Papers: Part Deux

 

Let's review where we left off~~all the papers are dry from being stamped with the clear gesso, and if curled, have been ironed from the back. So now we're ready for the FUN PART! (lol!!!~~I've already had one Blogger fit, maybe getting the post up is the fun part~~hahaha!)

I am using Golden Fluid Acrylics because the colors I chose are bright and transparent and there is plenty of pigment. I picked two, put a bit on the palette and then added water for a wash.

 

This is the only part that gets tricky. You want a WASH, but you don't want a really watery wash. Get the paint moving but don't have soup. Trust me, once you do it once, this will make sense, as I found out the hard way......

Start applying quickly and liberally to the paper.

The clear gesso provides a resist to the paint, similar to batik, but to make it better defined, you'll need to remove some paint. (because the gesso is also meant to HOLD paint...)

It should look something like the above photo. Have a soft cloth handy--I use old dust cloths because, well, it's more fun than DUSTING! Because you want to lift the color OFF the gessoed area.

BLOT!!!

LIFT!!!

Blot, lift, repeat. Don't scrub or swipe, blot and lift. You can rub the gesso off and you can also rub the print off, or too much paint. Every paper will react differently, so taking a cautious approach is best, and really, takes no longer.

When I went to do the skulls, I discovered what happens when the wash is a little too generous with water....

First, paint started seeping, and the paper began to buckle. So I had to quickly paint the piece, blot the extra paint and then.....

 

...Dry the front a bit, but still I was losing the skulls because.......

.....waaaaay too much water in the mix meant the paint had seeped to the back and was spreading on the reverse of the paper. So the handy-dandy high tech drying tool was used at high heat and close, in an attempt to stop the issue at hand. 

This gives a good idea of how much the gesso resists the water, and the mistake gave birth to the idea of how to handle another type of paper....so it's all good. Mistakes, generally, are GOOD. 

The last paper, in the drying process~~a little better defined. By this piece I had a better *feel* for what it needed.

Like I said, every paper will differ. This is not a perfect science; this is a fun experiment in the works! So don't get upset if something is not *perfect*. Perfect isn't what we're aiming for; interesting texture is the goal.

And the finished pieces....sorry about the quality as I was shooting this on the ironing board quickly and the lighting was nominal. (yeah, I'm lazy)

Anyway, back to the blue paper with the skulls.

I wanted to do old book pages but after the seeping skulls, I knew it needed a different approach, soooooo.......

......I got ready for the next adventure.

I've had about as much of Blogger as I can handle today; we'll pick up here in the next installment. I'm hoping I have all the photos I need for this. The last one with the stamping and ink still needs step out photos done....I'll be hopping.

Like a bunny.

With ink.

Hmmmmmm........  ;-)

Have fun! 

Pax....