Textured Papers--A Step-by-Step

So  in  my  last  post  I showed  you  the  2  textured  papers  that  I   made,  and  I'll show  you  how  I  did  them.   Originally,  I  had  this  book  on  making  paste  papers,  which  involved  boiling  water  and  adding  cornstarch.  It  actually  seems  pretty  easy,  but  I  didn't  want  to  make  the  mess,  and  basically  I  just  wanted  the  end  results  to  look  like  the  pics  in  the  book,  so  I  decided  on  an  easier  way.

I  started  out  painting  a  design  on  the  cardstock  paper--

And  then  I  mixed  regular  gel  medium  with  acrylic  paint  and  spread  it  over  the  paper  with  a  palette  knife--a  fairly  thick  layer.

And  then  immediately  took  this  rubber  comb  and  made  my  design  into  it.

I  then  let  it  dry  completely  and  then  just  added  my  layers  of  paint  onto  it.

You  get  great  texture,  and  you  can  use  anything  you  have  handy  to  create  the  texture--a  regular  comb,  a  nail,  skewer,  bottle cap --whatever.

The  main  thing  is  that  every time  you  lift  your  texture  tool  off  of  the  surface,  make  sure  to  wipe  the  gel  off  so  it's  clean  when  you  make  more  designs  in  the  gel.

The  next  paper  started  out  like  this--just  an  acrylic  wash  over  it--

And  I  decided  to  try  it  this  time  with  just  the  gel  (no  paint  added  to  it)  and  then  see  if  it  made  a  difference,  and  I  don't  think  it  did. 

It  eliminates  the  one  step,  and  you  definitely  use  a  lot  less  of  the  paint.   I  really  like  the  way  these  turned  out   and  I  want  to  try  this  technique   on  canvas  or  wood,  but  when  I  do,  I  think  I'll  try  it  with  the  heavy  gel  medium  for  even  more  texture.  To  get  this  result,  you  have  to  use  the  gel  medium,  because  it  dries  clear,  and  the  color  from  underneath  comes  through.

And  here's  another  fun  paper  that  I  did.  I  started  out  with  an  embossed  paper  that  was  white,  or  you  could  use  textured  wallpaper,  and  here's  how  it  ended  up--

And  all  I  needed  were  these--

And  this  video!

Thank you jerseyweeds.   So  fun  to  do!!

And  one  more  thing--you'll  see at  the  top  of  my  sidebar--Lisa  Lectura's  giveaway.  Well,  she  picked  the  winner  yesterday,  and  guess who  won??!!  ; )
I  now  have  a  another  very  cool  piece  of  art  for  my  art  room--I'm  very  excited!

Create!

So this was a birthday present to myself--my birthday was in February, but better late than never--

I purchased this from the most talented Lisa Lectura.  She posted  it on her blog back in December, and as soon as I saw it, I knew that I wanted it for my little art room  that I was making over.  She has an Etsy store, and she customizes also, and if you're familiar with her work, you know she also paints wonderful angels, and other mixed media pieces.   I love her very creative blog.

So speaking of my art room--I won't call it a studio--it's just too small.  I wanted to show you around a little bit.  First, this is where I do most of my work--

Believe me, this table is usually a  happy  mess, but I knew "company" was coming, so I cleaned it up.  And see the paintings on the wall?-those are Julie Ann's  amazing angels--if you go to her blog (just click on her name), at the top, it says free angel images that she is so generous in sharing, and that is where these came from. I just downloaded them and put them on canvases--thank you so much again, Julie!  She's also opened up a new ning site--Whimsical Art Academy.

And then we have the other side of the room--keep in mind this is a very small room--

I love my collection of faces--I have them all over the  house.

 

And this is my Elizabeth with color.  Why am I not satisfied with this?!  Two months ago, I would have been ecstatic--I guess this means that I'm pushing myself.  This is a good thing--

right?

And on this  wall here  is my ever-growing collection of art--

Some is mine, and the other pieces are from various artists.  There are 2 reasons for this--the first one, of course is I just want to be surrounded by art, and the other reason is to cover up the cracks in the plaster.  This poor room is in such need to be replastered. I complain about this house alot with all of its problems. And sometimes I feel that  I live in a sardine can, because the houses are so close together (when I open up the windows in the summer, I can hear all the gossip going on from my neighbors  who sit on their porches across the street--that's how close these houses are) but I could never leave it--it's part of the family .

We've lived here since 1981, and this room was a bedroom to one of my kids at one time or another.  With 5 kids, it's hard to have your own room, but this room is so small, that only one could fit in it, so who ever had it--liked it alot! 

And there's another reason why I'm so attached to this house.  This is the house that I grew up in until I moved out when I was 19, and THIS was my bedroom the whole time that I lived here with my family.  So if you would  have told me 40 years ago, that I would be coming back, and raising a family here, and in the end, turn my bedroom into an ART ROOM?!--well, you would  have  knocked  me over with a feather!!