the colour you have applied to give you extra tones & tints. You also use very little so unless you are using the same colour, day-in-day-out, it is unlikely that you will ever have to buy a second pot of any colour...oh, unless you drop it on the floor without the lid on - remember they are compressed powder (I've seen the mess that this makes - one was dropped at a show).

Thank you Andy for another super Demo-day and for those of you who haven't tried this product yet - go on, have a play.............................................................................................

3 comments:

Virginia said...

Oh that looks seriously intriguing Toni, I haven't given into the pan pastels yet because of the need to seal but seen quite a few using them!

Julia Dunnit said...

Great post! You like 'em then, the old pan pastels?!!!

Sandra said...

I'm guessing your hooked and have started your collection already lol