The days are getting shorter and the air is adopting a chill, Autumn is certainly taking a hold both inside and outside of Folky HQ.
Over the last couple of weeks we have been cracking open those warm orange and golds, deep, rich browns and earthy greens to create a few Autumnal projects to fit with this months #funwithfolkit theme. After sharing this on social media, so many of you asked for the pattern so here is a quick tutorial.
Step 1: Take your pattern and transfer it onto your practice paper or project
Step 2: To paint your comma strokes, fill your round brush with Avocado or Raw Umber and tip your brush with the Emperors Gold (a technique taught in our Daisy Details kit)
Step 3: Paint alternating bunches of green and brown comma strokes to add variety to your wreath.
Step 4: Using the red, add berries around the wreath and leave to dry.
Step 5: Add a little gold to your brush and on a paper towel, gently rub off the excess. Dry brush a little gold over each of the berries and dot a little brown in each one.
Your wreath is now complete! If you fancy a more festive look, why not try using two shades of green and red and gold or use a paler green and grey tipped with silver - this would look great finished with white and silver mistletoe berries!
Whether you have a home full of plants and flowers or a small outdoor space with only room for a few small planters, adding colour to your home is so worthwhile after a dark and grey winter. We have put together 6 creative ideas to help inspire you. Whether you wish to fill your planters with flowers, succulents or herbs, create a display that will make you smile.
For each of our pots, we chose to base coat them with DecoArt Chalky Finish paint. For some we used the colour straight from the pot, for others, we mixed our own custom colour for our pastel theme.
Once the pots were dry, we used the paints from our Series 1 and Series 2 Starter kits to add each of the designs from our add on ranges. At Folk It, we begin by teaching you dotty designs from our Starter kits before we move on to teaching you brushstrokes to create the designs (like our bluebirds above) in our 'add on' lessons. The beauty of Folk Art is that it is a skill based art, a skill anyone can learn just as anyone can learn to write. With patience and practice, each and every one of us can paint these brushstrokes whether we believe we are creative or not.
Our Series 1 pots
Our gorgeous Daisy pot was first base coated using a mix of DecoArt chalky finish in New Life and Everlasting, both from our Colonial colour set. Once dry, we painted our Daisies on using the templates and techniques from our Daisy Details kit and art supplies from the Starter kit. Add the stalks and leaves using Hauser Light Green and the liner brush.
To create our next pot, we used the beautiful yellow shade 'Delicate' from DecoArt. To decorate our sunny Bluebirds planter, we first added a border of dot daisies and hearts from our Series 1 Starter kit using Baby blue and Warm White (full instructions are included in both the instructional booklet and the DVD). Next, using the comma strokes taught in our add on kits, we painted two bluebirds either side of the pot and added a simple heart between them.
This pot has been getting so much love across our Social media channels! This pretty planter was first painted in 'Serene', a beautiful place blue from the chalky finish range. Using our liner brush and the techniques we teach in our Delicate Lace kit, we added detail around the top of the pot because sometimes simple is the best.
Our Series 2 planters
It is no secret that our favourite colour within the chalky finish range is 'Vintage' so of course it became the base coat for our gorgeous Oriental Blossom pot. Using the templates and techniques from this add on kit, we were able to paint these pretty flowers on to both sides of the pot, perfect for Spring or Summer don't you think?
We created this warm, pastel orange by mixing Everlasting with a smidgen of Delicate and dash of Smitten. One helpful tip when mixing your colours is to make a note of the ratios you use, paint half a lollypop stick with the shade and make a note of the paints you've used. You may only use it once but just in case you wish to use it again, you will then build up a colour reference tool you can refer to again and again. We added two fluttering butterflies here using white and the fabulous Plum colour provided in the Series 2 Starter kit.
Another custom colour, we created this by mixing the dramatic 'Victorian' with 'Everlasting' both from our Heritage colour collection. To compliment this beautiful shade, we blended our Plum and Titanium white from the Series 2 Starter kit to create the rosebuds around the top of the planter. For the leaves we mixed a pale green using the Avocado and Titanium white, again from the Starter kit.
To complete the pots, we finished with two coats of DecoArt Ultra Matte Varnish to protect these beautiful planters. We chose this varnish specifically, not only because it is water based but because it maintains the matte look of the chalky finish paint we used.
There you go. Six beautiful ideas to inspire your summer garden. The beauty of these designs and our kits is that once you have learnt the techniques we teach you in each one, you can mix and match the designs to create a unique project that you love. Which planter are you itching to recreate? We'd love to hear your comments and thoughts. As always if you have any questions about these projects we are happy to help.
When we meet our customers at shows or at our
Ambassador courses, they will often say that they love to complete our dotty
designs made popular by our Starter kits and Dotty collection but that they
just can't get the hang of comma strokes. For many, it seems like a huge
leap of faith to suddenly swap your dotting tool for a paintbrush and it can be
easy to become disheartened with your progress if we don't get it right first
time. Sound familiar?
