Journals & Collaborative Projects

Below you will find a sampling our members' work from previous collaborative projects.  Click on images to view them larger. We hope this will inspire you to come and play with us! If you are interested in joining our group, please visit us at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Paper_Traders/

Tutorials & Techniques

Below are some of our favorite tricks for adding depth and dimension to your art.  We hope you have fun giving these a try!

Current Group Swaps & Projects

Below is a list of current swaps and projects available to group members. If you are interested in joining our group and participating in these projects, please visit us at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Paper_Traders/.  

For existing group members, you can sign up to participate  in these projects here: Swaps & Current Projects.  

We look forward to swapping with you.  Happy Arting!

Member Gallery for Group Swaps
 
Below you will find a sampling our members' work from previous group swaps and projects.  Click on images to view them larger. We hope this will inspire you to come and play with us! If you are interested in joining our group, please visit us at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Paper_Traders/.
 
Come play with us... Join today!

Paper Traders is a friendly online community of artists from around the world. We nurture and value creativity, embrace new ideas, products, and techniques yet also value tried and true methods of artistic expression. Our projects consist primarily of paper arts, mixed media collage, artist trading cards, altered art, assemblages, collaborative journals, mail art, and more.

We are interested in creative individuals of varied skill levels who wish to challenge themselves artistically and help build a supportive community. We are at our best when we can share our creative efforts as well as techniques, resources, feedback, and insights. We encourage conversation about art, the art process, and what it means to be an artist.

Paper Traders is hosted on Yahoo Groups at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Paper_Traders/.
We hope you will consider joining us on an artistic journey!

In order to prevent spammers and to insure that all applicants are actual persons interested in creating art, a questionnaire will be sent to all potential members. When applying, please submit digital examples of your work or direct us to a website where we can view your art. The intent of the questionnaire is not to judge the merits of your art but to safeguard the integrity of our community.

Free Images for Download

Below you will find images that are owned by our group members and offered for your personal use as well as images found in the public domain. Images may be freely used in your personal artwork but may not be used for commercial purposes of any kind without written permission of the owner. No images may be used to create collage sheets or image collections for resale.

To download, follow the link provided. In some cases, you may be able to just click on the image to enlarge it, then right-click and select "save image as". Content changes frequently and many images are available for a limited time.  Please check back often for newly posted images to use in your art journey.

Open Art Challenges !

We're changing things up here at Paper Traders. Instead of the monthly challenges of the past, we'll now be hosting special challenges that might feature a specific technique or product and will be rewarded with actual prizes sponsored by our group members.

Our new challenge for 2013 is a year long word prompt journaling project/challenge. Each specific challenge will be open for one month and all art bloggers can participate, whether you are a Paper Traders member or not. Each artist will comment with a link to their blog post that features the artwork for that particular challenge. For each challenge, a winner will be selected whose art best exemplifies the challenge. The winning artist will be featured here and get a "Trader Treasure" blog button to display on their own blog. They also will receive one chance for each entry for the end of the year prize drawing. Watch this page for more details and challenge announcements.

Friday, September 9, 2011

Make your own foam stamp tutorial


I made some foam stamps this weekend
from a technique I learned at my
Artful Gathering class under Jodi Ohl.
She actually used foam blocks about
 the size and shape of kitchen sponges
 but I couldn't find any here in town.
So I improvised and I think they turned out well.

  I picked up this bag of foam blocks at Michael's,
But I have seen them plenty of places.
Target actually has some small bags of these in
their front area dollar bins.


 Pick out object you want to create a stamp with.
This was the metal base from a ceiling hook for a plant.
Get your foam piece and your heat gun/source

Heat the top/end of your foam carefully.
 Not too close or the foam will melt;
maybe about 2 inches away. 
You may have to try this a few times to get the hang of it.
 But, you really only need to hold it there less than 5 secs.

 Now either quickly flip your foam piece on top of the object
and press down firmly for about 10 secs or
 place the object on top of the foam and press down
with something hard, NOT YOUR HAND.
The foam is hot. I used a jar of Golden Medium.
This is a little tricky to keep steady.
I recommend the top way.

Here is the result. 

These are the stamps I made by using this technique and
pressing small shells into the foam pieces.
The detail actually surprised me.
Love the look of these!

Have fun with this and be careful using your heat gun.
Cathy L Calamas - PT Mod

5 comments:

Aimeslee Winans said...

Nice tute, Cathy! xoxo

Unknown said...

Very clever. Thanks for sharing:D

Lesley said...

Great tut and the detail is amazing. Thanks for reminding me of this, time to get the foam out again.
Lesley :)

lost coast scrapper said...

Thanks for sharing, what a great little tutorial!!!!

Anonymous said...

Very clever.