Monday, January 5, 2009
snowflake gocco
i had grand plans for my holiday cards this past december. i wanted to gocco. i wanted silver and aqua. i wanted sparkly rhinestones. unfortunately, things did not go as planned and i got those things and then some...and then not some.
i started by ordering stardream cards and envelopes from www.envelopemall.com. i like this store because they have good prices and quick turnaround. i used them for most of the supplies for my wedding invites and i was pleased once again with my silvery stock. i ordered heat back rhinestones from www.artbeads.com. i made some snowflakes at make-a-flake (if this site ever goes down I'll be so sad) and printed the original.
then it was time to gocco. and let's all pause here, taking a moment to remember a time when i wasn't scrambling to find screens and bulbs and paying out the you-know-what to get as many as i could before they ran out. i am now the proud owner of 15 or so packs of bulbs and screens...so i guess I can do a few more before my world just stops turning and life as i know it is over. and gocco people...if you are reading, MAKE MORE. seriously.
i flashed the master, it turned out good and onward i went with the inking. i used the prettiest pearly aqua and was so excited to see the shiny flakes on the silver cards. i did about 20 before i realized that once dry, the fun aqua was more a dull, barely visible ghost of a snowflake. sure if you turned it just so...and then squinted under bright light you could sort of make out the "happy holidays" part. fail. so i got creative real quick and mixed in navy blue (husband's choice - i was firmly against dark blue). the first few were tie-dyed looking, but as i went on, things evened out.
but once dry, i still wasn't satisfied. the ink soaked into the stardream and was flat and dull. plus i had printed over the first inking, but not perfectly, so many had a bit of a "shadow". gah! i tore out an even number of dark hairs from my head (i have issues...and i really do pull out dark hairs from the pretty blonde ones. then one day tsquared said to me...um, you do know you pay to get low lites, right?) and threatened to just go buy some cards. but then i looked at my work and figured out a way to put all of the pieces together to make something decent: glitter!
i made little glitter snowflake dots to bridge the gap between extreme shiny (tiny crystal rhinestones) and extreme not (stupid navy blue ink). it worked! i liked it so much i glued back in the low lites i had so recently ripped out from my head.
i made little glitter snowflake dots to bridge the gap between extreme shiny (tiny crystal rhinestones) and extreme not (stupid navy blue ink). it worked! i liked it so much i glued back in the low lites i had so recently ripped out from my head.
so once again, shiny saves the day. i hand wrote all of the cards and envelopes (no lining on those, though). i lined them up and husband stamped, licked and had them in the mail the next day. and i was sort of sad to not have totally loved a gocco project because i feel my time with that machine is so limited.
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