21 Secrets - Tools & Techniques

I am taking part on an online workshop put on by Dirty Footprints Studio trying to challenge myself with doing different techniques.  Some have challenged me and others I just can't seem to get into (yet).  That is the great thing with with (most) online workshops - they offer lifetime access.  Now understand lifetime access means lifetime of the site!  If they shut down the site/business you too lose out on the information - unless, they offer downloadable content. Now having said that, you need to have the space available to do it too.  I have external hard drives for my online courses for that reason.  Makes life so much easier.  Then I can simply go through it as I wish when I wish.

I also like it when they have downloadable PDF's.  As I don't know about you, but I am continually making notes on classes and it is a great help if there is content to relate back too.  I have several presentation binders that I have printed of the course material and info and they are my go to when I am researching info or simply inspiration.  One day I will do a post on that, but for now - let's get to the the class I did recently that was part of the 21 Secrets Tools & Techniques.

Note: as this is a paid for class, I will not go into too much detail as that would be very disrespectful to Dirty Footprints and the instructor.

This class was taught by France Papillon and called Tango with Tengucho.  If you have been part of the scrapbooking/mixed media/art journal world for any length of time, you should have heard of France - she is one talented lady and is oozing with inspiration. She is in Belgium.  The first time I came upon her talent was via the Mixed Media Place and Art from the Heart blogs many many years ago.

Any hoo, be sure to search her out - she will no doubt inspire you as well.

The product she was showcasing was called Tengucho.  Now I don't now about you, but I had to go on a few hours internet search for find out what exactly with even was.  From what I have found (aside that I can't find it here in Canada), was that it is a man made.

Tengucho Paper
For centuries, handmade Tengucho (or Tengujo) was made in Japan out of Kozo fiber and known for its transparency & flexibility in uses. Machine made Tengucho paper have now replaced most Tengucho production, and is especially sought for conservation & repair, collage, and more. 

via Hiromi Paper Inc.

After several hours of searching and trying to see if there was anything 'similar' out there to it, I decided that dry sheets were the closest I could come up with or maybe interfacing.  Is it the same? I simply have no idea, but they look the same! So hey, why not try it out!!  I had found a post on a lady using dryer sheets for something else I thought what was the worst that could happen?  Knowing that I have allergies (and scents being a large one), I washed them again after they had been used.  Yes, even though they are already unscented ones!

I will showcase the two pages I did using this product, but there are many more uses for this product.

I chose to use color my sheets using Lindy's Stamp Gang's Flat Fabios Neon Graffitti.  I sprayed my non stick craft mat with three colors and then then spritzed with water and dropped the sheets onto the mat and mushed away.  I let them dry fully before adhering to my journal.  I did not prep my journal (I used my Canson Spiral Bound Mixed Media Journal) in any way as it was simply going to get adhered down with Matte Medium.  I only did one sheet (9x12).  One thing that I thought was interesting was how the colors really popped once the matte medium was applied and stayed even after it dried.  The texture is very cool.  I went an extra step and put a stencil over top and laid out some Super Heavy Gesso through it. Loved it!

I came up with a very cool idea (or so I thought) as I was laying it down onto the paper.  Wonder what kind of texture I could get it if I was to start with a textured page first!  So I pulled out my homemade 6x12" journal and used Light Modeling Paste through a Dyan Reavely Dylusions Stencil called Flower Medley.  I laid it on both sides as I wanted to try it two different ways. 

Once fully dry, I spritzed it heavily with water then dripped on some of my Daler Rowney Acrylic Inks (Paynes Grey and Flame Orange.

These needed to dry fully before I could go onto next step.  I first wanted to adhere down untreated (colored) over top of this side that was already colored.  Then I wanted to put a colored sheet over top of the plain modeling paste page and simply see what the difference would be. 

I used the same color combo on the sheet to be applied to the opposite page.

I should have had my first clue with how the colors turned out on the sheet.  Very dark and muddy!  I decided to cut up the sheet and adhere it down that way hoping it would show even more texture.

Ya, not so much! No matter how close I get with the camera, you still can't see the 'texture' underneath.  Thinking that I if had stuck to the lighter colors I had used before, I might have had better success.

So not wanting to ruin another page, I decided to simply put a deli sheet down over the pre-color page.  Better, but still not happy with it.  

Really not sure what to do here, so for now...

Lived it , didn't love it, learned from it, moving on from it.

Remember, this was totally my idea, nothing to do with the class!  I find that many classes allow me to expand on their thought and therefore inspire me...sometimes it works, sometimes not so much!

Have a great weekend!