Luminarte Blog— Vibrant and Brilliant

Take classes using Luminarte at CREATE California - May 30, 2012

Hurry,  time and space is filling up for the classes being offered by CREATE in California. So many artists with so many FABULOUS classes all using Luminarte products! 

The IrRESISTible Paper Engineering Mash-up (3-Hour)

Date: Wednesday, May 30
Time: 9:00am-12noon
Technique: Printmaking & Surface Design
Instructor: Jenn Mason
Price: $85.00
Materials Fee: N/A

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Fun and Nonsense (6-Hour)

Date: Wednesday, May 30
Time: 9:00am-4:00pm
Technique: Collage & Assemblage
Instructor: Sherrie Drummond
Price: $149.00
Materials Fee: $20.00

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Happy Harpies (6-Hour)

Date: Wednesday, May 30
Time: 9:00am-4:00pm
Technique: Collage & Assemblage
Instructor: Clarissa Callesen
Price: $149.00
Materials Fee: N/A

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Collage Monotypes (6-Hour)

Date: Wednesday, May 30
Time: 9:00am-4:00pm
Technique: Printmaking & Surface Design
Instructor: Helen Shafer Garcia
Price: $149.00
Materials Fee: $10.00  

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Mini Masterpiece Canvas Journal (6-Hour)

Date: Wednesday, May 30
Time: 9:00am-4:00pm
Technique: Bookmaking & Art Journaling
Instructor: Joanne Sharpe
Price: $149.00
Materials Fee: $20.00

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Stitch & Paint Pet or Animal Portraits (6-Hour)

Date: Wednesday, May 30
Time: 9:00am-4:00pm
Technique: Mixed Media Stitch
Instructor: Jeannie Palmer Moore
Price: $149.00

Materials Fee: $10.00

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The Archivist's Relic (6-Hour)

Date: Wednesday, May 30
Time: 9:00am-4:00pm
Technique: Bookmaking & Art Journaling
Instructor: Leighanna Light
Price: $149.00
Materials Fee: $15.00

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The Down-and-Dirty Paintless Journal (6-Hour)

Date: Wednesday, May 30
Time: 9:00am-4:00pm
Technique: Bookmaking & Art Journaling
Instructor: Dawn Sokol
Price: $149.00
Materials Fee: $5.00

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 Wednesday Evening

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Magical Markers Mystery Tour (3-Hour)
CURRENTLY FULL 

Date: Wednesday, May 30
Time: 6:00pm-9:00pm
Technique: Collage & Assemblage
Instructor: Joanne Sharpe
Price: $85.00
Materials Fee: $20.00

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Doodle Soup: Jambalaya (3-Hour)

Date: Wednesday, May 30
Time: 6:00pm-9:00pm
Technique: Collage & Assemblage
Instructor: Dawn Sokol
Price: $85.00
Materials Fee: N/A

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Whimsical Rings (3-Hour)

Date: Wednesday, May 30
Time: 6:00pm-9:00pm
Technique: Mixed Media Jewelry
Instructor: Jen Cushman
Price: $85.00
Materials Fee: $12.00

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Junk Birds (3-Hour)

Date: Wednesday, May 30
Time: 6:00pm-9:00pm
Technique: Collage & Assemblage
Instructor: Clarissa Callesen
Price: $85.00
Materials Fee: N/A

 

For more information on CREATE or a particular class go to CREATE Mix Media Retreat. To sign up go to CREATE Registration.

Thanks for visiting!

Shimmering Marbled Glass Tiles by artist Marti Wills

Marti here, I am excited to show you a unique and beautiful way to jazz up your chipboard pieces using Luminarte's Primary Elements Artist Pigments.

I LOVE the brilliant radiance of Luminarte products and I especially love the functionality of Primary Elements Artist Pigments.  The powders can be mixed with all sorts of mediums to make gorgeously shimmery colors for all sorts of projects.

