Blog: Mini Fan

Maximum Impact with Mini Fans

Looking to make an impact in your art journal or current creative project? Think bold pattern! I love a strong pattern element as a background when I really want to grab attention. I like pattern so much in fact that a lot of my stamps are designed with that in mind. My Mini Fan foam stamp set is one example and a pretty fun set to play with.

The four different stamps in the set each have a different design inspired by historical architecture and interior motifs that have caught my eye through the years. (My Stroll Through the Hood series is where I get a lot of my inspiration for these types of things.) The set gives you choices and the chance to mix things up too. But first, let’s talk about pattern.

The overall shape of the Mini Fan stamps is designed to fit snugly together and make a continuous field of pattern. You can get wild with color and using all the stamps in the set.

You can also use just one for a bit of intricate pattern in a page. The above stamp is a sinuous, Art Nouveau style that it is just the thing when you want something lovely in there.

Layering the Mini Fan stamps in a more complex way is another approach. The “more is more” technique is a lot of fun to create and is very impactful with different patterns and colors peeking through. When to stop? LOL that’s the hard question ;)

When you do keep things simple though, these Mini Fan foam stamps are very effective. It’s not an instant pattern like a stencil, but it’s a methodical, zen-like building process that can be a refreshing creative break. And for a project like these Koinobori wind socks, you can’t deny the Mini Fans resemblance to fish scales!

I hope you give some of these ideas a try. Here are some supplies used in these projects:

Nat

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Fishy Fishy Koinobori Windsocks – DIY Playdate

After many months of keeping these fish windsocks in my closet, Kim and I finally got together last week for a playdate. Koinobori are a Japanese tradition – windsocks that are usually flown around the celebration of Children’s Day (read more about this tradition here). We love the shape of these and the possibilities for personalizing them and wanted to put our spin (and stamps LOL) on these festive fliers.

The supplies were easy to gather together: my fan shaped foam stamps (perfect for fish scales!!!), the Koinobori windsocks (link below for those), acrylic paint / acrylic gouache, Posca markers, a brayer, and gelli plate. There are traditional Koinobori colors to symbolize different members of your family, but we decided to go with some of our favorite colors.

We looked at lots of examples online and started with some of the details, using a black posca marker. Eyes, gills, whiskers (these are actually carp, so they have some whiskers)…

…and also the fins. Each set of windsocks came with 3 different sized fish and the larger two have more detail, shape, and fins. We found that the larger bullet nib Poscas worked best on the fabric.

For the smallest fish, my Mini Fan foam stamp set was the way to go – a perfect size and shape to create “scales”.

We rolled paint out on a Gelli plate and then either brayered it on the stamps or used the Gelli plate like a stamp pad.

Then just stamp on the fish. We found that the fabric was sturdy enough that it didn’t bleed through.

Just keep going with the pattern. This is the medium sized fish, so my larger fan stamps like the Fairview Fan set made quick work of the pattern.

On the larger fish you have to work around the fins but you can decide how fussy you’d like to be.

Here’s a little guy all stamped with one of the Mini Fans.

And here’s the medium fish – it comes together pretty fast with the foam stamps!

You can add other colors with Posca markers – trace the stamp shapes to highlight the pattern or to add more detail to the fish.

You can also trace the fan shapes to emphasize those scales.

The smallest fish has such little detail that you kinda have to fake it with fins and such. We also definitely used the small ones to test out what we liked best in terms of design.

And in the end, we created a beautiful school of fish!

Each one an individual and full of personality :)

When they’re all ready, it’s time to let these windsocks fly!

On a windy day this guy will be “swimming” through a local community garden :)

Hope you give this project a try. Here are some of the supplies we used:

Nat

Comments (2)

  • Sue Clarke

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    L-O-V-E these!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  • jean marmo

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    These are so very cool!

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Be Loud – Art Journal

“Be loud about the things that are important to you!” After all, they are the things that really matter, right?

I built up quite the background here with acrylic paint, a brayer, and my Mini Fan foam stamp set. I also used the black Moonlight Duo ink pad and stamped in both the black and white sides to get gray, and used my Triangle Love rubber stamps with that.

I also went back in and highlighted some of the shapes with Posca markers.