The thing is, not everyone will experience
these 5 issues, some may only be missing one of them but each factor can make
the difference between a wonky comma stroke and the brush stroke you've always
dreamed about painting. The great news is that each one of them is a
minor thing and we see them time and time again but we also see that with
awareness, practice and perseverance, these issues can be overcome and anyone
can create the perfect comma stroke.
So, what are you doing that is
throwing your brushstrokes off track?
When we are painting, it is easy to become so
focused on the act of painting that we don't consider the fact that we might be
doing something differently to what we have seen others do. The next time
you sit to paint a design from one of our Series 1 add on kits, we would like
you to become aware of these issues and, if you see that these are something
you do, work on improving them.
1. Thinking too much
Well of course we need to concentrate, we are
learning a new skill! Right? To a point.... Yes, we need to think about how we
are sitting, where our paintbrush is pointing but once we have mastered those,
we should let the brush do the work rather than our minds. So often
we become so hung up on creating the perfect curve, the neatest point, that we
try to control the direction our brush is going and flick the bristles or pull
the brush away too quickly from our paper.
We will let you into a little secret here.....
if you position your brush on the paper correctly and move your brush slowly,
you will find you get a much smoother stroke. It does not matter if each
practice stroke is not perfect, what matters is that you sit back, relax and
enjoy the process. The funny thing is that once your paintbrush
knows you're more relaxed it will work with you instead of fighting
against you!
2. Loading your brush with too much
or too little paint.
When you load your brush with too much paint,
you will find that as you paint your comma stroke, the comma will not be flat
but will have two ridges of paint on each edge of the stroke. If you do
not load your brush with enough paint, no matter how you move your brush to
create the point, your brushstroke will fade away and disappear before you can
finish it.
To see how to load the correct amount of paint
onto your brush, take a look at this video (you will have a similar
demonstration on your DVD included with the add on kit you've
bought).
3. Holding your brush too
flat.
When we are striving for the perfect
brushstroke, we want to get it right and it's easy to think that if we hold our
brush flat meaning the handle is close to our practice paper, then it will help
us to control the brush more when in fact it often makes it harder to
use.
To overcome this, you need to forget about the
brushstrokes and the outcome and perfect the way you hold the brush. To help
you paint the best comma stroke, sit upright and hold your brush in the hand you
feel most comfortable using (Right handed people are no more successful at Folk Art painting than left handed people, everyone is on an equal footing when they first begin painting). Without using any paint to begin with,
simply place your brush on the paper and point the top of the handle towards
your shoulder. For example, if you are left handed, the handle should
point slightly towards your left shoulder. This means that your brush should be
almost upright rather than pointing to a wall. If you are right handed,
your paintbrush should be pointing up and tilted towards your right shoulder.
4.
Holding your brush too high up.
For many
of us, when we have painted in the past, as a child or later on, no one has
shown us how to hold a brush as there isn't necessarily a correct way to do
so. If you find that your brushstrokes are not coming out the way you
would like them to, check where you are holding it. If you grip your
brush higher up on the wooden area, you are not alone and you need to
reposition your grip now.
To correct this mistake, you need to think of your
brush almost like a pencil. You should be holding your paintbrush close
to the ferrule - the metal area of your brush. Holding it here still
allows you to see your comma strokes as you create them yet it gives you much
more control when you are painting.
5. Not putting enough pressure on
your brush.
It can be so easy to be scared of putting pressure on
your brush when creating this lovely brushstroke and many new folkers tend to
put just enough pressure on their brush for the bristles to touch the paper.
Doing this has a tendency to create thin, wobbly brushstrokes.
To help you paint a confident, rounded comma
stroke, as you hold your brush pointing towards your shoulder, press your brush
towards the paper so that the bristles lay almost flat on the paper (but do not
allow the metal ferrule to touch the paper) you will see the bristles spreading
out slightly as you do (this helps to create the nice rounded shape at the top
of the comma stroke). Once you have added this pressure, to complete the
stroke, slowly drag your brush and lift at the same time. It is the
process of removing this pressure and lifting the bristles away from the paper
that helps to create the point at the end.
It may seem
daunting to try to tackle these issues but just as when you learn anything new, it
will get easier and with enough practice, it will become automatic. As
you practice, you are teaching your body how to carry out these actions,
building muscle memory until eventually, your body and hands will help you
create confident brush strokes without you having to consciously think about
it. Whether you have already perfected this skill or have some way to go,
the fun is in practicing. For us, completed projects are wonderful but
nothing can beat sitting down and just painting and not worrying about the
outcome.
With Father's Day coming around, many of us are thinking about what to buy, create or bake that will express our thanks for being there for us. It's true there are many shops and websites out there offering great ideas but there's nothing better than creating your own cards, gifts or even gift wrap.
Here are a few ideas to help you create a gorgeous Fathers Day card with You Can Folk It...
With any of our designs, you can create so many different looks just by changing the paint colours you use. Here, we used the dot rose heart from our Series 1 Starter kit. Instead of using the colours from the original design, we created the heart using Lamp black and Warm white from the kit to give the design a more masculine look.