Here I used one of the tiles on my card.  In addition, I mixed Pink Azalea Primary Elements into Heavy Body Gel and made a shimmering embossing paste.

This video will show you how to make the marbled tile:

 

Enjoy!

 

Thanks for checking in!

Take the on-line class "A Taste of Silks", by Dion Dior May 18, 2012

Today, I want to let everyone know that Dion Dior class A Taste of Silks begins on May 18, you can register by clicking here. There are 25 Silks colors in the regular collection and ten colors in the new release Silks. They are available through Luminarte by clicking here.

 

 

Silky Startfish

Dion here, my new class, A Taste of Silks begins on Friday, May 18th.  It is a class that explores the wonder and beauty of Silks Acrylic Glaze, a new product from Luminarte. I've been happily swimming in a silky pool of color as I put the finishing touches onto this class.  I am so excited as this class comes to you in two wonderfully full booklets with links to some terrific videos that will show you how versatile these little pots of wonder can be. In addition, there will be an exclusive online forum and Flickr group for participants to ask questions, share experience and display their silky work. Plus, I'll be showing you some wonderful techniques and projects to get lost in.  Registration is still open and don't forget, if you sign up for this inaugural run, you get a $40 coupon for the $10 material fee, which you can use on any of Luminarte's beautiful range of products.

I thought I'd give you a little morsel from this class in the form of a mini-tutorial.  I'm going to show you how I created this beautiful textured starfish using clear craft glue and Silks Acrylic Glaze.  I often create little icons such as this and then use them on greeting cards or journal covers.  You can alter the consistency and look of silks by adding mediums, but Silks have such a luscious texture straight out of the jar, that they are thick enough for all sorts of application.

Luminarte have just released 10 new colors of Silks Acrylic Glaze to celebrate this class, and I use several of them in this tutorial.  What you will need: A pencil, flat synthetic paint brush, clear craft glue, large skewer or stick with a flat end, Silks Acrylic Glaze in Honey Amber, Nutmeg, Black Ice, Rich Cobalt, Pomegranate, & Emperor's Gold.

Begin with a very simple pencil sketch of a starfish. 

 
Cover the pencil sketch with a thin layer of Honey Amber straight from the jar.

Using your clear craft glue, squeeze out glue over your pencil lines.  Let the glue dry completely before proceeding.

Using the end of your skewer, dip into your Silks pot and dot paint gently over the page.  Begin with Black Ice and dot it in the areas of shadow. 

Next, dot around a combination of Nutmeg and Honey Amber for the background sand.

Layer in more colors to create dimension. 

Cover the starfish with Rich Cobalt and Pomegranate.  Finish it off with a layer of Emperor's Gold for highlight.

Use your colors to crate the optical illusion of shadow and dimension by altering both the size
of the dots and the intensity of color. Don't be afraid to dot right over the glue, Silks will adhere to pretty much anything.

Dotting with Silks is a very simple, yet effective way to achieve some marvelous optical illusions. 
The shimmer of light against mica, combined with the texture created by the glue makes for some spectacular results.

Thanks for visiting.

 

 

Craft Test Dummies's Review- Silks Acrylic Glazes by Luminarte

We are excited to share another review from the Craft Test Dummies today using the Silks Acrylic Glaze. Enjoy!

I’m on a bit of  a Luminarte products kick here at CTD WHQ- and today I want to share with you my impressions of the Silks Acrylic Glazes.

Photo courtesy of Luminarte

Silks acrylic glazes are translucent shimmering acrylic-based paints, but lack the opacity of your “normal” paints.

Here’s the description I found on a vendor’s website:

What makes Silks so special? It’s the secret mix of mica and other proprietary mineral particles that refract light, like a crystal. Silks are easy to use paints that create a semi-gloss glaze – not too shiny, not too flat, but just right. Simply brush Silks onto your project, using a wide brush for broad strokes or a fine brush for details. Or use a brayer if you want even wider swaths of color. Allow Silks to dry between colors to keep the glaze layers distinct and create depth, or blend the colors while still wet if you prefer that effect.

