Graphic Gold-leaf wall art.....

....you can make yourself

 

AND I AM GIONG TO SHOW YOU HOW!

Assignment no.6 in the January Cure was to Choose a piece of art to frame, and I knew straight away that this meant a DIY project for me...and as I had two pieces of art I made for Christmas still up on my gallery wall that was in need of changing, I knew I needed something new for these frames...

I love graphic prints, so I decided to make two complimentary gold-leafed pieces of art...

...and my starting point was the triangle shaped stamp:

I made my own makeshift stamp by simply sticking a stack of 5 triangle shaped pieces of Little Miss Moo's craft foam together with double-sided tape before sticking them on to the bottom of a glass (with the double-sided)...I also cut up 6 triangle shaped pieces in the same size, of double sided tape extra....

...these will be used to add some glimmer gold-leafed triangles to the first  piece of art I will show you how I made:

 After experimenting a bit I mixed up my colours: I chose black, peach and a minty turquoise that I felt went well with the gold-leaf...Of course the beauty of making your own artwork, is that you can mix up any colours that you feel would compliment your space the best....And of course you don't have to use gold leaf: how about silver...or so-right-now: copper!!??

I stuck down a piece of quality drawing paper to my work surface using masking tape, then using one of the foam triangles as a template for size, I very faintly drew up a "grid" with a pencil, so that I could use this as a guideline when placing the triangles onto the paper...

I started by sticking down my double sided triangles in a random pattern spread out on the paper, some facing up, some down...

...I then peeled off the backing and gently tapped the gold leaf onto the tape using a soft brush.

Using circular motions I gently brushed away any excess gold leaf...

With the gold-leaf triangles now in place, it was time to get stamping:

 

I brushed the paint onto the makeshift stamp, (I had a piece of paper on the side so that I could blot the stamp of excess paint before stamping)...

The fact that the stamp was on a clear glass helped me place my stamp where I wanted with precision...

You can do this as randomly or systematically as you like, but try stamping with one colour at the time and spread the aesthetic of this colour all over the paper...Every now and then, step back and squint to get a feel for where to place your next triangle! When you feel like you are stuck, change colour...This is a bit like playing colour Sudoku!

Keep stamping your chosen colours until you are happy with the aesthetics of the colour mix...

Know when to stop!

You don't have to fill the entire piece of paper, a few gaps looks good!!

Use an eraser to get rid of any pencil-marks.

 

It is amazing how complicated it can get trying to put together colours randomly like this....just try to do something in a way that looks good to you!!

I had 3 attempts before I was happy with the result...

I now LOVE it!!

 

So to compliment my graphic triangle art, I made this Gold-leafed ampersand art:

(Ampersand is the name of the symbol for the word "and", there are many different designs...click on the link above to see a few)

First: Print out an ampersand you like the look of to the scale you need...

Next we'll work on the back-ground:

 

I chose a pale aqua-blue card, not too dissimilar in colour to the minty-blue I used above.

Again,I drew up a faint grid on the card with a pencil, like I did before.

Using the makeshift triangle-stamp again, this time stamping with just white paint, this time I simply stamped a row of "monster-teeth" at the top, then, turning the stamp, to make the bottom row of "teeth"...this creates a zig-zag of blue in the middle (see picture above)...then for "row 3", I mirrored the row above, so that I created white diamond-shapes...Then I repeated until the paper was filled!

 Whilst the paint was drying, I prepared my ampersand:

 

In the same way that I used double-sided tape to apply the gold-leaf to the artwork above, I basically wanted to make an Ampersand double-sided sticker.

First I taped a sheet of baking paper down on my work surface, then I slid my Ampersand print-out underneath, and covered the image with double sided tape (making sure they were butted tightly up against each other). Then using a (very)sharp scalpel, I carefully cut out the Ampersand.(Starting with the "middle-bits")

 

 

I placed the cut out Ampersand sticker onto the background I made earlier, and marked off the positioning with a pencil.

I then peeled off the baking paper and stuck the double sided tape down, peeled off the backing and applied the gold-leaf as before.

After gently brushing away any excess gold-leaf, I drew around the Ampersand with a black sharpie, making the lines on the right-hand side of the symbol a little thicker to create a shadow effect...

Using an eraser, I then got rid of all my pencil marks.

And I was done...

I love the way these turned out...

...And the way the Gold leaf shimmers and compliments my Concrete lamp shade... 

  

 

This has been such an enjoyable project...I just love having creative days like this, just playing with shapes and colours!! You could probably do these in a few hours...they are so easy to do....when you know how!!

And the result is definitely something I am proud of: Striking on-of-a-kind artworks that really has lifted my gallery wall!

...And it feels so good to have another tick off on my January cure to-do list!!

I hope you like them too, and that maybe I have inspired you to give DIY artwork a try!!

xxx

June