Here are some of the supplies I used:

Nat

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Your Biggest Fan – Judi Kauffman

Happy Tuesday and welcome to a post from my Creative Squad. Today we have a post from Judi Kauffman. You can learn more about Judi from our Nice to Meet You blog post featuring her creative story and artwork. This time Judi is sharing her Fan Mail Envelope project using my Mini Fan Foam Stamp Set and this month’s theme: Your Biggest Fan – Let’s give a shout out to someone who is doing an amazing job. In a world obsessed with Me Me Me it’s important to take a look around sometimes and give some encouraging words to another, and not just in your art and craft making :) Be their Biggest Fan!  

I’m crazy about this month’s theme. Telling someone you’re their biggest fan is so important! It ensures that my nephew’s little boy knows how proud I am of him, that my friend who is going through chemo knows that I support her every single day, that my neighbor knows how much I appreciate her many kindnesses, along with all of the recipes she’s shared over the years…and…and… So many people who matter in a person’s life.

I do try to express these things in person with words and hugs, but sometimes putting it into the form of a card or letter just makes more sense. And since I love decorating envelopes, I like to turn that part of the project into something special, too.

My new set of Nathalie’s Mini Fan stamps (ArtFoamies), two or more inks, a couple of colored pencils, and a craft sponge were all I needed to whip up a batch of Fan Mail Envelopes! I die cut my envelopes from heavyweight pale yellow paper because I like the option of having a variety of flap styles (half-circle, Victorian, etc.), but smooth-finish purchased envelopes work great as well. 

Use my samples as a jumping-off point: Do a bit of smudging, mask with torn paper, tap the envelope against the edge of an ink pad to create lines for the name and address; use colored pencils to add little pops of color here and there. Optional: Stamp or hand—write the words FAN MAIL in small caps to hint at the contents of the envelope.

Thank you Judi – these positively glow! And we love reading your thoughts too – so true that if you think about it, there are a lot of people in everyone’s lives that could use some encouraging words. Want to give Judi’s project a try? You can find all my Foam Stamps in my Online Shop and here are some of the other supplies she used:

Feel inspired? Working on something yourself that you’d like to share?  I love to see how you interpret our monthly themes. Email me or tag me #natkalbach how you used my stencils and stamps – I would love to share your projects in my next  “n*Spiration From Around the Globe“.

Nat

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Who You Are – Art Journal

“Be happy with who you are!”

For this one I used bits and pieces I found on my workbench while packing up for my move and decided to make those work together. It included: my fan foam stamps and versailles foam stamps on deli paper… some old school excersises stamp that my friend send me…

And also samples from my Trace, Transfer, Transform online class, and even suminagashi paper from my session playing with that. Lots of leftovers together but an interesting challenge to make it all work together.

I journaled with a sharpie and think that the mash up kind of represents how we are all made up of so many parts and ideas. And when we can accept all that and love it, that is definitely something to be happy about :)

Here are some of the supplies I used:

Nat

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Gelli Printed Card Mix

I thought it might be nice to play with my Mini Fan Set foam stamps and a Gelli plate to make a few cards.

I used Hero Arts ink pads as well as Memento inks on the gelli plate and then just stamped into the inked up plate and put the cards on top.

I used a fountain pen for my sentiments – lots of options here so I made a variety.

Here are some of the supplies I used:

And don’t forget: today is the final day to sign up for my new online workshop Artful Adventures with Andy Warhol at the Early Bird price! Early Bird Pricing ends TONIGHT, October 7th at 11:59pm EST. This workshop will show you how to interpret some of Warhol’s techniques into your own art journaling and artwork. Collage, repetition, stamp carving and more will be covered. Join us in the classroom! Class begins TODAY!

Nat

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Learn to Rest – Art Journal

“If you get tired, learn to rest not to quit.” Here’s some motivation for your day :)

I wanted to try out my new Mini Fan foam stamp set for this one, so I stamped all 4 of the designs in the set into a nice ombre-esque pyramid using acrylic paint.

I went back into the designs with a little black pen – my new fav Winsor Newton fineliners.

And my quote with some nice flourishes – little dots here and there to give it character.

Here are some of the supplies I used:

Nat

Comments (1)

  • Sue Clarke

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    Nat, that is exactly what I needed to read this afternoon!
    I especially like that the pattern is a hill…one more step.

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