I don’t have something in mind when I begin, but rather, the joy of art journaling for me is to see where the process leads me.  I usually just pick a paint color, start applying it to the page and the process just happens organically from there.  So, this week I thought I’d just take pictures while I created backgrounds so you can watch how I work.

Hopefully this will help you see that there isn’t a “formula” or a right or wrong way to do it.  It’s just a matter of playing with your supplies and doing whatever suits your fancy.

Bubble Wrap and Plastic

I didn’t think to start taking pictures until I was this far into the process.  I use a book with text for my journal, so I just sloppily painted some purple paint on the page.  I don’t try to hide the text because I like the way it looks peeking through.  Next I applied pink paint to bubble wrap -the big fat kind- and lightly pressed it onto the page.

In the upper left corner of the page, you can see a darker purple design.  That is from a fun foam stamp I made.  The lighter pink designs are made with a small piece of plastic needlepoint canvas.

I added a wash of gesso (watered down gesso) over the whole page because I didn’t like how different the various values of color looked.  Then I restamped the bubble wrap with purple paint.

Watercolor Crayons

I started this page by coloring the whole page with watercolor crayons in a gold color.

I smoothed out the color of the crayon marks by rubbing the page with a baby wipe.

I then added a darker gold for some accent and interest.

Again, I smoothed out the crayon with a baby wipe.

With the watercolor crayons, I made boxes with three different colors.  They are not neat and geometric.  I just stuck them wherever I wanted.

I smoothed out the boxes with a baby wipe.  When you’re smoothing out a whole page, you can just smear it all around. But when it’s a confined space like this you have to be careful not to spread the color beyond the bounds of its design.

I cut a heart out of the page of a dictionary and glued it to the page.  I then outlined it, roughly, with a watercolor crayon.

As I often do, I covered the whole page with a gesso wash.  It would have been fine to leave it like it was.  But I just like a more subdued color, and it’s difficult to find pens that will write over the waxy crayons.

1.  The first step is to gather lots of little items to use on the frames. (I’m going to use the word frames, although it is interchangable with crosses, as the process is the same for either.)  My friends and family give me all their old or broken jewelry.  Little pendants, charms or pieces of ear rings are great!  I buy old board games at garage sales and thrift stores for the little “men” and game pieces.  I watch for sale bins at the dollar stores and craft stores for buttons, beads, Christmas garland, miniatures, embellishments, etc.

I have a canvas box that I keep them all in.  Last year when Kristina visited me, she spent hours categorizing all my things by color.  What a gift that was!!  They are sorted in plastic bags.

Here is a shot of some of the types of things I save.

Bag of buttons on sale at craft store.

Foam shapes, poetry tiles, plastic toy charms, ghost from earring.

plastic beads, bottle caps, foam shapes, mosaic tiles

Monopoly houses from a game bought at thrift store.

On left, miniature Christmass tree ornaments, bag of buttons.

If you start looking for any little items you’ll be amazed at what you can find for very little money.  Be sure to enlist family and friends to give you little baubles and they will begin to add up.

2.  Next you’ll need frames or crosses to decorate with your goodies.  Again, I look for items on sale or at garage sales and thrift stores.

The cross in the front is available at Hobby Lobby when they have the Vacation Bible School supplies in the summer.  At the end, they are marked down and I always get several for about 99 cents.

The frame on the right is from a dollar store.  It’s made of some sort of pressed cardboard but it doesnt’ matter because after it’s painted and covered in little doodads no one will ever know.

The package of frames on the left is a set of two.  They are nice wooden frames that are sometimes found at a dollar store or Michaels.

3.  Begin the project by painting the frame.  If you are using a theme you’ll want to consider that in your choice of paint color.  If the object is wood you might need to lightly sand it before you paint.  The paint job needs to cover all areas but doesn’t have to be perfect since all but the sides will be covered up.

4.  Before we start adding our elements, let’s talk about glue.  The two I prefer are Aleene’s Tacky Glue and Martha Stewart’s permanent glue.  Aleene’s is less expensive and available at any craft store.  It works very well, and the only negative is that it is white.  It dries clear but when you are laying a lot of seed or microbeads on it, it is more difficult to see how they will look while the glue is still white.

