Bohemian Masculinity

 

Would you send this card to a guy? Do guy cards have to be bland coloured and boring - why cant they have loads of texture and colour and why cant like leaves be a masculine thing?  I would totally send this card to a guy, this guy identifies Bohemian okay? - this is our next entry into the Masculine challenge over at Simon Says Stamp.  

 A tree on the other side of the wall shed a whole bunch of leaves.  I liked them.  I really didnt want to put them the in garden refuse.  I know I am a bit on the oddball side but stay with me. I bust out the Dala Drawing Inks (from now on referred to as DDI) again and had an idea brewing in my head - I knew painting the leaves in the rich and vibrant jewel tones that DDI comes in would be just luscious!  I wasn't wrong!  Look at the saturation of the pigment in the inks - its so deep and but transparent at the same time.  I love it - well done Dala, you have nailed the drawing ink.  Its so much more than a drawing ink - its a whole craft experience.  Dala Suncolour used to be go to for dying anything - paper or cloth - but I have been converted.  I now exclusively use DDI for paper and card when I want deep, rich transparent colour on paper and card and keep the suncolour for dying fabric. 

Anyway, about the card.  The background is a paperscrap from my bag of scrap.  I went with what I would consider a Masculine Bohemian type colour palette to zhoosh up the leaves.  Oh I like the bottles that the DDI comes in now - they have a pointy nozzle, much more user-friendly than the flip tops.  I used DDI in Magenta, Golden Yellow, Orange, Violet Process Cyan, Scarlet and Olive. 

 Initially I wanted to line them up in 3 leaves sort of deal, standard, dependable layout but somewhat cliched - so then I decided I'd rather layer the multi-coloured leaves on top of each other like a forest of trees.  I loved that.  I put a strip of 2-side tape on a thin strip of dark brown card and stuck a raggedy piece of gauze on the back.  I had a big brown rounded square button that I thought looked like a masculine button, I added more of the Sand craft paint to the button to make it look a little more rustic, threaded it with some thin paper rope to tie into a shoelace knot. 

We had a few runes left over from the "Enter the Dragon" card, and like I said in the last post - this was made with Dala Clever Clay.  You can get crazy clay in different colours.  I would suggest that you get a standard set and then get twice the amount of white.  With your drawing ink you can colour customise the clay to your preference.  

I add a drop or two of Black DDI  to white clay to make the stone grey.  I overstuffed the clay it into a mold.  I used a dough scraper to scrape off the excess on the top so that it is fairly level on the bottom.  It

takes about 24 hours to completely dry or you can be like me and try and get it out of the mold 12 hours later - these were thin so it worked out well for me.  

Here is my trick to get the textured effect of weathered stone. Don't get too finicky about getting the clay into the mold too well - if it has a few airbubbles - it makes it look more stonelike.  When your grey pieces are dry put a thin layer of craft paint on the dry clay, let it sit for about a minute or two.  Then with a wet brush, lightly water-wash the pieces so that the paint doesnt wash off completely - just let it be not perfect and not uniform.  That way you get this really mottled effect that looks like it is stone that has been painted and weathered over time.

I used these left over rune pieces to give it a little more manly Bohemian Viking interest.  Anyway I am so happy with how this turned out.

I am already dreaming up new ideas for more craft projects with my collection of Dala supplies.  Stay tuned for more ways to use these versatile products in crazy ways.

I am not associated by any affiliate relation to DALA nor am I sponsored to write posts about them - I just really, really, really enjoy their brand.  I think they are very well priced and have a great selection  and variety of craft supplies.  I also like the quality of their products.

Dala has a store on Takealot - click this  Dala  to link to it. They dont have their entire catalogue on it - which is sad because they now also have polymer clay and alcohol ink and it is not on the site.  Or you can also get a fairly decent selection at Crazy Plastics if you're in South Africa.

I got the Runes mold from Temu, - they have different kinds of silicone molds for resin, baking and crafting, I am super happy with the quality of the molds as well - I put them through all kinds of trauma in my crafting experiments and they are still alive.

I do have a discount code for TEMU to pass down - that will get you 30% off if you search the code acp636712 on the app,  if you are new to TEMU - you can ⭐️Click the link https://temu.to/m/ulqdrhgg4l0 to get 💰R2,000 (+/- U$D50) coupon bundle or ⭐️ Search  acp636712 on the Temu App to get 💰30% off discount !!

Enter the Dragon

When Monday rolled around and the weekly challenge at Simon Says Stamp was revealed to be "Masculine" and then the Wednesday challenge was also "Masculine", I sat down with my 6 year old to think about what we could do - I suggested something with a lot of gears and riveted metal and she didn't love the idea.... the steampunker in me was devasted.  She suggested we do something with bright colours and hearts - so then I had to explain that that probably wouldn't fit with the theme challenge.  

So then we had a conversation about what "masculine' means - and I tried to give examples of masculine signifiers that 6 year old could understand - things like colours etc.  I got to tell you I had the best conversation about the arbitrariness of culturally defined markers of masculinity.  She wanted to know why colours make something boy-like when it is just a colour?  Then she wanted to know how did they choose those colours to be boy-like then she wanted to know who made the rules about boy-colours and girl colours, and boy-rules and girl-rules.  Then she wanted to know why the people who made the nonsensical rules made the rule that  boys shouldn't like flowers, hearts and pretty colours.  I loved all the philosophical reflection.  I also loved that she thought these categories of masculinity and its markers were irrelevant, arbitrary and completely ridiculous. Plus I think I have a budding feminist philosopher on my hands.  

