Hi Everyone
Very dull today - grey sky and damp. Bit depressing ! However, it's all great inside so no problem.
Yesterday, I mentioned the idea of doing a series of die cutting pieces for the blog. Having given some thought, I've divided the topic into 'bite size' sections - I could write a book about this subject - already done by someone else. So in an attempt to put my slant on the subject, Ive organised the points I want to make in 'daily snippets'.
Today, I'm talking about the basic die cutting machines. I have two brands of machine, a Sizzix and a Quickcutz. Both machine brands are older versions of the current brand offers. I must have bought my machines at least eight or more years ago. I did have an even older Sizzix machine (now in the loft store) - this original had a lever style handle which pressed down and needed quite some force to cut through card. It was great at the time but .... things move on ! and I will not feature this machine in my chat.
Each brand has moved on again but I'm quite happy with my stuff (at the moment). Here is a photo of my machines - three in all :
The scissor style machine is the Quickcutz and the other two(pink and blue) are Sizzix machines. The Quickcutz simply squeezes a thin die with card/paper and squashes a shape. I will demonstrate this tomorrow with some photos. The Sizzix rolls the dies through along with thin plastic plates, again, I will demonstrate this tomorrow. The blue machine is a much bigger and more powerful machine and can deal with larger and thicker die cutting. The pink machine is the smaller version and more portable. Sometimes, I use the blue for all my die cutting (within a session). I will get into which and why over the next few sessions. Hope that's a helpful little start to our tour of my die cutting world.
Another little bit of news on the stamp making front. I've done another small stamp. This is the impression. I've taken this idea from the book (see last few days for details of the book). I'm going on to develop another stamp to stamp over and give additional colour combinations.
Hopefully, I will finish that today and use with my painting. PS: I've renamed the painting 'Just Walking'.
I've also done a little review of last year and decided I should divide my review into 'review months' in order to manage the job and make it a useful exercise. So today, it's a review of Jan 2012. Generally, way back in Jan 2012, I was starting a new approach (again) - my new approach didn't quite happen ! I think, this was to do with being unrealistic (its a habit I have). The range of projects I tried to embrace are very different from each other and huge projects in themselves. Again, the thing that comes through loud and clear is this 'unrealistic' approach. The unrealistic element is all about embracing my enthusiasm and my 'skills journey'. I don't want to loose this but I think better planning along with a short term reflective approach would help. I need to work on some kind of practical exercise to do this. My ultimate aim is to develop crafting skills to compliment and enhance my art work. The biggest need I have is to use paint and lots of other mediums in my work. To compliment that, I want to write about it and share it all, ultimately producing a book or two.
Having looked at Jan. 2012 in this way has been useful and writing it here has focused my mind. I am once again, enthused !
On that positive note, bye for today.
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