Painting with paper (and Bob Ross)

[Monday, June 23, 2008]

I need to lose myself in something today, forget about the rest of the world. Anything crafty usually does the trick. I just happen to be in the process of completing my scrapbook chronicling my trip to Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC. Go fig. I decide to continue.

My next set of pictures/postcards requires a two-page spread. After viewing the Salon, we were able to take a break from the tour and enjoy the spectacular view of the Blue Ridge Mountains from the balcony (accessible from the Music Room), much like the guests of Biltmore House did in Vanderbilt's day. This was the first chance we had to resume picture-snapping as well.

When creating a two-page spread, it's ideal to decorate the pages using a cohesive color-scheme or coordinating embellishments. Doing so indicates to the reader that the pages should be viewed as one.

My first thought last night when I was silently mulling, plotting, scheming my approach to these pages was that I'd incorporate a sheet of background paper that features French script and a side profile of a femmebot, the perfect correlation to some of the artifacts in the Salon which belonged to Napoleon Bonaparte. It would also echo the primary use for the room, which was an after-dinner entertainment area for female guests of Biltmore. (image 1)

Ultimately, I decide the paper is too busy and its image would be obscured by the other elements on the page. I do have a smaller cardstock version of the femme profile, so I decide to use it on the page. I find another piece of decorative paper from the same pack in an argyle pattern featuring shades of the colors in the postcard. I use this and one of my own pictures on this page. (image 2)

I make a mental note to find or create an embellishment that illustrates early 20th c. gaming. For now, I explore the possibilities for background paper for the as-built and a journaling box. It doesn't take me long. I find an eggplant remnant from the now-retired Colonial paper pack. I also decide to use the leftover portion of the parchment from the fork/knife die-cut on the previous page for the journaling box.

I mark (with a pencil, of course) and cut the eggplant background paper with the personal trimmer and adhere it to the gold dust refill page with tape runner. I play with the position for the journaling box (letter or landscape?). I also comtemplate adding a short title here (Tour Break), but decide instead to use that on the following all-picture page. That decision makes the position of the journaling box easier. (image 3)

I take a short break and have lunch with Adam. Shortly, thereafter, he leaves for work, and I return to the scrapbook table.

For the journaling, I select the basic black fine-tip pen. With that complete, I turn my attention to the gaming embellishment. I know this will take much inventiveness, so I go upstairs in search of a hair clip to sweep my hair up. Much like Violet from Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, I think best when my hair isn't a nuisance. Over the last few graphs, I've been stewing over what to create here, and I finally decided to create a roulette wheel.

Using several shades of single-color paper and the custom cutting system with circle patterns and both the regular and mini-circle punches, I think I can pull this off.

I place the patterns over the area where the wheel will live (yes, what of it, I used to watch Bob Ross, and I, along with Kathy H., even took a painting class featuring his artwork - RIP, Bob Ross, RIP) to determine the max size for the outermost circle. Since I have three blades (red, blue, green), I can cut three sizes with each pattern (for a total of nine sizes). I start by cutting the outermost circle in dark brown with the largest circle pattern and the green (medium) blade. (image 4)

Using the same circle pattern, I cut a light brown circle with the blue (small) blade. Now, I have two concentric circles in different shades of brown.

To get the center part of the wheel, I select the smallest circle pattern and using the red (largest) blade, I cut a black circle. To achieve the red slots on the wheel, I'll first need to punch a 1 1/4 inch circle (slightly larger than the black) into the red paper with the regular circle punch. This will make getting the outline of a red circle easier. I place the small circle pattern over the hole of the circle I just punched (image 5)

Now, I know what you might be thinking. Is she going to cut that little red circle into tiny pieces to mimic the red/black alternating pattern? The answer is .... NOOO! I'm not that patient nor that talented. Instead, I'll use a black fine-tip pen and color in alternating black blocks on the red circle outline. I place a scrap piece of paper behind the red circle outline, and, applying my renown principle of halving, I place two marks on the top and bottom followed by two on each side. Then, I place one mark in the center of each of the previous lines. This ensures each section will be exactly the same size. (Mr. Bandy, I renige my foolish adolescent assertion that I'd never use math for anything in life.)

