Monday, July 25, 2011

Take A Leap!

I've been puttering with some products lately and I wanted to tell you a little bit about them. As usual, I have no affiliation with these companies and I won't make a dime or become famous if you go out and buy stock in them based on this blog post. dangit

Over the last eight months, I've found a couple of ways to get Stacked Journaling onto various substrates including fabric, paper and framed artist canvases. By a couple, of course, I mean 385621093756589290174 Billion. And every time I think I've found and explored the very last method, another method presents itself.

This weekend, while piddling with some of my old hand-dyed fabrics, I pulled out this handy gadget, meant to help brighten your laundry.


Using the narrow end of it, I did some Stacked Journaling with it on this fat quarter.


Not bad. The opening was designed, of course, to deliver thickened bleach to household stains, not for actual writing, so the product comes out accordingly in thick, ropey lines that tend to soak into the fabric and then spread. Handy to know when I want to create large text.

But for the fine, thin lines I usually crave for SJ, I needed a better solution. I turned to a Jacquard product I often use on squeezie paint bottles:



These metal tips come in three diameters, .5mm, .7mm, and .9mm, and are perfect for getting clean, thin lines. (You can usually find them either online or in an art store.) Who knew they'd also fit on the end of a bleach pen?


Ahhhhh, much better! For this bit of text (and I know you can't tell the scale, but the whole text block itself only measures about eight inches long by five inches tall) I created some monoprinted Stacked Jouranling by writing with the bleach pen on parchment paper, turning the paper over onto a piece of hand-dyed fabric, and pressing gently.

I'm feeling like the possibilities are endless for this combination of inexpensive tools. The bleach gel is the perfect consistency for squeezing through even the tiniest metal tip and once the bleach is used up and the pen is empty, I can wash and neutralize the pen so it can be repurposed. It's comfortable to hold, and for writing it's easy on the hands- and believe me, that's becoming a huge issue with me: I don't want to reach the age of 50 with Carpal Tunnel in both hands from years of Stacked Journaling! I can reuse the pen over and over by filling it with paints, adhesives, thickened dyes, or even home-made thickened bleach.

Necessity really is the mother of invention.

Create with a sense of curiosity!

- Judi

17 comments:

Vicki W said...

That's very cool!

Unknown said...

Oh, great idea! I keep meaning to play with the bleach pen. I love the tip you added to it.

Deb H said...

Thanks for the tips Judi. Actually, this reminded me I have an AirPen stuffed away in the back of the tool closet and gives it a slew of new potential!

Cate Rose said...

Great ideas for the bleach pen, Judi!

Kathleen Loomis said...

I too have used the bleach pens in the past for writing but don't like the fact that the gel wicks out and spoils the edge. I prefer Finish Dishwasher gel (used to be Electrasol) because it's a bit stiffer and holds its bead, thus you get sharp edges on your lines. You can put Finish into an empty bleach pen but I just use a ketchup squeeze bottle.

Terri Stegmiller said...

I just bought one of these bleach pens last week....I've been wanting to play with one... for like forever, and finally remembered to pick one up. I'm glad to know that the metal tips fit on it....I have those already.

Valerie Kamikubo said...

What a fabulous idea of using the metal nib with the bleach pen! Thanks for sharing this Judi!

Fibra Artysta said...

How clever! The stacked journaling is so fantastic! :)

elle said...

How great of you to share where your curiosity takes you. So cool!

Judy Rys said...

Great idea. I've used the bleach pen before, but I mostly made thick lines and globby dots. The tips will make it much more versatile and I have them already. Yeah

Jan said...

How cool is that!? Great idea to put the tiny tip thingy on it for fine lines. I'll definitely be trying this out. Thanks Judi.

Sherryl said...

Thanks Judi for the tip! May just be up my alley for small pieces I might be able to squeeze in.

lynda Howells said...

Hi,
Have been trying to find this pen in UK..no luck so far. Your work looks greatx. I use nibs like this for my silk painting. Lynda x
Ps. Like Kathleens idea too.

stampedconcrete said...

that's very cool .. where can i find that stuff ??

Gayle Pritchard said...

I LOVE playing with bleach pens, and was pleased to learn the tips fit right on. Can't believe I hadn't tried that before!

Anonymous said...

How does that tip attach to the bleach pen? Is it glued on, does it snap on, does it screw on? Can't wait to try it! Ty.

Kim said...

I just found this tip on Pinterest and linked to your blog in one of my posts- link will be live tomorrow on www.alifepinspired.com. Thx for the tip! ~Kim