Messy Monday #3 with Stacy and the Skye Kits

Welcome back lovelies, Stacy here again … This week is all about getting to know some of the products I own... I have to admit I have purchased items for my stash without necessarily knowing how to use them (please tell me I am not the only one that does this!) and now that I am receiving the The Colour Kit (TCK) from the Scrappery I am excited to add more products to my stash that I may have never seen or thought to buy for myself.

I have decided not to do a step by step process blog post like the last 2 previous posts but more of a what I did and what I learned type post. Writing about what I used, how I used it and what I think about the product.  I am using 2 pages from my disc bound art journal, the ‘Belle’ Colour Kit (TCK) and some random products from my stash.

Although the two pages I created look like a hot mess (yes you can say it because I know they do) I have learnt a lot about the products I used and discovered what I like and don’t like about the particular product.

First I wanted to see what the difference was between clear and white Gesso (apart from the obvious, one being clear and the other being white) I also had 2 different brands to work with. The cheaper of the 2 is the white Gesso and its from Franchville and the more pricey one is the clear Gesso and its from Liquitex.

The clear Gesso was a lot more fluid then the thicker/heavier white Gesso, making the clear Gesso easier to spread on the page. They both dried quicker then I thought they would and I didn’t  think the white Gesso made that much of a colour difference to my 300gsm mixed media paper that I used to make my journal. The clear Gesso felt more gritty on the page when it was dry which I was not expecting. Last thing I  wanted to try on the Gesso prepared page was to see if there was a difference to how the Kaisercraft peach spray from the TCK worked on the 2 different Gesso’s.

I sprayed both sheets a couple of times and then let them air dry. As you can see by the photos the spray seems to sit on top of the white Gesso and sinks into the clear Gesso, I like both of these outcomes but a great thing to know when preparing future pages.

That is all I wanted to learn from the Gesso for now, so I moved onto using the AC DIY shop gold acrylic paint and the Shimelle masks.  I wanted to test how well the impression would come through the mask using the paint and how well it would work over the spray.

First I used the multi heart mask and the gold paint from the TCK  applying the paint using a cheap make up sponge from my stash through the mask onto the page with white Gesso. I found even with the mask taped down and me holding it down with pressure as I dabbed the paint through the mask I wasn't able to get a sharp outline of the hearts which is the look I wanted.

On the page with clear Gesso I used the heart mask as a stencil and traced it onto the page with a pencil. With a small paint brush I filled in the heart with the gold paint.

I noticed that the paint was lifting the spray and mixing together on the brush this made the gold paint thinner and more transparent and I ending up having to do 3 coats of the acrylic paint to get the colour I wanted. So what I learnt from that was next time to do a coat of clear gesso on top of the spray so it sets and doesn't react with other mediums. See learning as I go … I love it.

In my stash I have had a Faber-Castell Pitt Pastel for a year or so now and was happy to finally have a chance to use it. I traced around the heart and did a little doodling … note to self Pitt Pastels are very smudgey … the Pitt Pastel was really easy to use over the spray.

The last two things I wanted to test out was how well stamps worked on the spray using ink and acrylic paint and if my brush marker worked over the spray and to highlight the outline of the masked painted images.

I stamped on the clear Gesso page some scribbly hearts and outlined them with the Pitt Pastel I really liked how they worked, I then took a vine/leafy acrylic stamp and brushed some of the gold acrylic paint onto it and then stamped it onto the page, this was a fail … the impression that was left from the stamp was just blobs of paint with no shape to it at all. I am not a fan of how this worked out an may of done it wrong but I won't be rushing back to do this technique again.

On the page with white Gesso I used the floral  acrylic stamp from the TCK and versafine black onyx  ink, I was going to use a stamp block but decided I didn’t want any harsh lines, so I just left the acetate on the back of the stamp inked it up and just stamped onto the page, I quickly learnt to stamp down firm but lift up quick … not stamp down put some more pressure on the stamp then lift as that left a blurry image, but once I got the clear impression of the pretty little flowers I stamped in random spots all over the page.

The last item I wanted to give a try was my Faber-Castell Pitt Artist pen with a brush tip.
It worked beautifully over the spray and traced around the painted hearts with ease. I finished this 2nd page with a free hand border and again had no issues with the brush pen and really liked this technique so this will be added into future pages for sure.

I continually have to keep reminding myself I am only a newbie to all these mediums and that art journaling is way more organic than my usual crafting style. I am so far from knowing exactly what I am doing when it comes to art journaling and I am even unsure if I am doing everything the right way … but this is why I am on this art journal journey, to experiment, play and learn.

 

While using amazing products firstly from the amazing TCK and other kits from The Scrappery Kit Club and from my stash.

So I hope I can keep you with me every Messy Monday here on The Scrappery Kit Club blog.

Have a fabulous week.

Stacy