Dancing Rubber Fish

Bet that title got your attention didn't it? That was the title of the class my friend Pam and I took from Fred Mullet at Carolina Stamper. What an amazing store! If you are in the area, stop by and I promise you will not be sorry. Janet, the owner, has an amazing inventory of the coolest toys for rubber stamp art and scrapbooking. She's knowledgeable and friendly making a visit to her store a real treat. I can't wait to go back:)

I've wanted to take a class from Fred ever since he wrote an article on Gyotaku in Somerset Studio magazine.  A follow up article on his rubber stamp company appeared in that same issue, titled "Nature Prints" May/June 1997. Over the years I have continued to see his stamps and cards made with them in stores, and in magazines. I never dreamed he would come to my little corner of the world.The class was everything I'd hoped it would be and more. We learned about "the spot application of color," or painting with little pieces of plastic. This technique involves using transparent as well as opaque embossing powders and watercolor paints. Fred came armed with an arsenal of specialized tools like technical paper, otherwise known as TP or toilet paper. We learned the proper use of precision thermography powder application devices, also known as cocktail straws, and we were instructed in the art of using tactilely interactive vulcanized tools for the replication of graphic imagery. Now these technologically advanced tools are in the studios of most paper artists.  You surely have them as well. Have you guessed yet? That's right rubber stamps! Fred is a terrific teacher and extremely entertaining as well.

We also received a lesson in color theory, learned how to make our own custom colors of transparent embossing powders. I learned how to use this technique to produce amazing works of art. Now, I'm not saying I have mastered the technique, yet. I've got some practicing to do.  I can look at all the examples I created below and tell how I could have made them better, or what I would do next time. I plan on getting a little practice in tomorrow. Yeah, it will be such hard work lol! Seriously, this technique is loads of fun. I wish you could see the examples in person. Photographs can't adequately show the depth that is produced using this method. Nor can you see the pearlescent sheen or the iridescence that makes these images dance. Oh the title of the class? We made the fish 'dance' as we tapped the paper in order to disperse the various thermographic powders across the surface of our papers.

If you ever get a chance to take one of Fred's classes, I can promise an experience you won't soon forget.  Check out the Fred Mullet website. Below are scans of what I produced in class and a few photos from Pam's phone. Would you believe I forgot my camera!!

Fred delivering some fishy instruction.