The Martha Stewart glue is sold in the scrapbooking supplies at Micheal’s.  It is clear and holds the objects in place very well.  If you don’t mind the extra cost, this is the better choice.

5.  Next you’ll want to create a background.  The reason for this is so that the little objects you glue in won’t sink to the back.  By creating a background, the objects will be dimensional by standing out at different heighths.

I prefer to create the background from microbeads and seed beads.

In this photo, you hopefully can see that I painted the cross, then cut a piece of scrapbook paper to fill in the background. Above that I put seed bead randomly before I started adding the larger beads, buttons, etc.

This is a picture of this cross, finished.

6.  Once you’ve got some background beads in place start gathering the objects you’ll use for your theme.  I have a lot of jewelry pieces that are separated into gold and silver bags.  Consider that when picking your color scheme.  Consider putting only silver or only gold to make a more cohesive look.

I seem to have gathered a lot of pearls and white beads.  I combined them with gold in these.

For a more western look, on this frame I used copper colored beads and some more rustic elements.

This one has colorful plastic buttons, game pieces and small toys for a childlike look.

This frame is colorful and has no set theme.  I used a little bit of everything here bu tried to keep with gold and red as the main colors.

Can you see in the finished pieces how the objects are glued at different angles and some are built up higher than the others? This give the piece more interest than if the little items were laid flat on the frame itself.

]]> http://creativeclown.com/archives/1676/feed 2 http://creativeclown.com/archives/1520 http://creativeclown.com/archives/1520#comments Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:26:39 +0000 Zura http://creativeclown.com/?p=1520 There are several crackle products available and art and craft stores. The one I use is by Plaid.

The first step is to paint your page.  You will need two colors for the crackle to show up.  The bottom coat is what will show up through the cracks of the top color.  I painted the first coat black.  I am not precise or patient with anything I do, so I used a heat gun to hurry up the drying process.

When the first coat is completely dry, apply a coat of the crackle medium with a brush.  Put it on fairly thickly.  If you want neat, uniform cracks, apply it evenly. I don’t because I like it to look more natural.  Again, I use a heat gun to hurry up the process.   Dry it until it is tacky, but not completely dry.

When it just feels sticky to the touch, but isn’t wet, apply your second coat of paint.  You can dry this coat with a heat gun, too.

As you dry, you will see the cracks begin to form.

Close up of the cracks

You can use this as a background for gluing paper items, painting or writing.  Keep in mind that the surface is not smooth when you write, though.  You’ll need a pretty substantial marker.

I didn’t have time to write a tutorial this week with the boys here, but here is one from http://cutoutandkeep.net that I love.  You cout these stars out of magazine images, scrapbook paper or whatever you want.  Aren’t they great?  Here is the tutorial.

Have fun!

The first step is to stamp a design on the blank page with a glue stick.

I made my checkerboard stamp out of fun foam.  If you want to make one, save the image below by RIGHT clicking it.  Cut the squares out of one piece of fun foam.  Use rubber cement to glue them in a checkerboard pattern to another piece of fun foam.

Apply the glue thickly to the rubber stamp.   Press the stamp onto your page.  It doesn’t show up since the glue is clear (unless you get one of the glue sticks that goes on in color and dries clear) so you’re going to have just imagine the design as you place the stamp on the page.  But remember it’s sort of a grungy technique so it doesn’t need to be symmetrical or balanced anyway.

Allow the glue to dry, or use a heat gun to speed up the process.  Once it’s dry, paint over the page with acrylic paint.   The areas where you stamped will not absorb the paint.

The checkerboard design in mine shows up white since I applied the stamp to a blank page.  An alternative way is to paint the page first, apply the stamps, then paint again.  This method will show the stamped design in the color you first painted the page.

Have fun!

