It started out with using thin tissue paper to join the double spread that I was making. I then decided to reinforce the edges. For this I recycled the edges of business card sheets that I use to write my affirmations on. I thought it best to keep those pieces to use in journaling :) I wanted to use glue sticks but they don't work very well with the heavy slippery paper so I decided to use acrylic varnish (gel medium) instead. I know I should use wood glue as it is cheaper than the varnish (gel medium).
I then decided to work on the background, even though I wasn't sure what the final result would be, I just let it all flow again with thoughts of thanksgiving and gratitude :)
Here I'm using my new homemade stencil for the first time. I used the left over role from a duct-tape role that I had finished to do the design and then cut it out using a sharp craft knife/blade. The actual material of the stencil is what I recycled from an old kitchen plastic blind.
I tried to use the technique I had seen with mixing dark/light colors on stencils, but I see I will need more practice :)
By then I had, sort of, an idea about where I wanted to go with this page spread, so I used the stamps that I had (floral) and some golden fabric paint with them to create some shiny floral accents. As you can see I didn't bother taking the stamps off the plastic and mounting them on the block :) since they were for accents I decided to use whatever touched the paint :)
Because I knew what I wanted to create, I decided to use the left over parts of a stencil I had created (you'll see it in another video some day) and use them as masks to create the figures I wanted with the background. The idea by this time was decorative balls, mostly known as Xmas balls :) You have to admit that even the music makes it feel like Xmas again :)Once the balls were created from the background, I wanted to add some shading to make them look a bit more like balls! Not sure it worked, but I used water color pens for this and I think they did create some shadow, maybe in the wrong area :)
As I have a steadier hand with a pen, I used the paint in a tube (also recycled from other paint) to create the threads/strings for the balls (that were hanging from the ceiling for me.) I also added some definition to them balls with the same paint.
Using lots of (acetone based) glue I put a lot of glitter that I had left over from another project I was testing. This glue, because of the acetone, seemed to react with the red acrylic paint that was used to mix my own purple! I liked the effect because it showed the forms of the stencil in the end. Once I noticed the effect I added more and more glue to show up the red stain :)
I then started writing words that describe feelings that make us happy :) until I rant out of space :)
Trying to add more definition for the balls I used a glitter glue that I had. The white glue goes transparent when it dries. Made them look very nice, if you see the spread in real life.
I decided to frame the page with green acrylic, since there was already plenty of red and it still felt like Xmas :)
I finished off the page using glossy varnish. I did that because the glue made it so shiny and i didn't want to lose all the glitter effect.
Here is the final result, I used the camera flash for this photo because the light I was using was a bit too yellow :)
Check out the creative process on video here:
Supplies used:
- Tissue/pattern paper to join the double spread
- recycled heavy paper to reinforce the edges
- Gel Medium (acrylic varnish) to glue it all down
- Gesso to prime the spread
- Acrylic paint
- Homemade stencil
- Stamps
- Golden fabric paint to give some accents with the stamps
- masking circles that were left over from another homemade stencil
- acetone based glue (made the red paint from the purple come threw the white)
- Glitter, left over from anther project. (yes, even the flower and the words Love where in it)
- Glossy varnish to seal the spread (trying to maintain the shine of all the glitter)