Now that my marks are complete, I can fill in every other one with the black fine-tip pen. (image 6)

For the center to be just right, I punch a 3/4 inch gray circle with the mini-circle punch, then directly over that punch a 1-inch circle. To achieve a shimmer effect, I will do the same thing on a scrap piece of vellum. In order to avoid the painstaking task of applying adhesive to the vellum, I put photo splits on the gray paper prior to punching. (image 7)

I use the gray circle I punched out for the centermost area. I place equilateral markes on the vellum ring with my pencil to mimick the dimension on the section just inside the numerical ring. The turning mechanism in the very center will be illustrated using a silver eyelet set with my silent setter and an upside down brad. I adhere all the mini circles with the precision point adhesive (glue pen) and the big circles with tape runner. It's nearly done.

The final touch are some silver accents around the center part of the wheel using the silver precious elements pen. I affix a few 3-D dots, and after that creation, I'm confident my powers are fully restored. (image 8)

For those who might be wondering, below is a picture of the painting I did from the Bob Ross class. Quite interesting how each person's interpretation of the instructions differed. Charlie had a paw in it also.

Clubbing and Touring

Tonight is Crop Club. Mom & Kathy - my most faithful customers - are here. Summer is asleep (at least, she is trying to get sleepy!). Right now, she is laughing, but she'll settle down. I just finished professionally cutting three-inch daisies for Kathy. Now, I turn my attention to the next page in my Biltmore album.

This page continues with pix of the Winery tour, and I want to keep this one as simple as the last. I decide to mat the pictures using the old trick of bringing out subtle hues in them (image 1).


I select the mats from the Cottage Storybox. The battery in my camera is dead, so I have to recharge it before taking any more pictures, so I take this opportunity to do a little paging (my term for staging a scrapbook page).

In my stash, I know I have a small 3-D sticker of barrels that will go with this page and several large 2-D stickers of wine corks. I'm not planning much journaling for this page, and I'm planning to keep captions minimal. I find another epoxy sticker with a quotation on it that also might work well on this page.

Kathy ponders, "Why aren't there ever any icons on Father's Day stickers of the stuff that my dad does? There's just golf or fishing." I say, "Yea, they should have a TV. That's universal."

"Or computer," Kathy offers. I joke, "I doubt they'll ever have any firearm stickers!"

I consider background paper as well, but ultimately decide against it. It's tempting to want to use printed background paper with every page, but often the print will visually usurp the photos, which should bve the focal point of the page.

Mom needs help cutting paper. She's cutting a mat for Ethan's sonogram. I show her my pencil technique, then suggest using a photo sleeve or sticker sleeve to hold the sonogram. Sonograms are printed on facsimile paper and will deteriorate quickly if left to the air, particularly where it's humid. So, it is advisable to protect them within a scrapbook using a method called encapsulation. Another option is scanning but sonograms are very grainy and scanning could further obscure the image.

Looking through my pink project tote, I find a leftover strip of background paper I already used that combines all the colors of my photo mats for this page. I add that to the layout (image 2).

The epoxy sticker I've chosen will leave a large amount of white space if I apply it solely. So, I decide to give it a little help by cutting a semi-circle with one of the circle patterns and custom cutting blades and mat. I choose the same purple as the photo mat. I add the circle to my layout. (image 3).

Mom makes a mistake in her journaling. She writes "all pictures taken in Odenton" but one wasn't. One was taken @ St. Agnes Hospital. I suggest that she write in parenthesis (except 6 mos).

About this time, my camera battery has recharged, so I take all the photos up to this point. Then, I number and title each picture (1 - Fermentation; 2 - Barreling; 3 - Corking), adhere all items to the page, including the small 3-D sticker of barrels. Next, I add the cork stickers.

Mom wants some Ebony ABC/123 stickers. I go upstairs and get her a set.

The last element is journaling. I'm having a good handwriting day, which I'm glad about. I can't decide on just one ink color, so I use a combo of three to correspond to the photo mats. I choose purple and periwinkle fine-tip pens and petina precious elements pen. I normally just dive right into writing, but because I'm writing directly onto the page aand because I want to use each of the three ink colors as equally as possible, I scribble a draft separately first (image 4).

After writing, I decide to carefully lift and move the barreling pic and mat to the right to make everything a little more symmetrical (image 5).

That completes this page! I wipe photos down with the polishing cloth, slide on page protector!