Flora Japonesque

A year or so ago, I got myself a Sizzix Big Shot Plus die cutter and used it just a few times.  It then got cast aside as I had this equipment sitting in quite an inconvenient place and I couldn’t be bothered to dig it out each time as it’s quite heavy.  Then when I moved my studio upstairs, it found a new home on top of a low cupboard ready to be used.  And I finally got around to using it last week!  A Sizzix die cutter works like the old-fashioned printing press with the roller except you’re cutting shapes.  Whilst craft punches are great for smaller shapes, die cutting equipment is meant for larger shapes.  Apparently, it can also be used for embossing, something I need to investigate further.  To give you an idea, this is what it looks like.  I made some flower cut outs with origami washi paper for this piece I’m sharing.

Printed Background

Actually, the background began as a scrape off some leftover paint and as a ghost print of a previous work I had done using the Gelli plate.  A ghost print refers to the second print from the original plate which is a good way to clean the plate as well as not to waste the excess paint or ink on it.  Waste not want not!  I then added two small round Gelli prints on two corners with some gold acrylic paint by Reeves.  All I did was spread some paint on the plates and scraped on some swirly patterns.  And of course I made some ghost prints for this!  Let’s see what I can come up with….

Simply Stick ’em On

I then glued the cut-outs I had made from the Sizzix cutter with some of my magic Japanese rice glue.  For the empty corners, I added some scrap origami paper left over again for a previous piece.  This rice glue works very well for delicate origami washi paper as it’s not runny compared to say acrylic medium which artists tend to use for adhesive purposes.  When it’s runny, it tends to make the colours of the washi paper bleed at times and also warps it because it’s so delicate.  Anyway, here is the finished piece.  Made it simple this time.

I wonder why I never used the Sizzix die cutter all this time!  They can be used to create all sorts of useful stuff including cut outs and even stencils in various shapes and forms.  I even have a number of Hello Kitty templates which would be great to use!  Hopefully, you’ll be seeing more of my stuff using Sizzix.  And how do you like the effect when used on origami washi paper?  It really goes well with the gold and the rather sparse green background on white certainly gives a bit of a traditional Japanese feel.  That’s another theme I’d like to develop on; getting in touch with my roots.