Friday 20 February 2009

Rock 'n' Roll!

OK, you're probably going to think I've lost the plot a little this week..........but I want you to go in your garden (or a friend or relatives) and find yourself a rock. Now I know some rocks and pebbles are already very beautiful without any help from us - I have loads in my home (I prefer them to ornaments), but try to find a fairly plain one. Then.....alter it!
On this one I used alcohol inks, gesso, gold flakes, Lumiere paint, a German scrap border and an image from Artchix.

On the other side I painted the background with Lumiere paint and gold ink then used my own drawing of Venus as a gel transfer (instructions below!) I added a few extra lines with a permanent pen. The letters are from a Tim Holtz Distressables sheet.
Finally I coated both sides with Liquitex Gloss Medium and Varnish.

I really hope you'll join in and have a go at this......and of course you'll have an attractive paperweight at the end of it!!



Gel Transfer
1. Print a copy of your chosen picture (I used a smaller version of my Venus sketch ). Cut around it (just roughly).
2. Paint a layer of gel medium onto the stone and place the picture on it face down.
3. Press hard and burnish with the back of a spoon or bone folder.
4. Let it dry for a few hours.
5. Wet the paper thouroughly and start to rub it away very gently. The image should remain on the stone when all the paper has gone.
It won't be perfect - but that can look good!

22 comments:

Claireabelle said...

Fantastic!!!! I can see a trip to the beach comming on LOL
x

Rachel said...

I love your altered rock, and thanks for the great tip about gel medium :)

Jaqi said...

Oooh this sounds like fun ! and heres me thought when i read "rock n roll" i was going to get a chance to use my Elvis stamps hehehe.
Cant wait to see what everyone comes up with for this, Thank you again for a great challenge Jaqi

Barb Smith said...

Oh yes, I love rocks and stones (and most anything from nature)...so this is totally up my ally! I can't wait to do my own stones...maybe some for my alter I'm working on, eh?
Peace & Love,
~Barb~

Talking Horses Arts said...

Looks awesome, as soon as snow and ice are gone I will find myself a rock..lol.
Andrea.

Unknown said...

How cute!!! I love it and totally want to try it!! Thanks!!

Dragon said...

Sounds fantastic... will try to have a go at this one...
Frankie
xx

Sacred Yoli said...

Very beautiful and fun!

Jan said...

This is great - I never go to the beach without bringing home pockets full of stones - so this will be fun - thank you

Anonymous said...

I love your results. Especially the side with your Venus transfer. Did you use a regular printer for this? I thought it had to be a laser print or photocopy to transfer. This is a great challenge, but we don't have rocks around here so I'll just have to admire everyone else's entries this week.

Anonymous said...

*gasp* I can't wait to try this! I have a river filled with rocks just a block away from my house. Might have to wrestle them from the ice, but...

Your rock is absolutely gorgeous!

Chriss Rollins said...

I hope to get back into challenges this week... mojo has been walk about for a little while and I have missed your fab challenges.

chriss x

Jendy said...

Linda your Venus rock is beautiful. I love all the details you incorporated into it. I was also going to use little text blocks on mine, but I just couldn't get it to look right! So instead you can see what I ended up with on my blog.
Thanks for the fantastic challenge.

Virginia said...

What a fun challenge..
Mine is Here
Thanks for looking..

Unknown said...

Our fish died today and he's gotten a special marker for the garden:

Here's my post

Thanks for another great challenge ladies!

My Journey to Hope said...

I can't believe you did this amazing art on just a rock! I never would of thought of it, but it's beautiful and unique!

-Michelle

Anonymous said...

Here's mine! This was a neat project. :)

Jan said...

Mine is on my blog, thank you for this challenge and for looking

~*~Patty S said...

Thank you for another brilliant challenge, I could not wait to get busy on this one, here it is Wednesday already! I am a hopeless collector of so many things, and rocks are at the top of my list :) Here is mine:

http://bitze.wordpress.com/2009/02/25/balance/

~*~Patty S said...

Linda ~ I also wanted to say just how gorgeous your rock is! Every detail is stunning! Thank you also for the transfer how to!!! oxoxo

Jaqi said...

I thought I had left my post for mine , but i cant see it, so if it turns up twice im sorry, you can find it here;
Thank you Jaqi

Lynn said...

I love this---and it just so happens that I recently found a stone that looks like a free form heart. I am going to go play with it right now!