The LOOK!

Here we go again!

After showing you a real pictogram made by Rumpel (here) he created now this LOOK! Don't think that any other describtion is suitable for this fish! ^^

Stamping - Use what you can find!

I love background stamps. Especially the ones using dots. But most of the time I think them way too expensive. Hey, we are talking about some rubber and dots! 

I just used some foamed rubber stickers (I got a big package in an euro store but you can get cheap foamed rubber stamps nearly everywhere!). I glued them on some wood (0,5 cm between every dot, I drew the lines with a ruler on the wood before).

I also made some tiny stamp...

Or you would rather like some distressed dots as background? Use some bubble plastic!

See the effect?

Love it!

Or cut some foamed rubber...

Use the foamed rubber stickers itself as stamps!

If you don't like there shape, just cut them in the desired shape (I also added an eye!)

Oh, and another hand carved stamps which I made after a paper cut out design...

(but to be honest, my knife was not sharp enough anymore)

As you see, I use just some wood leftovers to mount the stamp!

Bigger dots!

To clean them I use some baby oil wipes / towels.

And my stamp trials :)

Some strange fish...

As I said there is still some stuff I made while being on formentera. Like this little fish! Just a fast sketch with coloured pencils and a black fine liner... but I like him :)

Fish bones stamp...

This is such a fast project, shame on me to even post it ^^

Although I normally make my own design to carve I couldn't resist when I saw this little school eraser with a fishbone... 

Just carved the outlines (and changed the end a little bit) and that was it! The rubber was perfect for carving! Softer and better than most erasers I tried so far :) I only used my lino cutting tool with the little V-shaped blade.

Fish on the wall

There he is. Hanging on my wall. Graphics fairy had a new fish print on her blog which I just love! Not too detailed but detailed enough to be so cute (Yes, maybe my definition of cuteness is not agreed with everyone ^^).

His new place is next to my white board and the orange / red little octopus. The octopus had to put of the reach of my cats because they loved him too much ;)

I printed him out as big as it was possible with DinA4 and glued him on cardboard. Afterwards I just cut him out.

I used a black laquer pen to paint all the edges in dark black and also overpainted some printed lines to get a darker colour. The only other touch I added was silver artistic water colour. It is a little bit difficult to see on the pictures but the shimmer is really cool and "fishy"!

You see the silver and the darkened lines?

The back I also painted black, this time just with the water colours. 

I glued three layers of foamed rubber together and to the back on the fish. With a poster glue stripe I put it on my wall (it is sooooo light!). You could also use a pin or a nail.

The play of light and shadows creates the effect I love of things hanging on my evergrowing picture wall!

He looks at you!

"The biggest fish for you!" - card

And this is the final card!

The fish was cut out and coloured with artistic water colours. Just a little bit of blue and a lot more of silver. At some of the pictures you can see the metallic shimmer! The eye was accented with laquer pens in white and black. I think the fish looks a little bit confused ^^ The other items I used were my carved stamps and some cardboard and last but not least a black ink pad.

Yes, the fish is really BIG! And the silver and blue metallic effect, see it?!

The inside of the card...

Certainly going to be one of my favorite cards to use!

The biggest fish for you! - stamps

Another weekstamp challenge was proclaimed! ^^

The topic was: "Samtpfote" (german).

Ok, I'll try to translate; It is a literary / cute / poetical expression for a cat. At a one-to-one translation it would be something like: "velvet pad" or "velvet paw".

And I needed stamps for this. Still being with my fondness of "fishy" things I wanted to combine fish and cat. Also I though that something like "The biggest fish for you!" would be cool for birthday or other present cards.

Perch - a little how do make a fish card

Another fish card. This time a perch (german: Barsch, french: perche). Also not in true colours but with 3D effect ^^

This time I also used a little bit of gold and silver water colours but the metallic effect doesn't transfer to the photo. But trust me it is really nice! :) Especially because it is only a shimmer and not overwhelming. On the details you can see the depth of the picture.

It is a very easy procedure to make on of these cards. Just print out a picture you like with a critter. You don't have to follow my liking for this cute fish with all the spiky fins! Just use black and white maybe with a little bit of higher contrast.

Just make a first layer of colours of your liking. Don't be to accurate!

I use artistic water colours. I have them for a really long time!

I overlay the fish with silver and gold water colours. If you use the metallic water colours the colours beneath will shine through at sooon as the colours are dried.

Cut it out with a sharp paper knife.

I don't like the outlines of the paper so I make more "messy" ones. Just fold the paper a little bit over the edge of your cutting map or table.

Go along the paper line, scratching it a little bit with the paper knife.

Carefully tear the paper across this scratched line...

All frayed outlines :)

I painted over the outlines again with some water colour. The paper takes the colour extremly well at the frayed outlines. I think it is a little bit like a darker surrounding which gives a nice effect.

Glued on black cardboard (not paper! should be more stable)

I paint the inner cutting lines black so there is nothing white more to see.

Put one a little name tag. You could also use other names, wishes, greetings...

Just painted two little dots as "nails".

The fish also glued on black cardboard for more stability...

...and cut out!

The outlines were also painted black as well as some lines of the fish body.

I use a white laquer pen for the basic of the eye.

And with a black laquer pen the pupil. The laquer pens gives a slightly shiny effect like the eye is in reality a little bit "wet".

For the 3D effect I needed spacer. You can buy spacer in the shop but this glued spacers are mostly white and you could see the white shining through the fish and the background. Therefore I just glued three layers of the cardboard together...

...cut them in the desired shapes and glued the pieces on my underground.

You see, three layers of cardboard is really not too thin! On the contrary!

And the last step: The fish glued on top! I put the glue direct on the spacers and press the fish carefully onto them. Because the fish is also layered with cardboard it is not to fragile :)