Plastic Canvas

There is plastic canvas in craft stores that is used for needlepoint.  It has a grid design, and it very sturdy.  You can buy it in squares, rectangles and circles.  I bought a pack of 5 circles, approx 5 in.  for $1.00.   I use one of them in its original size.  Another I cut to a smaller circle.  Others, I cut pieces to make arcs.  I paint on liquid acrylic and press it on to the page.

Bubble Wrap

The bubble wrap that comes in packages is very handy for making a pattern of circles in backgrounds.  There are two or three sizes of circles on this packing material.  Cut it into an abstract shape, apply paint with a brush and gently rub it onto your page.   It looks good if you use it in two different areas of the page with two colors of paint.

Hug Rug Canvas

The canvas that is used to make hook rugs is sturdy and a grid pattern.  You only need a small piece because it can be used over and over.  Paint onto the canvas, lay it on the page and rub with a brayer.

Lids and Bottle Bottoms

Circles are interesting background elements.  They can be made my using lids from various sized bottle, such as toothpaste, spray starch, shampoo.  Rub the open side of the lid into the paint and press on the page for circle outlines.  Use the solid end of the lid for full circles. If you find youself needing a circle and dont’ have a lid handy, the bottom of fluid acrylic bottles work well, too.

Plastic Putty Knives

My neighborhood grocery store has a display of tools that are all $1.00.  They have a package of three plastic putty knives.  These work great for applying paint for a background.   I also use them to make straight lines.  Marking lines around a square photo or quotation can be done by dipping the end of the putty knife in paint and then dragging it across the page – do this four times to form a grungy frame around the photo or quote.

Spackling Textures

Spackling can be purchased at home improvement stores. You can get a small tub inexpensively.  Apply the spackling to a piece of cardboard or fun foam.  It can be molded and shaped into abstract shapes with lots of texture.   Make several by pressing items into the spackling or using tools to create texture.  Let them dry completely and dip them in paint, or use with a stamp pad.

Materials needed:

Sturdy paper
Watercolor pencils
Gesso
Small or medium brush

A good way to learn about shading is to copy over something that already has the shading painted or drawn in.  I’ll take you step by step through how I did it with a napkin.

I used a cocktail napkin that had a fruit design on it.  AT the time I didn’t have any gel medium, so I coated a page in my journal (which is a book of text) with gesso, then laid the napkin over the page.  I like some wrinkles so mine is totally smooth.  However, if you prefer a smooth surface, start in the center of the napkin and begin to gently smooth toward the edges.  After you’ve smoothed it all out, use a brayer to repeat smoothing and be sure the edges are down securely.

Whether you used an adhesive, or gesso to glue the napkin down, you then need to paint over the napkin with a wash of gesso.  Mix some water with the gesso, to make it transparent enough to see through.

Outlining

After the gesso has dried, outline the shapes or objects on your napkin with watercolor pencils.  Use  a medium color that matches the object.  You will  need at least three shades of each color that you’ll use.  Outline with the medium color of the three.  (You’ll also need a dark umber brown or black, and a white).

If your napkin has a background, don’t worry about that yet.

After you design is outlined, you’ll start filling in the color.  But first, a few tricks to keep in mind:

o   Round objects are created by the outer edges being dark and the center being light.

o   Find the light source of your design.  You will see shadows somewhere.  Sometimes they might just be to the right or the left, but usually they will be to the right and lower or above.  In this napkin, the shadows are to the upper, right area of each piece.  That means the light is shining from below and to the left.

o   Since our subject is still, the light source remains constant, so the shadow will be in the same area on every object in your napkin.

Filling in the Color

Start by softening the edges of the dark outline.  You don’t’ want it to appear that you drew a line around it, so softly color it in toward the center, but not too wide.  Occasionally, smudge the color with your finger.

After you’ve made a smudgy outline, you can begin coloring in the whole object with the lighter of the three colors.   Color it in fully, but don’t press too hard so the color won’t be too dark.  When using this color, go ahead and color over the outline also.  This makes the colors blend and begins to give the shape to your object.   Use your fingers to blend and smudge the colors.

