Gesso This, Gesso That

Early last summer I ran across a fun project on Heidi Swapp's website, a Father's Day wallet. Here's the link for you to check out. Briefly, a 12 x 12 paper is turned in to a mini photo album "wallet" by taping off sections then covering with gesso, then paints & stamping.I only snapped one photo of my process but Heidi has good directions on her site. I made two "wallets". For the top blue one, "wallet #1", I used the wonderful Fluid Arcrylic paint by Golden. Peeking from underneath is "wallet #2" colored with Ranger Butterschotch Color Wash and Aged Mahogany Distress Ink. I got all excited about the project & forgot to take additional pictures! Tape is used to create a grid, then gesso is applied. Add paint, ink, stamping and photos for a delightful (in this case, Father's Day) photo wallet.

This Christmas I pulled out the gesso again for our Christmas cards.  The poinsetta on the front is made from grunge paper. Some music text is added then cut the poinsetta from the Tim Holtz die. The cut flower was embossed with the Tim Holtz embossing folder. Random sweeps of gesso across the flower give a nice surface for the Faber Castell Gelatos, which I use to color all 60 flowers. (Today is the first time I've picked up a Gelato since this early December project!)







The cut poinsetta with old book paper and a coat of gesso. Then embossed with the Tim Holtz Poinsetta embossing folder (far right). Three colors of Faber Castell Gelatos. First, using a sponge rub Butter Cream into the debossed areas of the flower. Gold Champagne is applied directly from the crayon then rubbed with my finger to soften. The last coat is Coconut, applied from the center outward to highlight the embossed areas.  The leaves (above) are also grunge paper cut from the same die, gessoed, then sprayed with Ranger's Color Wash in Color Lettuce. The edges of the leaves are hightlighted with a gold leaf pen - yum!

 

And last, but not least is some muslim, cut in triangles. Two are stitched to each other with batting sandwiched between.  Then, the fun!  Randomly add gesso; I like to use my finger. Important: don't cover the the whole piece. The spray will take differently to the areas with and without gesso. This gives instant interest when sprayed with Butterscotch and Lettuce Color Wash spray.

That's it for today! Go play with some gesso!

Debbie