What surfaces are suitable for Silks? Silks are formulated for paper, wood, pre-washed fabrics, papier mache, acrylic and other plastics, canvas, gourds, silk and silk ribbon, terra cotta, paper-clay, air-dry clay, air-dry polymer, leather, faux leather, and more. They dry faster on paper and other porous surfaces, more slowly on non-porous materials. Thinner applications dry faster than heavier layers. Climate conditions are a factor as well. Silks are fully cured after 48 hours. 1 ounce wide mouth jar.

When you open the jar, you might notice a milky glaze. You’ll need to re-mix them to the the mica particles fully mixed in.

You can apply Silks with a paintbrush, stencil brush, or foam brush. Or you can pour in on and then brayer it around.

I made a little video so that you can see the swatches and the Silks in action!

 

Here are the photos of my swatches:

Swatches

Notice that if you layer when the Silks are wet, you'll blend the colors. Laying on a dry coat will give you a translucent layered effect.

This looks more dimensional than it really is- the translucency makes gives it that look.

Silks come in 35 luscious colors…and I heard a rumor that there will be a bonus color added at the end of this month! I kind of want them all.

Here are a few things I made with my Silks!

Playing in my journal

And here it is in my journal! I found that Silks have a pretty low water content, so it didn’t buckle my paper too badly.

I also made some ATC’s for a swap. I used the Silks to stamp the “2″ as well as the gold honeycomb effect.

So here’s the nitty-gritty. Silks retail for about $6.99 a pot,  which is about an ounce. That makes Silks one of the pricier items of it’s kind. However, it is very high-quality and artist-grade. (And with most paints, you get what you pay for.) So I can totally justify having a few pots in my stash. (Note to family- YES, these WOULD make a nice Mother’s Day Gift!)

They might be a challenge to find, so ask for them wherever you shop for art/craft supplies. And it just so happens that Silks are available online through Susana’s Custom Art and Card Design (SCACD.) **Yes, they are also an advertiser here at CTD, but that is just a happy coincidence.**

Thanks for cheking us out today.

Craft Product Review: Primary Elements Artist Pigments

Hello Luminarte viewers, I wanted to share our review on Craft Test Dummies. Enjoy!

Craft Product Reviews,

With all of glazes, shimmer sprays, paints and inks out there, don’t you ever just want to have everything match? Guess what- when you own Primary Elements Artist Pigments by Luminarte, you can. With these handy powdered pigments, you can make….well…. just about anything!

Here’s how they are described:

Primary Elements Artist-Pigments are created by hand blending bright clean high quality pigments with our proprietary blend of mica’s (sic) and other minerals.

This is product is unique in the industry it is our color technology that makes this possible.

Luminarte Artist-Pigments TM, mixes with ease in gum binders, any acrylic medium, water-based polyurethane acrylic glaze or gel mediums.

At first blush, Primary Elements look like many other powdered pigments on the market. Some of the colors are iridescent (like Dragonfly Wing) while others are just a straight-up metallic pigment. I did notice that some of the colors- like Snapdragon- seemed to have a slightly coarser particle. Take a look:

Majestic Blue and Dragonfly Wing.

The toughest thing about testing a product like this is knowing exactly where to start…. and when to finish. I could play with and test out a product like this for DAYS. So I decided to start with some simple swatching.

Tinting paint, artist medium, and texture gel- all with the same pigment.

First up- I made a glaze mixing some of the Majestic Blue Primary Elements into a collage/ artist medium to make a glaze. I used a little scoop of pigment on t he end of a Q-tip and just mixed it up. Since the Matte Medium is translucent, you get a vibrant, creamy glaze that pops on dark surfaces.



Glaze swatches on the top, stamping bottom row.

The bottom row shows how the same pigment looks when you stamp with a water-mark style pad and then dust the powders over the top using a fluffy brush. I LOVE how the color pops on the black!

