Technique Tuesday #3 - Coarse Stucco - DecoArt

I've called this Coarse Stucco and there are two with slight variations of textures here. I have also included a technique called monoprinting to create layers. I'll come back to this in more detail another time.

Apply texture sand paste to substrate with a palette knife and dab the flat side over it to roughen it up. Leave to dry. I used greyboard and didn't prepare it in any way.

Dabble on three watery washes of  chosen colours, spritz and dry each layer separately until the paint has covered the whole piece. I used hansa yellow light, cerulean blue and viridian.

Take a small piece of card and brush paint over it and press onto the surface of the coloured piece. This is called monoprinting.
Monoprint titan buff ...

... and titanium white over the surface. It will stick to the higher points and leave the colour showing through underneath.

For my second sample I used a piece of card and began by sealing it with a coat of gesso before scraping the texture sand paste over it with a palette knife, just as if I was buttering a slice of bread and then when it was dry I dabbled the paints over again (I used the same colours plus a very little burnt umber to mute them a bit). You can see where the colours have been absorbed more intensely by the paste and the lighter channels of the watery washes inbetween.

Again I did the monoprinting with titan buff ....

.... and titanium white and got some quite different effects but used almost the same steps.

You can see another example here.

Thanks for popping by again this week and all your lovely comments on the techniques and the graphic for pinning. See you again next week with another technique for you to pop into your library of things to try.


hugs Brenda xxx

DecoArt Mixed Media Design Team project - Vintage Collage Tag

Welcome everyone to one of my samples for the DecoArt Mixed Media Design Team blog which was showed over there in April.

I had been swapping a few bits recently and with one of my blogging friends and she very kindly sent me one of the new Etcetera tags, and at 5 1/2 x 10 inches I couldn't believe this was the small size.

I have really mixed my media this time round as I have used the chalky finish paints as well as the media fluid acrylics and mediums.

I took out some DecoArt chalky finish paints and brayered four layers drying between each one .

Relic ......

.... Primitive ...

.... Restore ....

.... Lace ....

I wanted to keep some of the peeled paint look but also wanted it to be brighter and shabbier so I grabbed a 12 x 12 stencil, painted it with white tinting base .....

...... and laid it over the tag rubbing it down with some kitchen towel ......

 ...... so that when I pulled it away it revealed random mottled dots with a white fill in. I really like this effect. Not wanting to add any more at that moment I left it to dry out overnight to give me some thinking space (yes I know I can overdo the thinking sometimes but for me the detail, the accuracy and the composition are everything - just the way my brain works!!!) 

Don't you love the texture the white tinting base has to it just because it was sandwiched between the tag and the stencil.

 So next morning I decided to stamp into the spots using a very old text stamp with French script on it. The two photos below show the technique and how it looked when I took the stencil away.

Now I started collecting together the ephemera and embellishments for this large tag .....

.... and inked and altered them ready to use and layer up. I started with the metal pieces to make the attachment for the word band and these pieces were altered with iced espresso metallic lustre.

I put together the collage layer by layer .......

..... layer two .........

..... layer three with a grounding strip (where the feet will go) and brushed the surface of all the papers with matte Decou-Page.

.
I gave all these pieces a wash of tinting base to bring them together into the colours of the background.

Then added some burnt umber, raw umber and quinacridone gold around the edges to give a slight rust effect to it. Use the water spritzer and watery colours with a small brush adding and drying until you are happy with it.

To finish I added the film strip, metal number, focal photo and butterfly. Then I twisted some rusty wire through an old button and adhered it in the hole at the top.

I hope you like my rather large wooden tag, thanks for stopping by to take a look and please do pop over to the DecoArt Mixed Media Blog where there is a wealth of inspiration, ideas and tutorials from the most amazing artists and covering a wide variety of art genres and skill. I am sure you will find plenty for you to choose from to inspire you.

hugs Brenda xxx

Technique Tuesday #2 - Pitted Glaze - DecoArt

TWO


Here's a great technique that I've seen used several times in different ways and with different products so I thought I would share it today as it's a technique I love to use when I want a rusted and pitted effect.

Paint the substrate by applying a layer of acrylic paint(s) using a wet wipe, paint brush, palette knife, old credit card, sponge and creating a layered effect. I decided to use all blues with some white and didn't want the blue paint to soak straight into the card so I scraped an very thin layer of white tinting base over to seal the surface and give me some more wiggle time to move the paints around. I wiped over the colours with a baby wipe blending them together and finished by dipping into watery washes of the same. (then forgot to take a photo!!!)

