International Mixed Media Postcard Swap

I used sheets of A4 180gsm off-white card for these. Divided into quarters, painted, squirted, and painted some more. Once I was happy with the background, I cut up the sheets into individual postcards. The images are black & white laserjet prints. I painted Golden Regular Gel onto the face/front of the image, let it dry a little, then laid it face down onto the painted card. Once it was completely dry, I dampened the backing, and rubbed off the paper. This method of image transfer requires both patience and elbow grease - if you try to take the backing paper off too soon, you can lose the image. The Huia image also has a 'woodgrain' stencil on it.


This orange colour has proved really great to show up the transfers.

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Card Backs: Each card is backed with a colour photocopy of a 1920's era post card and stamps. I initially did the cardbacks as image transfer, using Golden soft gel, but they were almost a complete disaster. I don't know if it was the gel, lack of patience (it was really cold and things weren't drying), or what. I do like the effect of the colour copy. The edges were a bit 'gluey' so I rubbed them with a bit of paint and stain.

 
Again, laser print image transfers. This time I went over the Manaia with felt pens, paint and ink. The 'vine' pattern (it has a real name, but I don't know what it is) I went over with fine and thick black pens to accentuate the image. I found some coir string (probably from a bunch of flowers) and stuck that on, with a bit of chunky gold embossing 'powder'. I like the big butterfly washi tape down the side.

I just love these four cards. I was a bit worried they were going to be too dark, but they look really great. The base layers are a dark blue, dark purple, then lighter blues and purples, sprayed with soapy water to make them run and bubble. Once that was dry, I crunched up, then laid plain white tissue paper over the card. This was highlighted/lowlighted with various paints, including interference colours, that were squirted and then allowed to run. A dark ink was rubbed on the high points. I then used plant stamps, which were coloured in with ink pens and paint. Yummy yummy.

   

   

I didn't initially like this set - it just wasn't colours I liked. Base colours were oranges and reds. Then I did the 'woodgrain' stencil, covered it with scrunched tissue, more paint. Then a 'celtic' stamp. The butterflies are from a couple of different sources, but they seem to go well together.