Side note: this pigment does NOT have a built-in binder, so you MUST use them in conjunction with a product that will help them stick. Otherwise, they will rub off over time.  To make a simple watercolor paint with them, simply add powdered Gum Arabic and water to the pigments.

I have to make a side note here and share that so far, my favorite way to use Primary Elements is by mixing them with Artist medium (Mod Podge would would well, too) and making a translucent glaze. Here are two colors I mixed up. Notice that the Coral Berry color looks PINK in the pot, but turns a coral-orange when you mix it with meduim:

Note: Using glossy medium gives the micas SO much more shimmer than matte finish. But you can always add a top coat of paper glaze/dimensional magic/glossy effects to make it shine!

Here are a few more swatches of the paints, glazes and texture gel:

From left: Glazes, tinted acrylic paint, texture effect gel. Small square of glazes on canvas.

I could have played all day with my glaze, paint, texture gel, and stamp pads….but I had to press on!

I also tried some Primary Elements with Puffy Putty air-dry clay:

Clays tinted with Dragonfly Wing pigments. Sample on right also had additional Pink Azalea color dusted on top.

While I didn’t have the chance to get out my polymer clay, my hunch is that you can do the same thing to those clays as well- that is, mix IN the color to tint the clay or dust it on top to add surface color.

So…. are you seeing the value here that I’m seeing? You can have white or translucent clay, stamp pads, paint, or gel mediums and all you have to do is add a dusting of pigment and POOF- you have colored media! And you can choose how deep/intense your colors are by how much you add. And of course, color mixing is also an option.

Now, I wasn’t able to take a picture, but I have to tell you that at the end of this playdate/review, my hands were BLUE from the Primary Elements. I figured it would wash right off- after all, there isn’t a binder to make it stick. Except that it DID….and stained my hands something serious. I was unprepared for the sheer intensity of these pigments- a little goes a long way, my friends!

So, on that note, let’s talk cost. They are sold as follows:

• 10 gram jar singles for $4.25 USD
• 10 gram jars, four-pack: $14.00 USD
• “Big Mama” Singles for $8.99 USD

All in all, you certainly get your money’s worth from this little pot of dazzling color! They are rich, intense, and add an incredible “pop” of color, especially on dark surfaces.

I pulled together this altered tag, using the Primary Elements mixed in paint, medium, used and used with a Versamark Pad:

All of the color comes from Primary Elements Artist Pigments mixed in and used with different media.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to go back to playing!

 

If you want to get your hands on some Luminarte Pigments.....stay tuned to our blog!
Thanks for visiting.

Enter today!! Giveaway for Dion Dior’s online class - A Taste of Silks

Sign up while you still can for Dion Dior A Taste of Silks! This is such a great learning opportunity for anyone who is curious about the Silks Acrylic Glaze. You will want to take this online class and right now, Dion is doing a giveaway for one FREE spot in the class and a $40 coupon card from Luminarte.

Dion here, I'm so excited to officially launch my new online workshop A Taste of Silks. This wonderful new 2-week class begins May 18th, 2012.

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Silks Acrylic Glaze are a new product from  Luminarte. They are beautiful, shimmering fluid acrylics that are so versatile they can be used on almost any surface. For a sneak peak into this class, take a look at my new video.
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To celebrate the official launch of this class, I am thrilled to announce a Silks giveaway--you could win a place in this fabulous class, along with a $40 coupon card from Luminarte. Simply leave a comment on my blog Dion Dior & More telling me what you love most about the video, and why you'd like to learn about acrylics.

For a second chance to win, simply share this giveaway on your blog, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest, then go to my blog, Dion Dior & More and leave a second comment with a link to your share. I'll be randomly drawing a winner next weekend, so don't forget to include your email address so I can contact you when you win.

Registration is now open. For more information, or to register, please click here.

Good luck and thanks for checking in. xx

Ageless Play by Dion Dior

Let's welcome back Dion Dior with this exquisite journal page of beautiful color flowers! I love her take about laughing more in life. Enjoy.

