Taming the Idea of Using Mixed Media, Part 1: Basic Tools

(* This series of tutorials is aimed for beginners, but of course advanced mixed media artists are very welcomed to peek how I use these materials, too. *)

Before going further into the world of mixed media, there are few basic tools that are, if not necessarily vital, then handy and convenient for crafting within the world of mixed media.

(Scissors are an obvious one, and sharp, good scissors are a treasure, but I won’t be giving them much attention here, you probably have a pair at your home anyway.)

Baby Wipes

I always have a pack of baby wipes at hand while crafting. Not only they are handy when cleaning your hands, but they are a perfect blending tool, too!

There are just a few examples of using baby wipes, you’ll soon find more ways yourself: 

-       Cleaning your hands when you have clued not only papers but half of yourself, too.

-       Cleaning your desk/working surface

-       Cleaning your tools like stencils, stamps…

-       Correcting your mistakes in the actual project (like wiping off gesso, paint or ink)

-       Using baby wipes as a blending tool

Because the baby wipes are moist, they don’t absorb all the paint/ink/medium you are touching with it like kitchen paper would do, but only a part of it. So, I actually use baby wipes as a blending tool, adding plenty of paint or gesso to the surface (art journal page), and then using the wipes as a brush and a blending tool, wipe the paint on and off the surface.

Reusable baking sheet

You want to protect your happy desk a bit when using mixed media. There are lots of gorgeous tools for it, but you can work wonders with a reusable baking sheet, too. It’s sturdy, it’s light, easy to move and roll aside when you don’t need it, and it’s also easy to wipe clean or simply wash in the sink!

In case you know you are totally needing a proper working surface, then I'd remcommend this one, bt even with this I often use a reusable baking sheet if I am doing something messy, like painting or adding gesso.

 Brushes and palette knives

 …are something you might find quite important if you have a bottle of paint in your hands… You don’t need a massive amount of them, but maybe one or two basic palette knives (plastic ones are cheap and easy to keep clean), and a couple of different kind of brushes are a good start. Then, after noticing which sizes and shapes are your favourites or which you are constantly missing when crafting, you can add those to your tool box. 

I like using these two brush sets, Finnabair Brush Set and Ranger Artist Brushes:

  

Blending tool

Ok, this is a tool you can live without – until you have tested it. Then it’s no way you’ll ever craft anything without it nearby. I use Holtz’s blending tool, but there’s lots of different kinds in the market. With the blending tool, you can evenly add ink to the surface you are working with (like a journal page), either just on its own or with a stencil. How-to is worth a tutorial of its own, so about this later. At this point I’ll just add this tool to the list… But don’t worry, you don’t need to have a blending tool as it is, a sponge is just fine, too.

Heating tool

Now, when you have a heating tool, you know you are a devoted mixed media person. Or just an impatient individual, like me. If you have both time and patience, you won’t be needing this. (Except if you are into embossing, but that’s a whole different story.) With the heating tool you can quicken the drying process and continue your projects a lot more quickly. Gesso, paints, and other media take time to dry, so this is the tool to use between the layers of different media!

Stapler

This is another tool you don’t necessarily need, but once you have got the hang of it, you love it. I use Holtz’s mini stapler as it is so light and small, but any stapler will do. What for? For easily attaching a cluster of lace, paper bits, or anything to your project. Glue is fine, but sometimes you don’t want to use glue, but a bit more flexible option, like a stapler.

… And before you hurry to buy any of these tools, I want to point out that these are my favourites, the ones I use daily, but they might not be your thing. Having a huge amount of materials and tools you don’t really use, and need is a frustrating thing, so if you haven’t got any of these, maybe googling them and seeing videos how they are used is a good idea, so you’ll see if they are for you?

P.S. I left out any die cutting machines and lots else out of this on purpose. Not too much information immediately, right?

See you soon,

Emilia xx

One Step at a Time: Taming the Idea of Using Mixed Media in Journaling

Most of you probably know mixed media better than me, but as I have had so many questions, enquiries, and kind pleas to share how I use mixed media in my (art) journaling, I decided to do it in a very simple way. One step at a time, I will introduce my favourite media to you, and show how I use them. 

For you already mastering the art of mixed media, this is no news for you, but for those who has only a vague knowledge what it is (something messy, something too laborious or hard, something to be afraid of), this series of tutorials is for you. We are going to tame the idea of using mixed media in your journaling, one step at a time.

We are going to get acquainted with some easy, light, friendly ways of mixed media that show you it isn’t that hard at all. We try gesso, other mediums, some paints, crayons and inks, stencils and so on, that will add texture, vibrant, eye-catching interest to your journals. And believe me, these materials and techniques I am showing introducing you are so easy that you’ll wonder why you didn’t start a long time ago!

There’ll also be video tutorials on both Varalusikka’s and my own personal YouTube channel, harvinaisenkauniselama, that will help you to see yourself how-to.

