Inspiration from the Midnight Art Ranch Retreat

I enjoyed my time at the Midnight Art Ranch Retreat very much.
I took some amazing classes, and created some artwork I'm very proud of.

But, sometimes, unexpected things catch your imagination at an art retreat.

After her class, one of the instructors, Jeni Calkins, showed me a technique she had been playing with. It involved Fantasy Film and Opals embossing enamels. Two of my favorite things!
Annette Husband, Annette from Oz for those of you who know her on line, had also been doing some really great stuff with Fantasy Film and Opals creating Opals Paper. So my curiosity had been whetted.

Jeni was using up the scraps left over from doing Faux Carnival glass and other projects by layering them, sprinkling on some clear (Franklin) Opals and ironing it between two sheets of parchment or two craft sheets.

Jeni left a few sheets for me to play with. I used one as a backdrop for a photograph of the PMC (Precious Metal Clay) pendants I made during the retreat.


I was so intrigued with the possibilities for this "paper" that I decided I had to try incorporating it into the shrine I was working on.
I added some to the door of my shrine.


I used some Golden Gel medium to adhere the Fantasy Film Paper to the wooden door. When it was dry I added some crackle finish, highlighted the cracks with Radiant Rain Daubers, and coated it with some varnish. Wow! The varnish really made the colors POP!
I fell in love with the texture and the depth of color achieved.



I played around with some very small scraps I had left. I glued it onto some scrap mat board colored with Brilliance inks, topped with Crackle Glossy Accents and highlighted with Sepia Glossy Accents.



I mounted these on a separate piece of mat board as a dimensional mixed media piece- but I think this technique would be great for doing pendants, pins or as an embellishment for other things.
I'll post some blown up images so you can see the details:





When I got home I decided to play with this a bit more.
I tried ironing the Fantasy Film onto various things. I love the look of it on canvas.
I used the black heat set glue pad by Stewart Superior to adhere to the canvas it with the iron.
I can't seem to get my crackle finish to "crack" here. It is getting too cold and damp in my studio.
I need to order some of the Crackle Accents.
This is a work in progress. I still need to get the corner piece to crackle and add some highlight color on the sun rays.



Details:



I tried another canvas too. This one isn't finished yet either.



I also used the black glue pad to adhere some fantasy film to the flat areas on one of the wooden bangles. Then I used Radiant Rain daubers and sprays to color the rest of the bangle and highlighted it with metallic rub on wax in copper. I sealed it with a spray gloss coat.
WOW!!
I think this is my favorite bangle yet!





I'll keep y'all posted on how the projects progress.