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Dion Dior here, too few of us laugh out loud, too often we constrain our laughter in favor of chuckles or composure. We simply don't laugh as heartily as we should any more. What is worse, is more often than not, we fail to see the humorous side of our lives. We forget that the only true requirement of being alive is to live responsibly! At no time are we expected to live 'seriously', that is a burden I think we place upon ourselves.

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There are times when the world feels overly serious, devoid of humor.  But that is probably just my own perception, my own creation, my own reaction or projection.  Don't you think life would be easier if our responses to stressful situations were more light-hearted? Taking life less seriously doesn't mean living less responsibly, it simply means that much tension can be dissipated, that negativity can be...well...negated, and our responses, acceptances, and influence can be more effective.

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Humor frees us from negativity, and playfulness frees us from seriousness.  The inner critic feeds on seriousness, it feeds on perfection.  I recently saw a post of Facebook that said:

"The pursuit of excellence is gratifying and healthy.  The pursuit of perfection is frustrating, neurotic, and a terrible waste of time." 

~ Edwin Bliss

 

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Never, in my mind, is a statement more true than this.  Especially when put in the context of art.  I don't know about you, but I find perfect art rather boring.  Don't get me wrong.  I admire the skill and talent of the artist, their masterful grasp of technique and composition.  However, it does nothing for me.  I feel no stirring in my blood, no whizzing in my gut. 

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But to look at art that is bursting with color, energy, movement, more color, interpretation...these are the elements that excite me.  There is no fast track to finding our own artistic style.  It takes years of practice, experimentation, learning, inspiration, and most of all play.  Yes...I said play!! Something I don't do nearly enough of.

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In recent weeks I've been preparing my upcoming online class "A Taste of Silks".   Acrylics are an extraordinary medium that are sadly misunderstood or taken too seriously.  In order for me to show the versatility of these exquisite paints, I have had to get down and dirty, I have had to play.  I mean really play. I have splattered my studio with Silks, been up to my elbows in them, and felt at times like a mad-sceintist with shimmer all over her face. My fingernails have been like sparkling rainbows and my drawing table looks like it is covered in tiny little jewels.  And I'm happy to say that results of my labor is proving to be exciting.

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This sketchbook page is a small part of what I have been preparing.  I was very lucky to receive a yummy little box of goodies from Creative Imaginations.  They license several Luminarte products, in addition to the Twinkling H2O's, and were keen to let me try some of their other shimmering products.  For this page I used a combination of their Radiant Rain Shimmering Mists,  Radiant Rain Color Concentrates, and Radiant Rain Pourables, under a stunning layer of Silks Acrylic Glaze.  These products are iterations of Leslie Ohnstad's highly successful range of Twinkling H2O's and all I can say is WOW!!

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I was astounded at the intensity of the pigment, the versatility of the products, and the subtlety and beauty of the shimmer.  Yep, it sounds like a lot in one page, but if you let go and allow yourself to play, you'll be amazed at the results. I'll be sharing some of these amazing and wonderful techniques using Luminarte's new range of  Silks Acrylic Glaze, as well as other mixed media in my upcoming 2-lesson workshop.  If you'd like more information, please click here.

Thanks for checking in. xx

Mixed Media Flower Girl by Marti Wills

hi all!

Marti here, I decided to take a break from my "work" stuff and just play in my studio the past couple days.  I am really venturing back to my roots and doing more mixed media stuff as opposed to the color an image, add layers, add flowers kind of stuff.

I am taking several online classes right now - Christie Tomlinson, Suzi Blu, Dion Dior - and learning tons! I am especially loving my Suzi Blu classes and today's project is a direct result of what I have been learning.

 

In the true spirit of going green I did this piece on one of the large wood blocks from a SU stamp. I never mount them on wood.  the best part - I drew this little girl myself!  Yep, I sure did!Better yet, I am sharing her with all of you. You can get her as a free digi image at the end of this post!

