The sun is shining and it sure feels nice! With spring finally upon us and Easter right around the corner, I don't know about you but my creative juices are flowing in high gear!
I hope you are feeling as crafty as I am and if not then these 2 new art techniques are sure to inspire.....
Luckily Angelique didn't lose any fingers with that one but that burn sure looked nasty.....so heed her warnings cuz the pain is real!
Now don't put that glue gun away just yet.......
Tina demonstrates how you can add some amazing texture to your canvas using the Hot Glue Gun Technique and OMG is that canvas ever adorable!
Feeling inspired yet???
I hope you will drop by our Oddball Facebook Group and show us what you've been working on, upload your project image to our Monthly Challenge Album for a chance to win some free stamps, use one of last months "Techniques" and win our challenge to get an extra free stamp!
I'm back again with another "Technique A Week" Video Art Tutorial!
This week I experimented with Gold Foil Leaf and it was soooooo much fun!
Since this was my first ever attempt with Gold Foil Leaf there was a bit of a learning curve but overall I was extremely pleased with the results, and the good news for you is.....
I made the mistakes .....so YOU don't have to!
Check out my new video see how I did it and then continue reading down below for my TIPS on how to get the best results using Gold Foil Leaf & Watercolor!
My best tips for applying Gold Foil Leaf to your watercolor painting are:
Be sure to use an old crappy brush to apply the adhesive and wash the brush out immediately after using it with warm soapy water, this way you can continue to use the same old crappy brush for this adhesive in the future. [DO NOT LET THE ADHESIVE DRY ON YOUR BRUSH!]
Find the softest cleanest good quality brush to apply the gold foil leaf - the gold foil leaf is so soft and it doesn't take much to tear it away from the glued areas. You also don't want bristles to fall out and stick to the glue, a good quality brush can solve this.
Use bigger pieces of the gold foil leaf then necessary to obtain a smooth gold finish, the over hang will tear away easily. Smaller pieces of the gold foil leaf to fill an area will give you a textured gold look.
The jar says to wait half an hour before applying the gold foil leaf however I found it only necessary to wait 15 mins as any longer and the adhesive was too dry and no longer tacky. You want the adhesive to be tacky but not wet, and not dry either. If its too wet still you will have problems, the gold foil leaf will not go on nice, not sticking where its suppose to and "gumming up". If you run into this problem its likely you didn't wait long enough, so just wait a little longer. If the adhesive is too dry the gold foil leaf wont stick at all and it will not feel tacky to the touch, if you run into this problem simply brush on more adhesive and wait 15 mins. for it to become tacky.
Paint or Outline in paint the areas you want to gold foil...... If you wanted to go back and add some gold foil leaf to a watercolor painting that you already finished some time ago that would work great. You can apply the adhesive right over top of dry watercolor paint or ink. It may or may not change the color of the adhesive but its ok if it does, the gold foil leaf will cover it up anyhow.
Apply a thin even layer of adhesive, DO NOT leave puddles of adhesive anywhere! Apply it liberally in the areas you want the gold foil leaf to be.
Finally this is probably my most important tip.....you saw that I used a very tiny brush to apply the adhesive as I wanted to be as accurate as possible with that adhesive....... as the detail that you are able to achieve with the gold foil leaf is directly related to your accuracy of detail when applying the adhesive......if you go out of the lines with the adhesive the gold foil leaf will stick to it and you will lose detail this way, you can't remove the adhesive once applied and you can try to scrape the gold foil leaf off after the fact but you risk tearing your paper and making a mess, small mistakes like this are probably best left alone untouched if you do make them.
You could use any digital stamp image for this project by simply printing the image out onto your watercolor paper before you paint.
I hope you will give this technique a try, and I would LOVE to see it if you do! Join us in the Oddball Art Stamps Facebook Group and share your creations using Oddball Stamps. Enter your creations in our Monthly Challenge to win free stamps and use one of the prior months "Techniques" and win an extra stamp if you are chosen as our winner!
Thanks for stopping by,
Lizzy xo
ps..... have you seen DT Tina on the Oddball Stamps Blog today with her stunning take on the new Baby Elephant Kisses stamp!
Are you ready to have some fun??! This Reversible Mini Art Journal was super fun and easy to make and I must say......turned out sooooooo cute, I am super excited about it; and hope you are as excited as I am....
I used 2 brand new stamps that I created for a creepy cute take on Easter, they were released in the Oddball Etsy Shop yesterday, but you could use any stamp(s) you want for your journal using the template in my last tutorial to design your front and back covers in photoshop before you print & paint.
Simply download the zip file containing the template (includes a free digi stamp) if you haven't yet downloaded it. The template is a .psd file which is a photoshop file and it contains layers. The layers are labeled so you know where to place your digital image and then which layer to delete the borders before you print, When you place your stamp image you will want to keep it inside the border as anything printed outside of the border will be folded over the cardboard and covered up with glue and the inside pages. Once you are happy with your front and back covers, save and print to size 6" x 6" art paper.
SUPPLY LIST
2 pcs of 6" x 6" craft or art paper
2 pcs of 4.5" x 4.5" cardboard or chipboard
1(+) pcs of long craft or art paper 4" x (a # divisible by 4)
( I used 2 pcs of mixed media paper 4" x 24" and connected them together....you can connect as many pcs as you want together to make it as long as you desire as long as the total length is divisble by 4)
Mod Podge or strong craft glue
ruler
pencil
craft knife or scissors something to cut the cardboard and paper
watercolor paints and brushes or any medium of your choosing
I hope you have fun making your own Reversible Mini Art Journal and I can't wait to see it if you do!!!
I would love you to share your makes in the Oddball Art Stamps FB Group and if you're chosen by random.org as our monthly Facebook Challenge winner and you've created a project using 1 of the techniques from a previous month you will get to pick an extra digi stamp! So that means you will get to choose 4 stamps instead of 3!!!!! (This Tutorial is a March Technique even though the blog isn't getting posted til April 1.)
I will be back on April 5th with a new Technique Tutorial for you......and if you have any requests for tutorials you would like me to do feel free to post in the comments below and I will try to work it in.
And lastly before I go.......there is still 2 more weeks to enter our "Best Friends" Blog Challenge so lets see what you've been creating..... :)
