Derwent Inktense & Stamping on a Fabric Bag

This month at Stamping Sensations we figured you would all be pretty busy, so we are having a "Free and Easy" theme. This means you can do anything you like as long as it involves stamping. Well nearly anything, there are some things you might need to keep to yourself lol!

Our fabulous sponsor is Visible Image so head on over to the challenge blog to check out their brilliant prize, my teamies' fabulous creations and to enter the challenge.

Still here? Oh good, then you wanted to see what I've done this month (I hope!). A few months ago my best friend Lee gave me some plain fabric bags saying something like "see what you can do with these" (probably added something Norn Irish like "me old mugger" knowing Lee, well if you read her fabulous blog you'll know what I'm talking about lol!). Anyway, they have been sitting on my desk ever since, and playing with some stamps for another challenge entirely, I got a sudden inspiration and decorated one.

Here in Northern Ireland, you have to pay a tax for carrier bags in all the shops so most of us carry at least one of these lightweight fabric bags (watch out England, they'll be coming for you next!). This type with long handles is great because you can loop it over your shoulder.

The bag started out plain white. I used an old favourite stamp set from Docrafts' Papermania Hampstead range and Ranger Jet Black Archival ink to stamp the different stylised flowers all over the bag.

 

Next, I coloured the outlines and some of the flowers with Derwent Inktense pencils. I used a grey pencil to intensify the black on the dark petals, and two each of the red and blue colours for the flowers. After colouring, I went over all the pencil marks with a water brush. This dissolves the pigment and changes it to ink - a wonderful effect, and once dried it is permanent so ideal for colouring fabric.

If you want to get a box of these fabulous pencils absolutely free, you can do so by completing The Derwent Art Academy Drawing Course. There are 6 video tutorials, you complete an assignment for each one and upload it to their site before the next video is released. Once you have completed all 6, you'll receive your choice of a wooden box of 18 Coloursoft or Inktense pencils and a signed certficate. I completed this myself and learned a lot of useful tips and techniques to help with my drawing, so can highly recommend the course to anyone with an interest in art.