Altering Preprinted Papers

The goodies.....!!!

And we're OFF! (well, *I* am, at any rate....) This is a fairly simple technique for changing the appearance of any printed paper that has a matte finish. It's a great way to use up pieces of scrapbook paper that just don't appeal to you, but were in a pack.
Yes, I am a tightwad. What can I say.
I love flowers but knew I would NEVER be doing the daisies in the photo-pack I bought, so they seemed good for the demo. Remember, I'm using the less expensive, thin paper, which will have certain effects that thick, good quality paper will not. Think, ABSORBENCY.
Also, I always have my work area covered with waxed paper. When one side gets nasty, flip it over and use it again.

Stamp selections; yes-there-is-a-skull-in-there.....

I chose three different styles of stamps for this so you can see what each will do. First, the skull is a pretty *solid* stamp~~the frilly lines on it will not show. Second, the damask pattern is fairly well defined but I know I will lose some of the detail and that is okay. (really...it is!) And third, on the upper right, the small swirly clear stamp~~I have used it before, and know what it does.
So we have three different depths of texture to work with.

Batter up! The damask is first in the drink, or gesso.....

Put some clear gesso onto a waterproof surface. My palette is an old microwave tray---glass; cleans perfectly, can take a lot of stress (unlike me) and allows plenty of room for things to run without dripping to the work table.
Get your first stamp ready and then you will smooth out the gesso with whatever your tool of choice should be--a palette knife, stray piece of foam, an old credit card.....you pick. You just need it somewhat evenly dispersed.
(I discourage using a good brayer because this stuff is really hard to clean off if it dries....)

It should look something like this.....

Then pounce your stamp in and it will look somewhat like the photo below if you don't have waaaaay tooooooo much clear gesso on it!

Hmmmm, gessoed myself too---clean extra off the stamp at this point.....

Then flip the stamp over and firmly press on the paper. You will be able to see where you have stamped, and there may be some higher edges from the gesso, which is alright too. Remember, do not use REGULAR gesso!!!!

Placing another of the stamps.....

That skull looks pretty happy, I think~~ :-)

After finishing the whole area of paper you want to print (stamping at very regular intervals, or randomly~~whichever YOU prefer), wash your stamp IMMEDIATELY! I use cold water and a soft paint brush, making sure all the gesso is out of the fine details. If you are working on a larger piece of paper, it might be a good idea to clean and dry the stamp at some point so that it does not have gesso dry in tiny edges and diminish the quality of the stamp.

A note on clear gesso: It gives a slight tactile surface to whatever it is put on, so when doing normal painting, the paint has something to grab to. I don't know if it is a very fine silica mixed in the polymer, but that is why I stress keeping your stamps cleaned.

Stamped completely and ready for.....

....high tech drying! (yes, it's my blow dryer...)

I always speed things along with a blow dryer because usually the table is so full I don't have room to let it dry by itself, so consider that. Everything I have done has been heat dried. It might work different if it air dried; I honestly don't know.
Also, I tend to forget that papers fly around when the drier is running full blast so grab a paint bottle, or anything heavy and secure at least one edge. You don't want these flapping in the breeze......or flopping up onto your clothing.
Don't ask.....
When the paper is all dry, you should have something that looks like the last photo:

This is the small clear swirly stamp. Hopefully the lines show well enough for you to see.

And that is where we are stopping for today. Blogger has been good and I really don't want to push the envelope.
Plus, if you are doing this, you need time for things to dry.
Should the paper have curled in the drying process, turn it right side down and lightly press with an old iron. I have a very useless, cheap studio iron. It gets used for ironing paper, melting wax and other things you should never do with a good iron. (I still starch and iron.....I am a remnant of another world....)
Next time, the magic of what the clear gesso does!
Tune in again; Same Bat-Time, Same Bat-Channel!!!

Or something like that.

Here.  LOL!!!


Pax....

Waxworks

(Photo By Anne M Huskey-Lockard, copyright 2009, all rights reserved.)

As long as I am dealing with different types of collage I do, I thought I would post one of my favorites. It is a very small piece, 4"x5" and is put together with beeswax. There is no paint in this piece; the color is built up through layers of wax, paper and sheer nonwoven fabric. The pink and cream floral is the same as is used in some of the box canvas pieces.

I had put this together from remnants from a trip to New Orleans, thus the scrap of House of Blues tissue paper and the little label. On the streets of the Quarter, if you're brave enough to pick things up, you may find an interesting bottle cap. (usually though, all alcohol is put into plastic *Go-Cups*, which do little harm in spur of the moment disagreements....) I had some quality printed tissue left from tags I had made for work that was in a small folk art gallery there, so that went in, a lovely bleached leaf skeleton, along with a silver plated sacred heart milagro, and of course pattern tissue, due to the amount I sew---or used to sew for myself.

This is a warm, friendly little piece and taught me a lot about texture, as the wax cools quickly, and the canvas soon builds up a nice surface, though you have to tilt it to the side to really appreciate it. That textural aspect is put in the box canvas pieces through the use of gesso.

Hot beeswax is not for everyone. While it smells pleasant, it does SMELL after a while and really should be worked with in a well ventilated area with a fire extinguisher close at hand. Things can flash quickly if you lose your train of thought.

I sealed this with a floor varnish and it has held up quite well, considering it hangs right by the sidelight of my front door.

There is a part of me that would like to try a larger piece in this technique but still......I hesitate.

Small can say so much, and sometimes much more.

So what have you created of late??? Your turn!

P.S. If you look at the three-quarter shot in the second "Hand of Glory " post, you will see the texture that is approximately like what the beeswax leaves. This project was what gave me the idea for using the gesso as a texturing tool, to gently build a similar base to work on. Of course, with the wax, the texture is really the LAST thing and with the gesso it is the FIRST thing. Each yields interesting results and are both are worth trying to see what works for YOU.

Things I teach.....occasionally!

(Photo by Anne M Huskey-Lockard, copyright 2009, all rights reserved)

Last Summer, in the midst of the usual Summer mayhem we all live with, I did a demo for our Community Artists Co-Op on making Collage Papers from left overs, odd papers, scraps of artist papers, etc. From the demo, came a class, which turned out to be a pretty good time and some fun work done. Above are samples made for the class, and of course I had to go into excruciating detail on the instructions (probably would be an adequate cure for insomnia....) which made it read a lot harder than it was. Truly, they are easy to do. If you don't collage, they can be used for a card front or just frame one and enjoy.
I found these fun to do because of all the paper I could recycle into them. Foil candy wrappers, safety envelopes tinted with fluid acrylics, cheap coarse glitter from the dollar stores---regular stamping and embossing supplies. I did use some Golden Mediums, my splurge, but they go a long way. Really, the only thing that might have been hard to find was the Demco Gesso, which is a must. If you've never tried it, go to a Hobby Lobby store, get a small jar of the ARTISTS GRADE----do not buy the STUDENT GRADE. No. NO. A thousand times NO!!!!!
The quality is fantastic and it can be used as a base coat or as an in-between, tone down coat or as a texturing coat before applying color.
Now, if the gods of Blogger are with me today, the above photo is *clickable* so you can see the detail, of which there is plenty. Peek around, see what you can discover, and don't hesitate to ask questions.
I might just be able to remember how I made them! ;)
Seriously, it is a good way to use scraps and be involved in a creative activity on a basically non-creative day (which we all get now and then....).
That's it! Go have fun!
Or go look at yesterday's monkey picture.......