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Make Your Mark: Creative Ideas Using Markers, Paint Pens, Bleach Pens & More
One look at Pinterest and the blogosphere and it's clear that crafters have embraced markers as an easy way to add decorative elements to store-bought products. This primer showcases 30 wildly creative ideas for embellishing surfaces, including fabric, plastic, glass, wood, and stone. Ranging from a batik tee to an oversized platter, the projects-and 100+ templates-were created by crafting's top talents.
128 pages, Paperback
First published May 6, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 20, 2015
I found this book rather boring. I was looking for more interesting ideas and they were not in this book. Pinterest has better ideas. The section on bleach pens offered some insight and the shadow boxes are worth tackling.
April 19, 2017
I don't understand the low ratings for this book. I really like it. There's a lot of great information. For example, in the beginning, there's a lot of informatino about types of pens and substrates (materials to mark) you can use. there's a chart of samples of pens used on different materials. There a many brands used for examples and you can determine what ones would work best for what you want.
The author is not singling any out as better. In fact, the author points out that you may be looking for a bleeding effect rather than saying certain pens don't work well. Then there's a page where the various designers from the book talk about their faves which vary greatly, and often not ones already tested.
There's a variety of items that you can mark such as cork, glass, rock, cloth, wood, and so forth, but it's mostly marker and bleach pen used in the techniques, mostly drawing. Rubbing alcohol is used to make the markers bleed to produce interesting effects, but there's not a lot of variety other than showing what surfaces you can mark and design options.
There are lots of tips, though, and there are specific steps needed for different substrates to make sure the marking stays. The instructions for the projects were well done with the steps clearly defined unlike a lot of books that just have the instructions in three steps: "Do this, this, and this and then do this, and this, after doing this." These are only a couple of sentences, specifically what to do next.
There weren't any before pictures and that was sometimes problematic for me. For example, there were a couple of upcycled items that didn't show the before picture so I wasn't sure which part was embellished and which was printing that already existing. That may not seem like a big thing, but it definitely felt to me like something was missing in my learning.
I loved most of the projects and almost all looked really professional. I particularly liked the mandala pebbles, brightly colored wooden eggs, the terra cotta pots, and the chopsticks. I loved most of the motifs, too, although I admit there were a lot of similarities and if this isn't your esthetic, you may not agree.
Overall, I really loved this book and have added it to my get really soon list.
The author is not singling any out as better. In fact, the author points out that you may be looking for a bleeding effect rather than saying certain pens don't work well. Then there's a page where the various designers from the book talk about their faves which vary greatly, and often not ones already tested.
There's a variety of items that you can mark such as cork, glass, rock, cloth, wood, and so forth, but it's mostly marker and bleach pen used in the techniques, mostly drawing. Rubbing alcohol is used to make the markers bleed to produce interesting effects, but there's not a lot of variety other than showing what surfaces you can mark and design options.
There are lots of tips, though, and there are specific steps needed for different substrates to make sure the marking stays. The instructions for the projects were well done with the steps clearly defined unlike a lot of books that just have the instructions in three steps: "Do this, this, and this and then do this, and this, after doing this." These are only a couple of sentences, specifically what to do next.
There weren't any before pictures and that was sometimes problematic for me. For example, there were a couple of upcycled items that didn't show the before picture so I wasn't sure which part was embellished and which was printing that already existing. That may not seem like a big thing, but it definitely felt to me like something was missing in my learning.
I loved most of the projects and almost all looked really professional. I particularly liked the mandala pebbles, brightly colored wooden eggs, the terra cotta pots, and the chopsticks. I loved most of the motifs, too, although I admit there were a lot of similarities and if this isn't your esthetic, you may not agree.
Overall, I really loved this book and have added it to my get really soon list.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews