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.

Monday, October 10, 2011

Faux Batik Tutorial


Sample by Beckie Holso

FAUX BATIK TECHNIQUE   by Connie Holso

There are numerous ways to create a batik look in your paper craft projects.  This one is really quite easy to do and you will only need supplies you probably already have if you are a stamper.
You will need:
  • White mulberry paper
  • Rubber Stamps –crisp bold images work best
  • Clear embossing ink
  • Clear embossing powder
  • Heat tool
  • 2 or 3 different colored dye ink re-inkers
  • Spray bottle of water
  • Clean copy paper
  • Iron
Be sure to cover your work surface to protect it, this can be a bit messy.  Start by stamping images with the clear ink all over the mulberry paper and heat emboss with the clear powder.  Apply ink by dripping drops onto the stamped paper.  Immediately spray with water to cause the ink to spread around.   When you are pleased with the look, lay the mulberry paper between sheets of copy paper and iron.  The embossing powder will melt into the copy paper.  Peel away immediately (while still hot).  If it sticks, reheat and pull off.  You may want to change paper and iron another time or two to remove all of the glossiness of the embossing.  This will make it look more like real batik.  After ironing crumple it up a bit to give it a more authentic fabric look. Tada you are done!
Posted by Cathy L. Calamas at 5:20 AM
Labels: ,

4 comments:

Aimeslee Winans said...

Connie, great tute! Beckie, great sample! I have all of these materials, so I'm gonna try this! Thanks, xoxo

October 10, 2011 at 4:22 PM
Nancy said...

This is so pretty! I'm not a stamper anymore but loved reading how you did it.

October 11, 2011 at 1:46 PM
Darla said...

I've enjoyed looking at this site. Can anyone tell me if the Yahoo group is still open. I asked to join quite some time ago and haven't heard back (the group shows up as "pending" on my Yahoo groups list).

Thanks!

Darla

October 14, 2011 at 11:49 AM
stampgram said...

Thanks for all your lovely comments. Aimeslee, I hope you are having fun with this technique. Nancy, even if I gave up my stamps I would have to save a few to do techniques like this, as I like it so much. :-)

Darla, you should have gotten a note from Beckie by now about joining. If not please leave another comment and one of us will get back to you.

Again, thanks all for your lovely comments. I am glad you liked the tutorial.

October 17, 2011 at 7:22 AM

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)