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You are welcome to copy any of my designs, as long as you do not take credit for them yourself. I am very happy for you to sell them. If I have used anyone else's design, I always try to give credit where it is due. If I have missed anything, please let me know and I will put things right.


This is intended to be mainly about my crafting stories, as a personal record of what I do. However, I interpret crafting quite widely, not just paper crafting but other things too. I have a butterfly mind and like to change from one thing to another depending on what I feel like on a given day - knitting, crochet, cross-stitch, cards, baking and several others, including my favourite right now, parchment, both traditional skills and Groovi, very relaxing and calming to do.

I have decided to put some structure into my blog so that each day will have something of a theme.
Monday- for Mindfulness; Tuesday - Tidy Up Day; Wednesday - What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday; Thursday - Technique and Tips; Friday - Finish Off Day; Saturday - Start Something New; Sunday - Anything Goes
These themes are not hard and fast and will be changed if I feel the need.

Friday 16 March 2012

Versamark and Perfect Pearls update

You may remember that I was struggling to master a technique shown by Barbara Gray in her show on Create and Craft.  After corresponding with the lady herself, I then treated myself to a set of the Perfect Pearls Metallics.  (Sorry, that does not fit in too well with the UIU in 2012 principle, but there really was no other way to do this)

They finally arrived yesterday, so I rushed off to try them out, and this is the result.  No, it is not perfect, but I learned a lot, and it is a dramatic improvement on my previous attempts.  I was still too impatient at cleaning the excess off, which is why there are some little gaps in the lines.  I might try putting those back in with a Versamark pen and more mica.  I hate throwing things away.

I hit the button to post this and realised that some of you may not know what I am talking about and how this technique works. 

You will need:
 a piece of black Clarity silk card, 
a versamark ink pad, 
Perfect Pearls in whatever metallic colour you desire, 
talcum powder ( I have a huge baby powder on my desk at all time)
A large soft paint brush
soft kitchen roll
most important - PATIENCE  (I do not have enough of that)
I nearly forgot, you need the stamp of your own choice

 Brush a little talc over your piece of card, brushing most of it off.  Try not to handle the card too much as you will end up with loads of messy finger prints when you add the mica.  I found it was easier to attach it to a piece of copy paper with lo-tack tape. 

Ink up your stamp with the Versamark, then stamp it onto a piece of scrap copy paper, before stamping it onto the Clarity card.  Blotting on to the copy paper gives you a clearer image and reduces the risk of the stamp sliding on the shiny card - it really does make a difference (if you don't believe me, try it for yourself).  Barbara Gray's motto is that if you are using the shiny card, you Ink, Blot, Plot. 

Now you need your soft brush again to transfer a tiny amount of Perfect Pearls to your stamped image.  Once you cover it, very gently brush off most of the excess.  Then leave it till the next day to be sure (do as I say not as I do - I dived in far too soon)

Then you can gently rub off the remaining excess.  Barbara rubbed really hard but she knows what she is doing.  I am still learning and I do not want to waste too much card in the process.

It has to be something like Perfect Pearls as they have a binder within them which holds them to the Versamark.  Plain mica powders do not work - I proved that well and truly before I asked the expert, Barbara Gray.

I do have another Clarity gem to show you, but I have to wait till Sunday as it involves a present for someone else.  It is a project that has been very exciting.  I will show you very soon.

Have a good week, everyone, and I will see some of you in Pixie's playground tomorrow.

3 comments:

Debbie Rock said...

Oh well done for getting to grips with this technique! Your perseverance has paid off and I like the end result ... even with the bits missing! Well done you. xXx

Shaz in Oz.CalligraphyCards said...

ah great explanation Maggie, and really love your attempt. It is great stamp and you did well! have done it withe PP of plain card but not gloss. I think you have done well to last this long with the UIU for this year.
I am not that good tried to think seriously about it but was not game to be honest. I have been madly crafting over here but cannot do anything about showing you yet as it is all DT word - and wow are they fussy about when you post things...different to first and last DT I was on - the last one was quite laid back in its rules really..thanks for sharing Shaz in oz.x

Jacqui's little piece of England said...

This is beautiful. I really love Barbara's stamps and am fortunate enough to sign up for one of her courses in May for two days and can't wait. Keep up the good work.

jacqui x