Harvinaisen Kaunis Elämä: Art Journaling with Winter Tales for Finnabair

Hello friends,

The new Finnabair Mica Powders are one of my favourite mixed media materials ever. For me, to easily and quickly dye my laces to match the colour theme of any given art journal page, right when I want and need it, is The Most Wonderful Thing.

February is a month of soft pinks and hence, I end up using blue, of course, as fitting inside any given box has never been my forte, not really. And it was worth it, as it turned out, the new Mica Powder Set Winter Tales fulfilled my several years long hunt for the perfect sea glass colour.

Here’s how I made my sea glass blue art journal pages…

I started with dyeing the laces, cheesecloth, and silk ribbons with Mica powder. I mixed the powder with a lot of water, and dipped the materials in the mixture, pressed and rolled them between my palms long enough of them to absorb the colours, and let them dry. It was just simple as it sounds.

I had an art journal on the making, and I chose materials that would naturally fit in, so it was Finnish vintage paper for the background, and a bit of white Heavy Gesso for softening. I mixed Modeling Paste and Mica powder, and with Laurels stencil, made the background to match the dyed laces.

Then it was time to create a collage for which I used prints, cheesecloth, linen cord, a button, lace, and so on. I added a layer of Clear Gesso on top of each print, to protect them from absorbing too much paint, as I painted the pages with a mixture of Impasto paints Pitch Black and Dark Chocolate.

It was a simple and quite straightforward process, but somehow, I managed to use 1,5 hours for making It – again. But then, creativity takes time, and when you are a person with a brain injury, it means everything takes double the time you have planned.

The long (only slightly speeded up) vide of the process here: https://youtu.be/3-JM0VU0SeQ

Wishing you softest and gentlest of sea and sky-blue moments,

Emilia