GEL PLATE DROPLETS

 Gel plates are such a versatile tool and by using ink pads instead of acrylic paint, you can make fast and straightforward backgrounds just with a bit of water and an ink pad. I had previously tried flicking Distress Spray Stains and Oxide Sprays onto a gel plate after inking but found that using just water instead of the sprays worked so much better. My choice of ink pad was Distress Oxide ink pads and you need very little water to get this effect.
If you want to see more detail in these pics, click on the first one and scroll through as I've taken the photos in fairly high resolution. Even though these are small, the little details on atc's matter. 

"Best day ever"

This shows the size of the print that is made
before cutting it down for an atc. As you can
see, you can spread the droplets out or have
them close together. I use a 5"x7" Gelli Plate.


"Two weevils"

"Let it go"

"Escape"

"The big picture"

"Go with the flow"
(The sand texture down the bottom of this atc
is Liquitex Glass Bead Gel mixed with a drop
of Antique Linen distress re-inker and then a
little silver wax rubbed lightly over the top
when dry.)

DIY SHIMMER PASTES

 Modelling pastes and similar products have been around for a while and since Lunar Pastes were introduced, they've seen a resurgence in popularity. I personally have a few Lunar Pastes but have also seen others making their own shimmer pastes by using a gloss heavy body gel medium and adding mica powder for that extra shimmer. You can also add a tiny amount of Distress Re-inker to colour your gel medium and then add the mica powder for the shine. You need to use gloss gel medium as this will allow the mica powder to shine. If you use matte gel medium, you can still colour this with the distress re-inkers but I wouldn't use the mica powders as the matte gel medium won't allow the mica to shimmer. For this same reason, I wouldn't use Distress Oxide re-inkers with the gloss gel medium as they have a more matte appearance than the straight Distress re-inkers. There are so many videos around of how you can use the pastes and if you make your own, you only need to mix up as much as you need for your one specific project. I have a great set of 24 different colours of mica powder so that gives me many different options to choose from.
Note: A couple of my samples have also been made by mixing glass bead gel (gloss gel medium mixed with clear reflective glass beads) with the mica powder. Another great combination of products!

"Focus"
(The sunflower was stencilled using black and 
gold DIY shimmer pastes. A little orange mica
spray was splattered over when dry. The
dragonfly is from the transparent wings set
from Idea-ology, Tim Holtz.)


"Gears"
(3 colours - gold, silver & orange, of Lunar Pastes
were scraped over a piece of plain black card
to create a quick-drying background which was
then embossed with an embossing folder.)


"Enjoy the flight"
(Black mica powder mixed with glass bead gel
to create the rocky foreground.)


"Fake people"
(DIY shimmer pastes through a stencil and
when dry, gold metallic wax was rubbed
over portions to give extra shine.)

"Adventure awaits"
(The mountain was created with the black mica
powder mixed with glass bead gel so it not only
has gorgeous shimmer, it is also very textured
with the little glass beads feeling very bumpy
when you run your fingers over it.)

"Wander"
(3 colours of DIY shimmer pastes through
a stencil for the background.)

This is a card that I made using mica powder mixed with
glass bead gel to create the base of the leaf stem as well
as the little dots on the end of the spikes. This card
really shimmers as the leaves have been painted with
the gorgeous Lisilinka paints.

GLASS BEAD GEL

 I've had my tub of Golden Glass Bead Gel for many years and thought it was about time to have another play with it. It creates amazing texture on a background but it can also be used in a thin layer over an image to give a frosted effect. You can colour it with acrylic paint before applying it, or you can paint over it after it has dried. To keep the translucency, your paint should have no fillers in them or you will lose the shine from the glass beads as they are suspended in a gloss gel medium. 

You can make your own glass bead gel as buying it pre-made is quite pricey. Simply mix gloss gel medium with a small size of glass beads and you have glass bead gel. The glass beads are the same ones used in line road-marking as when the headlights of vehicles hit them, they reflect the light back. So when you use glass bead gel on a silver or gold metallic background, they really stand out, as seen in my first sample below. That particular background was Ranger Foundry Wax in gold and silver smeared on a plain black piece of card but the addition of the glass bead gel on top takes it to another level entirely. This product is one that really needs to be seen in the flesh to appreciate it. 

"In the dark"


"Live your story"


Close-up to show glass bead detail.


"The stranger within"
(The glass bead gel was coloured with paint
before applying it to the frame.)


"Wet spider"


"Fake smiling"
(You can see the frosted effect that
the glass beads give when used over
a whole image.)


"The dating pool"

Glass Bead Gel

Yes, I know, I'm late with this post! Better late than never and all that... so the last class was using Glass Bead Gel. I used it both over images in a thin layer as well as on the background itself then applied paint or glimmer mist when it had dried. Another way is to apply the glass bead gel directly to gloss card and when dry, use alcohol ink on the card and the glass bead gel....a very different look! Because of the nature of the glass bead gel the following scans look quite blurry, much better in the flesh! ;-)

"Aqualung"...


"Muse"...

"Heroine"...

"Exuberance"...

"Solitude"...

My next class (this Saturday 28th May) is Stringy ATC's. The post will be done TOMORROW!!!! Yep, in time for the girls to see what they'll be doing in the classes. Just a couple of finishing touches needed for the samples and they'll be ready to go on the blog.

More Crackle Paint & some Glass Bead Gel!

Continuing from the last post, here are more of the crackle atc's.

"Breathe"... Picket Fence (white) crackle paint with some Weathered Wood Distress Ink rubbed onto it to drop the starkness of the white back a bit. If you enlarge this picture by clicking on it, you'll see I also used Golden Glass Bead Gel over the image. This goes on opaque but when the medium dries, all you can see are the little spheres of glass and it also gives it a wonderfully textural feel! Love it!!!


"Transformation"... The fabulous H.R. Giger images will always work well with Black Soot Distress Crackle!

"Portal"... Scattered Straw Distress Crackle, rubbed with some Peeled Paint Distress Ink and Vintage Photo Distress Ink after the crackle had dried. The little brick stamp in the top right is by Cherry Pie.

"Reliquary"... Gothic silver embossed script in background is from Michelle Ward's Printed Matter rubber plate and the beautiful silver window is from Scraptivate - it's one of the many, MANY, styles of German Scrap that we sell at the store. These window arches also come in black and white. I love the silver as you can wipe paint over it and then wipe it off and it grunges it up nicely! The image has the Helmar Crackle 2 step used on it with Payne's Grey paint added and wiped off after the crackle had dried.

Next up is Dominoes! So over the next few days I'll be slaving away in my studio with these little cream plastic toys, trying to come up with interesting looking atc's! We'll see.....