Wednesday 26 September 2012

Hidden {treasure} ohhhhhh

I know quite a number of you were wowed by the Treasure Gold excitement at Ally Pally this last weekend, my next shipment should arrive tomorrow by my calculations, so I figured now was a good time to show you more pictures and explain a bit about what it is, what it does, and ways to use it.

I also have a few less complicated samples from Ally Pally that I also want to explain, as there are certain question I get asked time and again, so a few tidbits of hopefully useful info might be contained in this rambling too.

Crackle Glaze. It's a doddle.


  • First coat either dark or light, this is the colour that will show through the cracks. I have used Inky Pool. DRY IT
  • Next scrape on with a spatula a THIN layer of crackle glaze. DRY IT. (Heat tool is faster)
  • Lastly apply your contrasting coat of top coat, I used Nougat. As it dries it cracks, so work fast, and use just one stroke to apply. DRY.
PLEASE NOTE:

  1. Apply the top coat thickly for big cracks, or thin for fine cracks. Try cut and dry foam, it gives a porcelain crackle effect because the paint is applied evenly and thin, a paint brush gives long linear cracks.
  2. If you start sanding the edges before it is one dry, you will easily be able to sand away to the bottom layer for an even more distressed paint effect.
  3. Apply brown distress ink on top also gives ore of a weathered effect, but also dry dabbing away excess distress with a baby wipe.
  4. I have sealed the sample above with a 50/50 mix of metallic glaze with satin glaze. The metallic glaze has mica which gives a soft sparkle on light colours such as nougat. If you use it 100% direct from the bottle you get mega sparkle, so reduce the mica content by mixing with satin or gloss glaze. You can see the effect top left and bottom right of the sample above.
Puff Paint. It's a doddle.


  • It comes in 2 colours, black or white. The white can be mixed with other colours of paint, and will still puff, even at 50/50 ratio. The black dries kind of grey, but shows off mica powders, embossing powders or treasure gold and liquid leaf beautifully. Both colours are kind of sticky to the touch once heated and puffed, so if you are using mica or embossing powders, they will grab instantly without the need for any adhesives.
  • Apply with a spatula, brush or finger to the receiving surface (wood, card, tag etc). For a wood grain effect, scrape on quite thin. For veins (like in leaves) splat at it with a palette knife. For bubbles (or warts) leave a thicker layer of product. For stripes, use a rubber texture tool - we have a 3 sided one offering different groove widths.
  • Heat with a heat tool, and the product will dry off, then start to puff. Once puffed it will look matte.
  • Now you can paint, emboss, or rub on treasure gold to highlight the texture
White puff mixed with South Pacific paint, and dabbed onto Artemio branch
Treasure Gold. it's a doddle.

Left to right a few of the colours: Spanish Topaz, Indigo, Olive Bronze, Onyxite, Green Amber.

This product is a metallic wax used for furniture restoration, and closely resembles gold leafing effects. You can custom mix your colours by mixing different shades together or layering them. It will work on all kinds of surfaces (paper, card, glass, metal card, wood, plastic, acrylic paints), is permanent, dries instantly and looks glam!

Looks amazing on the crunchy waxed craft paper. Here is our Tall Heart die, embossed, then rubbed with Spanish Topaz.

And on this sample, the crunchy has been crumpled, then rubbed with copper treasure gold. As have the puff painted lumpy bits on the tag. The number 9 was painted black, then lightly brushed with copper. So easy, and so effective because the colours are awesome.

You can also put it onto painted crunchy. In this sample, the crunchy was die cut (Grungeflower 1), then embossed, sprayed with watered down Snowflake Paint, then rubbed with Onyxite and Spanish Topaz Treasure Gold. Also the plastic Artemio button has been brushed directly too, it sticks to the texture so easily, and doesn't rub off.

On this sample it is on the metal card petals, around the lumpy bits of the central brad and on the leaves.

On this one you can see the amber green is really picked up on the left hand side popping off the green tones in this painted background.

And down the right hand side of this tag you can clearly see the chocolate tones of Onyxite. It's on top of the green amber treasure gold.

And lastly, prepare for a shock. Not something you see very often from me....a purple sample.

The tag background was painted in a mix of pansy and beach hut, with eggplant and rose thrown in for good measure. Sky was sponged through a stencil. Black puff was applied to the Artemio wood frame, and then it was rubbed with Indigo Treasure gold, followed by a touch of Spanish Topaz.

W
You can see it better here, and the crochet flower was sprayed with mermaid watered down. Love the Indigo applied to a scallop flower die cut from metal card and embossed. I did sand the metal card before applying the Treasure Gold.

And here you can see I also added a touch of Treasure Gold to the lace trim too! And the word charm.

And how did I get the image onto the fabric? I used Satin Glaze to transfer it....and that I shall save for another post!!

Lastly a word about Liquid Leaf , as above: florentine, renaissance, copper, brass, white fire, pewter.

This is a very runny metallic paint, again used for furniture restoration. It can be used on all surfaces including, well everything. It dries fast, is permanent, and does not leave any brush strokes. The samples above are made from puff paint thru a stencil, then painted (one coat) with liquid leaf. It is truly amazing stuff, and I shall be demoing it at the upcoming shows in October. But you can already buy it now from the website, it is in the same category as Treasure Gold, so don't get the 2 muddled up.

Hope you find that info useful. And I'll be adding the rest of the colour pictures of the Treasure Gold colours to the site as soon as I get my paws on the new stuff when it arrives! (Tomorrow)

Take care

Leandra

8 comments:

Kathryn said...

Stunning makes xx thanks for the tips xxxxxxx

Kathryn said...

Stunning makes xx thanks for the tips xxxxxxx

Helen said...

Great tips, and I love the liquid leaf!!

Anonymous said...

Beautiful techniques and lovely samples.
Margriet

Anonymous said...

Wow, really gorgeous samples & thanks for the tips. I'm having no success with my crackle glaze unfortunately. Can't get it to crack no matter what I try, have wasted almost a full bottle. :(

PaperArtsy said...

Hi Isisimaginings. No idea why you are not getting cracks. Perhaps you need thinner layer of crackle glaze OR a thicker layer of top coat (most likely the latter). just apply thick once, and do not go back over the coat or you fill in the cracks as it cracks immediately. I will do a video this week for you. It is really fast and easy, so you must be doing something odd. Double check my steps above to see if anything stands out to you. Some people expect the crackle glaze itself to crack, but it's the top coat of paint that cracks. HTH. Leandra

Words and Pictures said...

Oh, oh, oh, so many stunning ideas, techniques and products... so little time (and running out of money rapidly too!!)... thanks for sharing these stunning inspirational pictures. Wish I could've seen you in action at Ally Pally! Will you be at the NEC? I'm in the Midlands in November for work...
Alison x

Miriam said...

Fabulous!! Will be ordering tomorrow!