Aloha Friday,
I can hardly believe that it's been almost a month since my last Blog entry. I hope you all haven't given up on me. No excuses, I just haven't taken the time to write a line or two. The Lazer Den is just about done. I spent the other day installing a security door and the exterior window and door trim. I now have something I never had in the old store. I'm sitting here looking out at palm trees and blue sky - the trade winds are sending a soft breeze through the screened window and door .... I feel like I'm living in Hawaii.. When you come over to take a look at the new stencils you will find a potted plant sitting in the driveway. It's about 20ft from where I'm sitting. What I would like to do is landscape the driveway in front of the Laser Den to soften the approach and provide more separation from the vehicles. I think it will look kind of nice.
Art and I have been very busy. Engraving electrical labels, glass vases for a wedding, chopsticks for a 60th birthday, koa boxes for a company Christmas party, and much more. We also just got word today that we've been selected to make all of the name tags for the two Four Seasons Resorts on Lana'i.
We've also been busy in the designing of some new stencils that I think your going to like. In the past we were able to design one or two new stencils a month. Without the old store to run, I now have more time for designing and letting my creative juices loose. So, today I have 9 (yes, I said 9) new stencils for you to review. If you like them, you can come visit me me at our new location or I can mail them to you. So, here we go....
Just in time for the holidays I have 3 different designs for you to choose from. Priscilla is still in the process of putting her new teaching space together - the enclosed "patio" was and mostly still is a lot of boxes. But she is making steady progress, so keep in touch with the Blog - you will want to take a class or two. My problem is that all the supplies are still in boxes. So the new stencil designs are colored using the computer. As you review the new stencils below, I will offer suggestions as to how I would use them.
1. Snowflake - a delicate design that dry embosses beautifully and if you look closely you will see I included the sakura flower in it's design. This image will look great with whatever technique you choose to use. I would use embossing paste and then color it. Something that would be fun would be to use a circle cutter and cut out the snowflake and using an eyelet you could pin it to the greeting card - it then spin freely on the face of the card. Where the circles in the snowflake occur use could use crystals or glossy accents.
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| SNOWFLAKE |
2. Gift Package Border - Use this for Christmas or any occasion where gifts are involved. The stencil is sized for an A2 card. If you would like a suggestion, I would try the mica powders on the ribbon and bows. The package itself I would use the gold, silver, or copper leafing. All of this would be done over a base of matte black embossing paste.
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| GIFT PACKAGE BORDER |
3. Christmas Tree - Just in time for the holidays - except for those of you that already started in July. Ha! Try using matte white paste as a base. Sprinkle glitter on the draped tree decoration and I would use clear crystals for the Christmas balls. Once the paste is dry I would color the tree and packages with a variety of chalk inks. It would be fun to let some of the white paste show through to give a hint of snow.
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| CHRISTMAS TREE |
The next several designs are generic and can be used for any occasion. I hope you have fun with them.
4. Bamboo - I really like the "softness" of this design. It would be especially good as a sympathy card. It dry embosses using the Big Shot extremely well. I would then mix the matte black and white pastes to create a soft grey and layer it over the raised image. You can then add just a tinge of color to the tips of the leaves. I also like the idea of layering a piece of thin plastic over the top of the card face. This would have the sentiment embossed on it. Simple and elegant. Don't forget, you can use the Glossy Accents to adhere the plastic to the card face.
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| BAMBOO |
5. Asian Gate - I've always wanted to create this stencil. Here I would try using the Copic Pens and the Windstorm Air Brush. I think you could achieve some really nice shading. How about a tri-fold card? The stencil is an A2 size so your paper would be 4.25 tall and 11.0 wide. For you frugal paper users out there, you could get 2 cards from a single 8 1/2 x 11 piece of card stock. Now visualize this - the gate is the front of the card and is split in half when the card opens. Well, I've probably confused you, so come by the Laser Den and I'll show you.
6. Asian Woman - Dry emboss on the Big Shot and them play with colors. Use your Picasso from Dreamweaver to control the placement of colors. I think I would try dry embossing this stencil on a sheet of metal and then just add a tinge of color here and there. Put the embossed image on a thin piece of chipboard - fold the edges of the metal around the chipboard and adhere on the backside. Mount this on your card leaving a decorative border around the mounted metal image.
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| ASIAN WOMAN |
7. SAKURA BLOSSUM 8. SAKURA SUNBURST and 9 SAKURA WHEEL
Your going to have wait until the next Blog - which will be soon.
Give a call if your interested in any of the stencils and please spread the word that we still exist and are doing some fun stuff. If you have an idea for a stencil - let me know and we'll have some fun together making it happen.
See you tomorrow,
Bill
A Place in Time
The Laser Den
1079 Liku Street
Kailua, HI 96734
1-808-261-2882
wotsearch@hotmail.com