Create Shadows

Now use the darker of the three colors to color in the shadows.  Your gesso is transparent so you can see where the shadows are in the objects on the napkin.  Notice, as I mentioned above, where the shadows are.  This will help if there are areas where you can’t readily see the shadow on your napkin.

To color in the shadow fill in gently the area.  On my napkin the shadow was to the right, upper area of the fruit.  So I imagined each oval or circle as a square, and started in the upper, right corner and gradually came out from that corner.

Hopefully, you can see the beginning of the shading in this picture:

Finish the shading on all your objects, and if there are areas that are darker, use a black or dark umber brown color to make the shadows darker.  Do this sparingly so you don’t prevent the objects from having the color they need.  Once the shading is done, find the highlight area.  This will be near the center on a round object.  It will also be opposite the shadows.  So in this example where the shadows are upper, right, the highlight will lower left.  Since my objects are round the highlight is closer to the center than the extreme lower, left.

When all is done, go back with the lighter of the three colors and lightly color over all the shadows and highlights to blend all the colors together.  Do this lightly and smudge with your fingers as you color.

For the background, pick a color and fill in all the background areas.  In the background areas that are small, which would have a shadow cast under the fruit I used the brown to darken that area a bit.

If you feel the pencil marks are too obvious and/or if you need to blend more, you can use a small amount of water on a brush and blend the pencil.  Be careful in doing this because it begins to move the color around and you’ll move your shadows and highlights if you aren’t careful.  Also, use water sparingly because it will cause the napkin to tear if it gets too wet.

Hope you enjoy and learn about shading!

Zura

This is another tutorial I wrote for my never-finished book.  This may be my very favorite background out of the whole book!

Materials needed:
Acrylic paints in black, tan and beige
Gesso
Black fun foam
White extra thick fun foam
Rubber cement
Black stamp pad ink

1.     Paint your page solid tan.  You can be messy as this is just a base coat for color.
2.    While the paint is still wet, use a paper towel to blot the paint and give it some texture.

3.    Again, while the tan paint is wet, apply black paint quickly.  Mostly apply it at the edges of the page.  Don’t make straight lines, we are going for the grunge look.

4.     When you’ve finished applying the black paint, add some beige in swipes all over the page- while the black is still wet.

5.     To create a stamp with the diamond or harlequin design,  use the pattern below
(RIGHT click on the diamond and save to your computer) as a template
to cut out eight diamonds from the black fun foam.

6.     Glue the diamonds onto the white fun foam with rubber cement.  Glue them in any pattern you like.  I arranged mine as two rows of four diamonds.  Trim the white foam close to the diamonds when your glue is dry.

7.     Ink your stamp with black ink.  I didn’t get the ink all over my stamp because I wanted a worn look.
8.    Stamp the design over the entire page.  The paint needs to be sewhat dry before you stamp.  I used my heat gun to speed up the process.  You can do it symmetrically as I did, or you can place the stamp only in certain areas of the page.

9.     When I finished stamping the design, while the ink was still wet, I coated the entire page with a wash of gesso.   This is done by mixing quite a bit of water with gesso.  This smeared the ink a little bit which gives it more of a grungy look.

In this photo, the gesso is still wet so you can see what a wet gesso wash looks like.  It’s thin enough that everything shows through.  It just subdues all the colors a bit.  But if you look at the photo of the finished page (top of this post),  you’ll see that when it dries it doesn’t have the white look to it.

If you make this background I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Joss Paper Transfer

This is another tutorial from the Background Techniques book I wrote.  This one shows how to transfer joss paper onto a page using gesso.

Materials needed:

Joss Paper – available at Oriental stores

Gesso

Brush

This is how it will look after the transfer.  I like the grungy, faded look it has.

1.

Instructions

1.  1. Put a thick layer of gesso on the side of the joss paper that has the image or ink.

2,   2. Before it has time to dry, place it, face down, on the surface you are transferring to.

3.    3. Rub the back of the joss paper with your hand. Rub for a minute or longer to make sure all the ink gets rubbed onto your page.

That’s it!