At this point either leave it plain or stamp it (as in my sample linked below) or as in my case this time round, I decided to stencil over the colour. I mixed together some gesso and white modeling paste and used a lovely Tando Creative stencil. Leave to dry although you can help it along with a heat gun. 

Apply clear embossing ink and ultra thick clear embossing powder and before heating use a scrunched piece of kitchen towel to dab over and remove some of the powder from the surface. 

Heat the powder until it becomes clear and shiny. 

Paint over the surface with brown and quinacridone paints and work into the cracks.

Leave it for about 45 seconds to a minute and then wipe back with a damp babywipe - you see the pitted areas showing - leaving some of the paint on the surface creates a very grungy effect.

But I wanted to show you what it looks like if you knock it back more and how you can get a cleaner effect but still see pitted areas - this is created by wiping over until you have taken almost all the paint off the shiny surface. So the effects can be controlled to your preference.

Here's one I made recently and stamped on before adding the embossing powder, I used it in a shadow box project, click here to be transported over to see it.

If you are keeping track of these techniques through Pinterest here's the next graphic for you.

Thanks for stopping by - enjoy experimenting with the technique and please let me know on Face Book if you use it.

Have a great week.

hugs Brenda xxx

Craft Stamper project

Just catching up with projects that haven't been posted and I've realised that I've missed out several of my Craft Stamper makes so this is one that was published last month that I called 'Creativity Takes Courage' and I used a THAT'S CRAFTY shrine that the lovely Laura sent me. It stands 24 cms tall and is a very sturdy design, I used DecoArt chalk paints on it and it was a dream to paint and stencil on the lovely smooth surface.

I love this dancing girl with what looks like a shower cap on her head - hence the title, I thought they went together well.

DecoArt chalky finish paints are fabulous to use as a base which is what I did here and I added media fluid acrylic with it to stencil with. You can see it on the back of the box as well as the front.

There's a tutorial in the magazine on how to create the textured rust that I used on the doily.

I also stamped the very back panel as well.

Some butterflies were rusted and some were dipped.

If you take the Craft Stamper magazine you will find this on P.46 of the June issue.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope your weekend goes well.

huge hugs Brenda xxx

Things with wings #2

This is my second contribution to the Country View Challenges Design Team inspiration posts for this months challenge - Things With Wings. The background is one I made earlier in the week and posted up for my first Technique Tuesday post and I'm actually using the sample from that to create this card.

First I experimented with sponging more card and stamping butterflies on it but it didn't give me the elegance I wanted so I went searching in my cupboard and found some translucent papers. I took a butterfly from Tim's Watercolour stamp set and stamped the butterfly on both using quinacridone violet DecoArt media acrylic paint (the same as had been used in the background) and then cut them both out.

I mounted the background on the darker of the two papers.

I found a small greeting stamp to add the sentiment and made this into a card. 

I need to get some more things added to the Pack House space and this will do very nicely.

Thanks for stopping by.

hugs Brenda xxx

Technique Tuesday #1 - Sponged stenciling - DecoArt media

ONE

I'm a technique addict and so many that I have used over the years are buried within projects and blog posts and often get lost and even forgotten so I am starting a series where I can label all my techniques together so that not only I but you also can get to them a bit quicker if we need to refresh ourselves what they are. I will be using mostly DecoArt products, particularly the media line paints and mediums.

Today I am beginning with a simple sponged paint and stencil technique.

First sponge some colours onto card blending them a little as you dab each colour on.

I used quinacridone red, quinacridone violet, dioxazine purple and titan buff.

When dry, lay the stencil over and blend titanium white and titan buff over the stencil making it a random coverage and not too thick a coat so that some of the colour underneath blends through ..........

 ........... so that when you remove it the coloured pattern is revealed and some of the channels from the stencilling have also been coloured.  I really love this effect.

This is a really simple way to create a background with a fabulous mottled effect that can now be stamped over, embellished in fact whatever you want. I tend to give mine a dirty glaze coverage to make it more aged and vintaged looking. (See a Technique Tuesday post coming up)

Another example can be seen on this post here.

I hope you enjoy this series and if you want to keep a track of them individually why not add them to a Pinterest Board - here's a graphic for you.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week.

hugs Brenda xxx