WOYWW 276: bit of a disaster!

Hi, this is my first WOYWW post! I've been snooping around The Stamping Ground for a while visiting other links but I've never posted one of my own. Why I decided to do this today of all days, I'll never know! Anyway, I bumped into The Stamping Ground earlier today and realised it's Wednesday today, so I thought why not? It's a shame that the project I'm working on at the moment is turning out to be a bit of a disaster, but we all learn from our mistakes, so here it is in all its "glory"!

It all started last weekend when I watched a tutorial by Tamara Laporte of Willowing which she made available to her newsletter subscribers. I really liked her project and decided to create my own version of it.  Somewhere along the line though (who knows why) I went completely off track and followed my own ideas. I'm not sure that was the right thing to do. Anyway, I've learned a few things from my mistakes, which now I'd like to share with you.

1. Using good quality watercolour paper allows you to wash off any water-based ink or watercolour paint. I even put my project under the tap several times (yep, you've heard it right!) and the paper remained completely intact. You may not get rid of all the pigments this way, but it certainly allows you to correct some minor mishaps or design faults.

2. Spray inks get everywhere! If you want to protect certain areas on your project, cover it up with a mask.

3. When using spray inks, choose colours that mix well with each other across the whole spectrum.  For me pink, blue and turquoise worked quite well.  Originally I used some yellow too, which would go with all three individually but when mixed with the purple made by the pink and the blue, it turned an ugly brown.

4. Heat will melt and set the Portfolio oil pastels making them shiny, which may or may not be desirable.

5. Stabilo All pencils are great for outlining but only if you're looking for a smudgy outline. I'm pretty sure I've ruined this particular project with them as I can't do anything to it now without smudging it.

6. When following a tutorial, keep to the supply list and instructions as much as possible, otherwise there's no way of knowing what you end up with! Of course, this could work in your favour too - for me it didn't in this particular instance, lol!

Anyway, here's my work desk (which also doubles up as our dining table). I really think I have to abandon this project for now.  I might start it again from scratch some time in the future when I am more comfortable with drawing and shading faces as I quite like this idea for an art journal spread. I will call it "Follow your dreams".

I hope to join future WOYWW link parties. Thanks for visiting my blog! Do look around a bit more while you're here. I'll visit you back if you leave a comment with your WOYWW number!

Happy crafting,

Zsuzsa aka Susan