Luminarte Blog— Vibrant and Brilliant

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.

 

 

Primary Elements Artist Pigments and polymer clay by Marti Wills

Lets set aside some time to be creative. Remember, if you are creating with Luminarte, share it on the Luminarte Fan Page. We have Marti Wills sharing a super cool technique with our Primary Elements Artist Pigments on polymer clay. This can be used with so many of your projects or as jewelry.

Marti here, I discover simple techniques using polymer clay, Luminarte Primary Elements, and stamps to make gorgeous clay tiles.This video tutorial from FaveCraft.com by Marti Wills shows you how to create cool designs on your polymer clay using Luminarte Primary Elements Artist Pigments.

Materials:

• Polymer clay - white, black and/or glittered works best but experiment with other colors
• Pasta machine or clay roller
• A variety of rubber stamps and/or texture plates
• Luminarte Primary Elements powders

 

 

Thanks for stopping!

 

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!

Twinkling Lotus Flowers by artist Dion Dior and our Winner from our Weekend Giveaway!

Thank you so much for all your comments over the weekend. Our Winner is just starting to express herself artistically. Congratulations to .......................Karen Borusiewicz!

We hope our product's will help you create a beautiful gift for your mother for mother's day and please share it with us on our Luminarte Fan page! If you could send an email to citonya@comcast.net with your shipping address so that I can get your goodies sent out to you, I would appreciate it. Thanks again for all the comments and we will be doing this again before the end of the month, SO STAY TUNED to our blog!

Speaking of Mother's Day Dion Dior is sharing a beautiful journal page that any mother would be proud to receive as a gift. Enjoy.

It really was a joyful trip down under, we took a little road trip to take in some of Australia's best views. We just found a lovely spot and stayed there for a few days enjoying the pool and beach fun.

We made our way back to Grandma's house and spent our final week in Australia here.  Autumn is slowly descending on the Southern Hemisphere and our beach days where numbered, but our wonderful vacation was not over till the fat lady sings...so to speak!

In the meantime, it's back to my sketchbook. I have so many pages to share, and this was one I did sitting in my mum's backyard. She's a wonderful gardener (something I did not inherit), I'm not really sure what they are, but they looked a bit like lotus flowers.  Either way, they called out for Twinkling H2O's. And given my "Mastering Twinks" class begins again on April 13 through LuminArte, I'm immersing myself once more in these exquisite, shimmering watercolor paints. It feels like home!!  Registration now, and you can click here for more information.

Thanks for checking in. xx

A shimmering garden by Marti Willis

Hi everyone!

Marti here, I am so excited to be sharing with you on the Luminarte blog!  Today I have a fun piece I did on a block of wood.

I had SO much fun with this one!  I began by adhering an irregular piece of a book page to the wood.  I painted over it with Silks thinned with a bit of water - Fern and Sky Blue.  I stamped with some bubble wrap and very light blue acrylic paint and then I stamped the leaves with a Dyan Reaveley stamp and dark green Staz On.  I used a small paint bottle to trace and make my scallp border from another book page.  I cut it out and painted it with a very thin wash of Icy Iris Primary Elements.  I doodled a bit with a black pen and adhered it to the board.  I added Gliittered Skittles for a bit of bling.

I stamped my flowers in Black Archival Ink (Hero Arts stamps) and then painted them with Silks Glazes.  For the flower centers I used Sunburst Primary Elements.  First, I mixed a bit of the powder with water and Gum Arabic and painted the centers.  Then, to add texture, I mixed more powder with Liquitex Glass Bead Gel Medium and piled it on to the centers with my pallette knife - I LOVE the effects I can get with the Primary Elements and the variety of gel mediums available to work with - a match made in heaven!

I will be teaching a Mixed Media workshop locally in Baltimore MD that will feature several Luminarte products on May 19th as part of The Outlawz Rodeo.  You can sign up on my classroom page!  haere is a sampling:

Thanks so much for dropping in!

Twinkling Mexican Fish by artist Erin O'Neill Argueta

Hello again!

I am Erin and I'm so thrilled to be back to share some more of my twinkling fun. I am in love with my twinkling H2O's and the Luminarte Existencils!

For this project you will need:
11x15-inch piece of watercolor paper
#28382 Oceana stencil 12x12
#28384 Oceana
#28383 Oceana stencil 6x6
Sea foam Sponge
Paint Brushes

Starting with the 11x15-inch piece of watercolor paper, I've used the Oceana 12x12, Oceana 6x6 and Oceana Stencil Kit with my twinks, seafoam and brushes to paint a Mexican porcelain fish.

Using sea foam with twinks and the stencils, I've layered the colors and created an amazing translucent texture.

My camera does not show off the brilliance of the shimmer in this piece.  If you have used the Twinkling H20's, you know that there is just enough shimmer to make this fish come alive with color! It's is stunning in real life!

Thanks for checking in today!

Erin Reveals her Sneak Peak and a Special Luminarte GIVEAWAY today!

WIN FREE PRODUCTS today!

Have you tried our EXSTENCIL from Creative Imaginations? You could WIN a set of SILKS and an Exstencil. Simply, go to DREAMING IN COLOR  and watch the Silks Acrylic Glaze video. Come back to this post and in the comments, answer this question: What was used on the SILKS?  That is it! We will announce the WINNER this FRIDAY! Good Luck!

In the mean time, artist Erin O'Neill Argueta has done a altered mix media piece for us today. This is a great project for this weekend. I love the gesso and stencil combination with the painted flowers. Enjoy!

Hi, Erin here, on Monday I gave you a sneak peak of my first project.  Now, it's time to reveal the project and tell you a bit about the piece and the products I used to create it.

I started with an 11"x15" sheet of Canson 140lb Watercolor paper.  I gesso'd the page, then added layers of vintage dictionary that were "smudged, buffed and sponged" with various inks.  On top of this, I added some diluted gesso and more inks.  I used a variety of tools to create depth: sponges, brushes and rags to layer on the inks. I added a torn piece of Monarch Cherish Varnish Paper to the lower right corner of the water color paper.  I painted a wash of Cinnamon Stick Twinkling H2O to add depth to the embossed paper.  Then, I stamped off the edges with the "Islamic Border" stamp from Rubber Stamp Plantation.  With my background complete, I started to mold the stencil.

I used Golden Hard Molding Paste, the Paint it! Monarch Stencil (12x12) and a painters spatula. 

You can see here that the dimension is very subtle, but by using the molding paste I have achieved a look that resembles Italian relief.  The diluted gesso allows the text from the dictionary page to be visible behind the molded stencil.

For the flowers, I stamped the Medium and Extra Large Tiare Stamps from Rubber Stamp Plantation and then filled the flowers with Silks: Vavoom Red, Carmen and Coral Berry. The center of each flower is a "dot" of Solar Gold Silks. The stems and leaves were hand-drawn and filled with Olive Vine Silks.

For an added "pop" I outlined some of the flowers with a Pitt "B" pen.

And, here is the completed piece:

Image taken with another camera in a different light:

Thanks you for checking in and remember to go to  DREAMING IN COLOR  and watch the Silk Acrylic Glaze video. Come back to this post and in the comments, tell us what was used on top of the SILKS? We will announce the WINNER this FRIDAY! Good Luck!