Following the existential disappointment she felt in the state of culture - we had to come up with an idea that would both uphold her convictions in starting a cultural revolution that would spearhead a challenge of the arbitrary norms 😝but still stay within the scope of the challenge.  

Now it is not a big secret that both my spunky 6 year old and I both love the "How to train your Dragon" franchise, the "Dragon Riders" series so I suppose it inevitably transpired that she suggested that we do a Dragon themed card.  In retrospect and as I type this post - the layers of significance in this piece of pop-culture film in relation to our existential resolution is magnificent.  If you remember any of the HTTYD films - you will have noted that it expertly deals with issues of 'stereotyping' and 'toxic masculinity' in the most awesome, entertainingly educational way. Hiccup the protagonist character breaks the gender trope of the male hero being excessively brute, violent, and disposed toward force and domination. The Dragons are multi-coloured and sparkly beautiful, they are ridden by both malesand females.  Once there is a respectful communion between the riders and themselves, they are strong and a force to be reckoned with.  Once they are able to transcend their labels - they are somewhat invincible and the nature and quality of life for all becomes a whole lot better.  So as I reflect now, I think in light of her questioning the facetiousness of gender-specific conventions and the themes dealt with in HTYYD, her suggestion of a dragon-themed card is a pretty cool rebellion on gender-tropes.

So here is what we did - a dragon- in some deep pinks, blues and greens - while still staying within the realm of things asssociated with masculinity.

We made the leathery skin on the card by wrinkling up a piece of regular 80gsm card, and 'squeeze
sponging' over it with some Dala Drawing Ink (Sepia).  It created a lovely textured effect - the ink settles in the wrinkles and pools in some places.  Dala's drawing ink has a bit of a glaze quality to it - so you can really create an approximate appearance of worn leather.  

Using artistic licence we decided that we were going to use Rune-like symbology to represent dragon script.  We made the runes with Dala's clever clay.  It is lightweight airdry clay that dries to a fun foam like consistency.  I added a drop or two of Dala black drawing ink to white clay to make a stone colour.  I got the runes mold from Temu.  We pressed the clever clay into the mold and then levelled it off with a dough scraping tool.  It requires 24 hours to dry to full cure - but I was able to liberate them out of the mold in about half of that time. They got a light sponge treatment with Dala craft paint (sand) and then a water wash to take off some of the paint so it sort of looks like weathered painted stone.

Next we were onto the Dragon - I bought the Dragon die from Temu - there were a lot of tiny pieces in the belly of the dragon - it was little bit of a mission to work with because they kept falling out.  the solution was to put a strip of Stencil glue (also Dala) on the reverse side all the way up the belly to hold those tiny pieces in place.  We coloured the dragon in

with Pentel's two-tone gels,

The background on which the dragon rests - was made with Distress inks - sort of - I just used the inking tools and I didn't add more dye to them so that the colour was not as saturated and it looked a bit muted.

If you are interested in the vast catalogue of non branded wafer craft dies (like the Chinese dragon)  at Temu or their eccentric selection of silicone molds (like the runes mold) that Temu has - you can use this link to https://temu.to/m/ulqdrhgg4l0 get a💰R2,000 (+/-U$D50)coupon bundle for a first time user  or ⭐️ Search  acp636712 on the Temu App to get 💰30% off discount !!

Dala does have an online store on TAKEALOT Dala - which is an online marketplace like Amazon in South Africa - items can be shipped to anywhere in the world from there - plus I guarantee you - they are so well priced you could buy a whole lot more product than you thought you would be able to

So there you have our entry for the Monday Challenge of Masculine on Simon Says Stamp.

All about texture - but didnt make it!

I started making this card with the intent to submit into the draw for U$D 25 voucher at Simon Says Stamp - the theme was TEXTURE.  Anyhow long story short - I didn't make the deadline for submission.  But it was too cute not to share - and there is lots of lovely texture - and I really had fun making it. 

Fortunately - the Wednesday challenge is "Anything Goes" - so I will get another chance to enter the draw and that is exactly what I am going to do.

I bought the adorably whimsical mushroom die from TEMU.  

It's okay guys to buy dies that are unbranded and are not designed by a well known designer or design company....it's okay....

The embossing folder is an old one from TimHoltz texture fades - I would not be able to tell you which one exactly - because it could possibly be from about decade ago - all I know is that it is a sizzix one and it looks baroque and flourish.  

The gauze came from the medical supplies kit.  The background paper that I turned into a fake momigami type element - yup you know what I am going to say - TEMU ofcourse, it was the VOYAGER 6x6 paper pack set.  And the bits of bark were fly-away bits of yellowood bark that I rescued from my husbands' workshop rubbish bin. 

I have an affiliate link for TEMU that will get you a discount bundle of about R2000 or about $100 as of the exchange rate today if you are new to TEMU - you can also qualify for a 30% off discount. - You can get that deal if you go through this link:   https://temu.to/m/ulqdrhgg4l0 or you can search  acp636712 on the Temu App to get 💰30% off discount !!

Anyway - enjoy