Welcome to share the journey with me!

 Emilia xx

"When there’s still time"

I have had problems with writing my blog for a simple and yet very ridiculous reason. After getting more and more likes in Instagram or YouTube or wherever (not that I have many, but you know) I have kind of lost myself. I absolutely do not have neat plans for gaining likes in social media or getting whatever it is so many dream of social media giving them these days. I have quite my share of rough experiences of social media hurting already wounded. The more I know my posts gain publicity the less I want to share anything.

I have also been thinking what others would want or would definitely not want to read. The “would list” would include things like tutorials or cute, light, sweet, pretty topics that makes you smile. And that, my darlings, are ok, as everything that makes you smile is fantastic. But, my life happens to have also those darker shades that makes me usually want to speak about things that aren’t light, pretty, cute, sweet. Topics that maybe hurt a bit – but then might make you smile. And the “would definitely not list” is so full of topics I want to share with you that maybe, just maybe I will throw out the defense walls I have built around myself and start writing.

I got my disability pension last autumn, after 6 years of a struggle and fight. It made me so tired I never knew one could feel that much tiredness. I let it all wash over me like a welcomed heavy rain as I knew it would be necessary, after so many years of unknown, waiting, everything that had happened. I could finally let go of past. Of my dreams, of my goals, of my life, of everything that I was. This has been time of rebuilding, of listening myself, of what I am, who I am, what I want. What it is that life has still to give me. Even if I am so tired I can hardly see, think straight, I know one thing. Life is good and I can finally think that I can patiently wait what it is that life has planned for me.

 

In this world of pressure, busyness, accomplishments, achievements, goals, success, to find your own place can be overwhelming. Do I choose what is right? To simply trust that everything that happens, happens for a reason, to think that we can choose only how we feel it is the correct choice just this moment and to realise we cannot know what tomorrow let alone the next ten years bring, is hard.  I have learnt a lot during these years, about patience, about being gentle to myself, to adjust my own goals according to my own life instead of what I think the world around me expects from me. It isn’t always easy and certainly I worry too much as I know by now that everything happening happens for a reason unknown today but revealing one day. I have learnt to live today. I can’t do 5-years plans, when I don’t know what happens tomorrow and for me it is a blessing. I don’t need to tackle with all those ambitious bucket lists trying to adjust myself into a mold that doesn’t fit. I am alive today and that is a glorious thing to celebrate each day.

I am still not certain what life has in its sleeve for me, but meanwhile I enjoy being. Of adding lace to vintage papers and whispering encouraging messages to others. That, my darling, is as good a life that any other and is perfect for me today. And it seems that those small things in life happened and happening have slowly brought me into this moment, molded me and my life unnoticed to fit into something that suits me better than I could have never ever have planned myself, not in a billion years. 

You can read a story about the journey in the Paper Garden blog and there’s a lovely, long article about my art journaling in the Art Journalingmagazine Winter 2020 issue by Stampington & Co.

Somehow seeing my own story printed I have realized it is real. That somehow my life has lead me to this moment, to today, when it is good to be alive just as I am.

And then I heard this new song by my favourite artist, Juha Tapio. It spoke to me in volumes, as his lyrics always do, and so much so that I wanted to share it with you. (My poor translation for you follows, as I know most of my readers definitely do not understand Finnish.)

This is what life is. This is how I want my life to be... When there's still time. 

Juha Tapio's Kun vielä ehtii When There's Still Time

When there’s still time, I want to say thank you

To say it today and not to leave it for tomorrow

When thre’s still time, let’s agree that

On the crossing you can only step to the white

When there’s still time, let the self-made storms be

I’d like to be someone, with whom it’d be easy to breathe with

When there’s still time,

When there’s still time

When there’s still time, to celebrate and laugh

With friends on a summer evening

When there’s still time, let’s make love***

The words I say, let them build harmony

When there’s still time, I want to be for you a solid, strong oak tree

And to see how, on the puddles of the street side, stars reflect to us

When there’s still time,

When there’s still time

To let the wind drag you, to stand in a heavy rain

To go on the edge and over, embrace towards fear

To hold on, to let go

And to choose them right

When there’s still time,

When there’s still time

I want to kiss your neck

To lightly touch to your arm

To be today, and not someone gone or arriving

To hold on, to let go

And to choose them right

To grown to ones size

When there’s still time,

When there’s still time,

When there’s still time,

When there’s still time,

When there’s still time, I want to say thank you

To say it today.

Lyrics Juha Tapio

*** the Finnish verse means literally to make/to build/to do love in a general sense

P.S. There'll be also those cute-sweet-light-pretty posts, too, promise. And, I have planned to write a whole series of posts about mixed media and art journaling, about my favourite media and tools, how-to and so on. It is not that I don't have time. I just don't have the energy to write often, but I try to begin as soon as possible.