5 Completely Awesome Color Burst Techniques with Ken Oliver

Hey everybody, last week I brought a really fun watercolor product to the market at the Craft and Hobby Association Show in Anaheim California...this product is so different that anything I've ever used to water color before...I really have to share some awesome techniques using Color Burst. 

 You can stencil...

 

You can mono-print (like gelli-plate)

 

You can custom dye ribbon to match your projects...

 

You can create custom flowers, tinted to match your projects, and with the leftover pigment that's on your work surface create really cool water color backgrounds on tags or cardstock!  

 

I am telling you...Color Burst is awesome stuff, and when you start using it your going to say to yourself...the spray is passe!  

I made a quick technique video, to show you how to do every single one of the techniques I just showed you in this blog post...I apologize for the video quality, I am still learning and some of the examples might be a little bit outside the range of view, I hope you'll excuse my video making and just look at how awesome Color Burst is! 

 

Color Burst will ship in late February and is available wholesale through Product Performers...ask your local retailer to order it now, because once you get your hands on it, you won't want to stop! 

Hometown Tags with Color Burst Backgrounds...I'll be Crafting with Deanna Allbrittin on the 6 O'Clock News Tonight!

I'm just back from the National Craft and Hobby Association Show, also known as CHA and I've just had my first TV interview with the local news...CHA was really a big deal for me this year as I launched about 60 new items as a new product line called Ken Oliver Crafts. One of the product lines is called Hometown and is inspired by Newburgh, Indiana, the town where I live.  The collection includes 12x12 craft papers, 2 sets of clear stamps, 6x6 craft papers and an ephemera, or collage sheet.  A reporter from town heard what I'd been up to and she paid me a visit today...we sat down and made some crafts together...and talked about Hometown.  We made a simple tag project using some of the new products I launched at CHA. 

 

 We started with a quick demonstration of a new watercolor product I brought to market, it's called Color Burst.  It's REALLY fun to use, you can create beautiful watercolor backgrounds in 2 easy steps.  There are lots of techniques you can use too like wax resist, stenciling and masking...for this project we did a simple "spritz and sprinkle" technique.  The results are stunning.  Here's a video from Craft Test Dummies if you'd like to see how much fun Color Burst is to use.
  

So we created a simple watercolor background with Color Burst.

Then we assembled our supplies, Hometown Stamps, a couple tags dipped in Color Burst, our water color wash, and some card stock. 

Here's a cool little tip, when you use Color Burst, you can dip tags, scrap paper, even white paper flowers in the wet pigment on your water color paper to transfer some of the pigment to other things.  

I've even used the residual water on my work surface to create some stunning backgrounds.  These tags turned out really cool. 

Here are a couple flowers I tinted with Color Burst, right off my water color paper.  

They look great.  

 We stamped Hometown images on the water color paper...

Then assembled our tags with tape roller adhesive.  I really like how the stamped Hometown images look a little grainy on the pebbled surface of the water color paper.

The tags turned out great, really kind of artsy, they'd make great artist trading cards too.  I had a blast...it's not every day you make it to the 6 o'clock news with a craft project. 

You can bet, I'll be setting the DVR today...It's going to be really fun to share the Hometown collection with the local folks in the Tri-State area!  

For my local friends, I'll be on Channel 14 tonight at 6:00 pm with Deanna Allbrittin...she said there will be a link on the 14 News website too...I'll make sure to share that on Facebook.  

Thanks for stopping by today...Ken Oliver Crafts products are distributed worldwide by Product Performers and can be purchased at local retailers around the world...if your shop doesn't carry them yet...ask, they can order for you.

Hometown Paper Collection Pre-CHA Release

Last weekend, while we were at Art at the Edge, I had a little special gift for everyone who attended...everybody at the event received some samples of a brand new product line I've been working on for the past few months...

And, somehow, a few pics got posted and before we knew it, we had people from all over the country, and all over the world, asking where they could get this new product. 

It's called "Hometown." It's a collection of craft papers, designed using images from the small river-town where I live, Newburgh, Indiana.  The collection is reminiscent of life in a simpler time, with images of historic homes, vintage patterns, and local landmarks and is rooted in home, history and family. It's a beautiful collection of craft papers that will be perfect for home decor projects, mixed media projects, heritage scrapbook layouts, handmade cards, and especially masculine cards.

 

We hadn't planned to release the collection until January 2015 at the Craft and Hobby Association Show in Anaheim California, but because we've had so many folks asking, we decided to do a limited, Pre-CHA release.  A limited number of sets will be available in late November. I can't give out all the details yet, but I wanted to give you a little peek and a little heads up that the Hometown Collection will be available in late November. Keep an eye out at your local scrapbook stores and art supply stores...I think you're going to love the nostalgic feel of this collection. 

I can't wait for you to see it!