Spotlight Designer - Suman Pandit

Hello friends,

I have a very interesting post for you all today. 

So grab yourself a cup of coffee/tea and prepare yourself for a fabulous read about

Suman Pandit of Kalasirjana. 

She has even prepared a tutorial to share with you all.

1. Tell us a little about yourself and your family.

Crafting is a small part of me; I am an Economics graduate, a writer (with five best-selling books, all more than ten editions each) and an Astro-Vastu consultant with a busy practice. Wife to a Management consultant and mother to two loving sons Devaansh aged 20 and Ritvic, 13 yrs. I am a voracious reader and we are surrounded by books in our house on all topics !!

2. How did you become interested in crafts and what inspired you to start blogging?

I started my blog on March 2013 on an impulse. I had been doing some quilling with handcut strips and trying out with glass colors on bottles before that. Mainly started following some blogs with an idea to help my son in his school projects but then got more and more involved. I am so happy to have joined this beautiful world and for the generous support and love from so many of my blogger buddies. All my learning has been from the generous sharing by bloggers around the world and I like to repay my bit by doing tutorials and WIP pictorials whenever I can.

3. What are some of your "go-to" supplies for crafting?

Hummm….maybe acrylic paints, stencils and Texture paste….and a paper knife!!

4. What is your favorite crafting technique?

Love mixed media for the freedom it provides!!

5. How would you describe your crafting style?

Cannot say exactly but am heavily inspired by Indian motifs and Handicrafts!! Love to incorporate textures, layers and organic stuff like wood, twigs, dry flowers, jute/burlap, fabric etc in my creations!!I get fascinated by faces, leaves and birds and love to have these as focal points( one of the reasons I like Image/photo transfers)!! I love Mix media, Mandala designs…..Altered art and Recycling is always big on my list!!

6. How long have you been crafting?

Just about 2-3 years!!

7. My signature style

Right now a bit of a mix of all different styles ☺

8. Who are some of your influences? Who has been your inspiration?

I have a long list of favorites and I like Andy skinner and Betty Krause’s works; I follow a lot of mixed media artists.

 
9. When not crafting , what keeps you busy?

Have plenty on my plate….home, kids, friends, reading, Facebook (haha…)and movies !!

10. What are you currently working on?

My Art Journal !

I am so happy to be here today and sharing something about myself with all of you.  Thank you so much Karuna and team Lulupu for inviting me here !!

I made myself a handmade Art Journal using thick Canson cardstock and Brustro Watercolor paper. Here is a tutorial on how the cover was prepared. I do hope this tutorial is helpful, I would be more than happy to answer your question, if any !!

 

Print the image on copy paper using the laser printer and fussy cut it. Dilute the silks (ColourArte Silks acrylic Glazes in Sea Spray and Lemondrop)with some water and spray using mini misters to create the background. 

The silks are permanent once they dry. I hope you can see the shimmer. Once the background is dry, place the image face down and adhere with gel medium, give a coat of Gel medium on top as well and leave to dry completely. Once everything is dry,spritz with water and rub gently to remove the paper, be very gentle so that  only  the  very  top  layer  comes off. Let it dry and if you see bits of paper still sticking repeat the process. Coat the image with Gel medium to seal the image.

I don't have the process pics after this , will try my best to explain. I have used the faber-Castell Mixed Media stencils, 101collection and texture paste to stencil all around, stamped with Black archival ink and Prima texture stamps, used ColourArte Silks acrylic Glaze in Apple Blossom to add some more color.  

Add the silks on the image to enhance the colors on it…the mica in the acrylic glazes adds so much of glamour to the image.  

The words are from Tim Holtz chitchat stickers, some stars are added and lastly I have added few layers of Transparent Glass stain in clear from Sapphire (an Indian Glass stain company) which gives lots of dimension and a glass like finish to my focal image……

Wow! What a gorgeous project. 

We also have a challenge running this month at Lulupu - Anything but square / rectangle. Link your entries and see the beautiful inspiration from our DT here.

Art Journal Escape

Hello friends,

Its my second post this month, my turn to share something that I'm working on right now. Instead of sharing my latest layout, this time I've decided to take you behind the scenes and share how I discover and practice / discover new techniques, products

This my friends is one of my Art journals, the one in which I experiment and try out different products, colour , media combinations and techniques and that's why it stays behind the scene. Days when I don't have a project in progress, these pages are waiting to be experimented on. Experimenting means  there is no pressure to create anything that's picture pretty, no restrictions, just one ground rule - enjoy the process.  This also means there will be no cringing when a technique doesn't work out or when several colors pool together and result in a black mess.

After filling up nearly half the book, finally altered the cover of the journal this weekend. I first sealed the chiupboard cover with gesso and then went to town with a whole heap of media - texture paste through stencils, mists, sand texture, glass glitter and finally stamping with archival inks.

Here is a peek at one of the inside pages - texture paste applied through cling wrap; overheated gesso so it bubbles, glass glitter + gesso through stencil and the list goes on. 

I hope you find some crafty arty time this week and try something new. Don't forget to have a look at our challenge this month: Summer Splash and link up a project to win some goodies.

Cheers,

Kripa