gg designs' Gazette

None of Us is as Smart as ALL of Us!

Obviously this idea did not originate with gg designs.
But it resonates for us over and over. 
Now, particularly, with the Internet making sharing of ideas a click away, it seems especially true.
The generosity of stampers and crafters everywhere and their willingness to share makes getting a jump start on any project is just a browse away.
gg designs invites you...actually, urges you to check out the Tips and Tutorials section of RubberStampChat. 
If you didn't attend the Spring Virtual Convention, you have missed Stampin' Stacy's directions for using rubber scraps if you purchase unmounted stamps. We will be contacting her and asking her to share the directions here. In the meantime, it is reminiscent of a purchase made many, many years ago called a "Funny Brush."

The "Funny Brush," was basically rubber bands bound together and inserted into a plastic handle.


At the time, it held little interest...but revisited NOW it seems like a great idea for texture and stippling. Stacy's version offers a wider range of texture effects as you will see when we publish the directions.

Another often forgotten but "at the ready" stamp source is the eraser at the top of your pencil. (Remember pencils?) A random selection of pencils with fresh or used erasers rubber banded together makes a functional texture stamp. Three pencils together work great as berries if you are doing holly designs. 
Do these or Stacy's idea lead you in any new direction? Any texture ideas from found objects? (Forks, spools, yarn, vegetable bags, crumpled plastic bags....anything new?)

If so, please share the ideas (and samples) here so everyone can benefit.
Toward that end...call it Better Blogging or Blatant Bribery, starting in June, we will be sending a small gift, a ggd stamp image, to anyone submitting ideas with brief demos/scans of the results.
We will also choose one commenter per issue to receive a stamp.

What's a Commenter? Where are the comments?

They are very unobtrusive.....hard to find, actually. But if you look at the bottom of each post you will see where to leave your comments. Click on the word comment and you will open a window to type what you have to say.
What you have to say is very important to this blog if it is to become an exchange and sharing of ideas instead of ggd droning on and on!
There is not much rhyme or reason...
to the subject matter that appears here. That will, hopefully, come out of your comments and be responsive to your interests.

Interests....
As many of you know, gg designs' started Cyber-Life carving. Left the crafting and the using of images to others. (The Catalog shows the results contributed by many talented customers.) 
For some time now we have not produced any new images and at the moment have no particular plans for extending the "line." We have been "hanging out" on the Internet with carvers,  particularly Carvers' Consortium members and participating in a number of exchanges. This has necessitated being more involved in the presentation aspect than ever before. For this reason, some of gg designs focus has shifted slightly as you will see in subsequent posts.

Recently a well known and respected carver, Audrey Fisher, was featured in Cloth, Paper, Scissors. Previously unfamiliar with CPS, she said she would have loved to have known about it early on, (before her art interests were so firmly implanted in carving, we imagine). 

We feel much the same way.

As a product of a different "art scene" gg designs tends toward simpler work and cannot seem to get the "feel" for collage and layering and all the intricate transfer methods, impressive as the finished work is. We also have lived life with limited studio space and budget so go less for the purely decorative and more for the crass practical. (How can it be used? Will it make a good gift? Will it work as wrapping paper? Etc.) For that reason, Cloth, Paper, Scissors seemed a bit frivolous. Of course we are now having to eat our words!
We actually think the name should be changed to 

Cloth, Paper, STAMPERS!  

Over the last few months there have been a number of articles on stamping. Making your own stamps out of found objects, stamping with foam stamps (either fun foam or styrofoam "meat trays,") making your own stamp rollers and on and on. The articles have started from extremely simple to gradually more complex.
Which leads us to this next step.......... 

A Challenge

Probably the simplest and for most of us, first experience with stamping/printing was the infamous Potato Print.

gg designs' challenges you to make a project (card, wrapping paper, fabric, place mat, your choice) without using a carving tool. Possibly a paring knife but nothing "artier" than that. We won't limit you to a potato. Celery (the whole cluster or just individual pieces), onions, oranges, cauliflower, broccoli and many other natural plant forms all work. Not "fresh" or necessarily organic but also possibilities:  spaghetti (not cooked....although???....), corn husks! Yes, we have corn husks in our pantry...but they are far too old, too "dusty" to be considered for cooking, so they will, somehow, end up as crafts material. 

Coffee, rice and bean filled balloons or plastic wrap packages all are printing possibilities.

Play, just play.....and share the results with a scan, showing what you have done. If you use the prints alone or as a part of other projects please tell us (show us?) how it went.

You don't have to draw or carve to make your own stamps.
The important thing is to have fun.
See  you next week.


ggd
Charlotte

P.S. If you participated in "Sign Up and Browse," (Rubberstampchat Spring Convention) and have not yet received your prize, please let us know. All were shipped together but seem to be arriving at widely different times.
If you only signed up, but did not browse, you can still send us your mailing information and claim a stamp. Send to STAMPSggdesigns@aol.com