Encouragement Fleet

Aloha,

A flock of white cranes flies through the night to send encouragement in this card, inspired by the AECP course Beyond Basic Backgrounds.

To create the look of specialty origami papers printed with an eight-point star design reminiscent of sashiko, Altenew’s Faceted Stars background stamp was impressed with shimmery Enchanted Gold Pigment Ink on two sheets of A4 cardstock, one of which was coated direct to paper with Desert Night Crisp Dye Ink and blended for a smooth finish. In order to obtain identical stamping on the white and blue sheets, a stamp positioner was used. After placing the stamp on the hinged lid, the blue cardstock was centered on the stamp and temporarily taped into place on the magnetic bed of the positioner. Then, the white sheet was taped on top of the blue paper. With the papers thus secured, the stars could be stamped multiple times until the stamped image became strikingly vibrant.

Once dry, the white sheet with gold stars was returned to the stamp positioner, preparatory to stamping the cranes. To yield the maximum number of cranes, the bird from Altenew’s Ori Kami stamp set was positioned in the upper left corner with the hub of the star meeting the tip of the wing. The stamp was rotated in a diagonal orientation until a subsequent hub passed through the center line of the wing. All cranes were stamped several times in this orientation to thicken the contour line for fussy cutting and were situated closely together. By using reference points between cranes, it was possible to stamp off the edge while maintaining proper crane placement and orientation, which helped build the look of a gigantic flock.

To marry the light and dark colorways, the cranes were fussy cut by hand and glued in their corresponding place on the blue cardstock, the star-studded stamping of which became invaluable when aligning the cranes correctly. Because of the meticulous care taken to stamp the fowls consistently on the white background, their avian formation blends seamlessly into the starry night.

To finish this card, a strip of cardstock was saturated with Desert Night with the same direct-to-paper technique as the background and stamped with the sentiment “sending lots of love” from Altenew’s Sewn With Love stamp set. With the Enchanted Gold sentiment positioned low on the card, the droves of cranes leap into focus against the expanse of the night sky.

Mahalo!