One of the fantastic things about Folk Art is that it is not the design that is important but the brushstroke. Once you have mastered the comma stroke from our Series 1 add on kits, you can use it to create anything you wish; from roses to angels, daisies to beautiful borders.
However, this versatile brushstroke can create so much more! Here at Folky HQ, our resident designer Sandra has been working her magic to create a few other designs.
2. The Chef card
Still limiting the colour palette to Lamp Black and Warm White, base coat your chef in White using the round brush. To achieve a smooth finish, use comma strokes to fill the area in. Let it dry and if needed very lightly sand smooth. Continue this process until you have applied three coats. Using the liner brush and the Lamp Black, paint comma strokes to create his moustache. Using your dotting tool, add dots for his buttons.
3. Moustaches
Using the Lamp Black and your round brush, paint the areas with comma strokes. If your brushstrokes do not give you the shape you want, especially if you find it difficult to create the curled moustache, simply fill in the shape using your brush.
4. Guitar - For all those musical or music obsessed Dad's out there :)
Base coat the guitar in Lamp Black with the round brush, let dry and lightly sand. With the liner brush, paint the stems in Lamp Black. Add black dots with the large end of the dotting tool. A good tip here is to make sure the dots are dry so your work doesn't get smudged as you continue to paint the rest of the design. If you wish to move on with the design, simply use a hairdryer to speed up the process. Next, with the small end of the dotting tool, add comma strokes for the leaves in Warm White.
For the detail on the guitar apply the top heart in Warm White with the small end of the dotting tool. Next, apply the white circle with the large end of the dotting tool. For the middle heart, use the large end of the dotting tool and the last one at the bottom with the small end of the dotting tool. When these are dry, add more hearts over the top of the white using Lamp black and the small end of the dotting tool. To finish, using the liner brush, paint stems close to the edge of the guitar in Warm White and with the small end of the dotting tool apply tiny leaves in the same colour. Once dry scatter white and black dots around the stems.
DON"T FORGET THE DETAILS!
When you have created your card, it is easy to get so caught up in the satisfaction of your make that the envelopes get overlooked. To complete your handprinted creation, why not add designs to the back of the envelope as we have done here or add a small design to the corner of the front of your envelope?
What will you be creating for Father's Day? We hope we have inspired you and as always, if you do create one of these cards, or something different using our kits, we would love to see it.
This month, we were featured in the
fantastic Reloved magazine. If you haven't come across this publication, it is the go
to magazine for the latest up-cycling inspiration. Since it went on sale, we
have had so many enquiries about out gorgeous dragonfly and rosebuds up-cycled
suitcase, we have put together this step-by-step how to for you to
follow.
1. As with our Vintage Roseand Oriental Blossom cases, begin by painting the
whole case (inc. the metal details and handle) in DecoArt Chalky
Finish paint (this time in Vintage).
2. Next, use a brush and apply DecoArt
Metallic Lustre inIced Espresso to the details (corners,
locks handles etc) The reason for this is to give the wax something to adhere
to. Leave the wax to dry completely. Once it is dry, buff with a dry, lint free
cloth to give you the fantastic metallic look.
3. Next, copy your chosen designs using a
Laserjet printer. Laser printed images do give the best results. It
is possible to use an ink jet printer but the ink may smudge as you seal the
image. When you are ready, follow Carol's instructions on our Series 2 DVD's to help you prepare your
surface and transfer the images. The stamps, dragonfly, hotel images
as well as the ones we transferred on to the sides are all from our Series 2 Design book and have already been
reversed for you.
4. Once you have transferred the images, paint rosebuds from our Series 2 design around the 'Hotel Royal' transfer. There is no right or wrong way to do this; you can copy the design Carol has painted or paint your own pattern. Again, our add on kits contain a DVD & full colour instruction booklet,
complete with templates to trace so you can learn, step-by-step how to paint these beautiful rosebuds.
5. Next, add designs to co-ordinate with
the transfers you have added around the sides. On our suitcase, we added more
rosebuds on the sides. Where the 'Angels' transfer had been added, Carol
added dot roses using DecoArt Americana Acrylics in Plum, Titanium white and
Avocado from our Series 2 Starter kit. Next, Carol added angels
from our Series 1 Christmas kit using the round brush from the Series 1
Starter kit. Next, butterflies were painted on the top of the case near the handle. NOTE: the design you create on your suitcase will depend on your
own preferences and the kits you own so get creative and have fun, for example,
you could add more rosebuds and a different quote if you didn't have the
kit or didn't want to invest in both Series.
6. Leave to dry. After a couple of days
when the paint has cured, using DecoArt's Round brush, apply a layer of DecoArt Creme wax (we used Clear Creme
Wax) to protect it. Leave to dry and buff with a dry, lint free cloth to give
it a soft sheen
All that's left for you to do now is
display your case for others to admire. Whether you use it to hold towels in
your bathroom or as alternative storage solutions in your living room, it will
be admired by all who see it. Why not find suitcases of different sizes and
stack them to create a feature in your home?
How would you paint yours? What would you
use it for? We'd love to hear your ideas.