 

I began by adhering torn strips of a book page to the wooden base with gel medium. I painted the bottom green and the top blue using Luminarte Silks (fern & Sky Blue) - you can get them at SCACD.  The silks are an acrylic glaze meaning there are translucent so the book page strips shows through.  once dry I wanted to tone things down a bit so I swiped on some Luminarte Golden Opal Primary Elements powder mixed with gel medium.  LOVE this stuff - I can mix it into so many things depending on what I am doing.  I layered on some circles & the scallop border using Claudine Hellmuth's acrylic paints and foam stamps - which I ADORE! I also stamped a wildflower silhouette from a CTMH stamp set using brown staz on ink.

As I said, I drew the little girl myself then inked her and scanned her. I didn't want to color right on my original in case I messed it up or wanted to use it again.  Then, I printed her out and colored her with colored pencils (polychromos).  Last, I added the embellishments - some glittered skittles, the vintage crocheted border and some teeny prima flowers from 100 years ago :P  I needed something more than just the flowers at her feet so I mixed Luminarte Moss Green Primary Elements and gel medium to get a thick paste.  i just dabbed it around her feet in a "pile" and then stuck the flowers in it and dabbed some more in the flower centers.

When I drew her, I knew I would be putting a flower in her hands. So, I did not originally draw anything in her hands but I put a little flower in them for y'all!

Feel free to download her and use her but do not sell her!  Share your project on the Luminarte Fan page!.

Latest installment by Marti {Pez-A-Doodle

Creating a necklace with the Primary Elements by Marti Wills

Hi all!

Marti here, I took a quick detour from the papercrafting and mixed media to do some jewelry!

 
I was first inspired by the necklaces I saw one day at Kohls.

I made the pendants using UTEE and Luminarte Primary Elements in a bezel and adding some Gala Glitz too (vintage glass shards and microbeads).

I added a variety of other beads and charms along the chain.
Fun and surprisingly easy!  Here is a second one in black and silver.

 
I love it paired with the green and black.

There is a video below that has this charm in it along with other things you can do with UTEE - SCACD carries the bezels, UTEE and Primary Elements I used.

It turns out that making the little eyes on the top and some bottoms of the dang-lies is actually super easy!  In fact I just might make some more stuff!

One tip - go pick out your beads, chain and additional charms FIRST and then decide on the colors for your Bezel.  It is really tough to do the bezel first and THEN look for matching beads :P

and now the video...

 

Have fun!

Latest installment by Marti {Pez-A-Doodle Designs} at 7:15 PM

Stencils, Silks, Twinks and a little Tissue Paper by Erin O'Neil Argueta

Hello all!

Erin here. So honored to be back on the Luminarte blog.

I've recently challenged myself to use everyday products in my art. For this piece I've incorporated tissue paper for texture.

The tissue paper was crinkled and added to an illustration board with a water-based adhesive. After the tissue paper layer was dry, I painted Radiant Rain Shimmering Mists in Key Lime (on the bottom) and Teal Zircon (on the top) blending them in the middle with a spritz of water.

For added texture and dimension, I created the Big Butterfly by putting molding paste over the Butterfly from the Monarch Stencil Kit. I then painted the Butterfly with Silks: Stargazer, Blue Flame, Perriwinkle and Snapdragon. The smaller butterflies are from my sizzix dies. I cut these in white paper and then painted them with the same silks to match.

The roses were also created by putting molding paste over a stencil. I used the Nature Stencil 12x12. The roses are composed of a few layers of color from twinks and silks. The first layer is Apple Blossom twinks to cover the entire image. Then I added Coral Berry for more dimension. The flowers were completed with Carmen and VaVoom Red silks.

The last thing I did was add some more silks for greater depth. The roses and butterflies were strong in color value against the light green and light blue background so I added some Olive Vine Silks behind the roses and a little Stargazer Silks around the outer edges of the sky. By watering down the silks and applying them over the tissue paper background it created amazing shimmer and varying color values.

Thanks for stopping!