Helen Chilton #2 .... Zesty Zing Tag-Tastic

In this post I've been using the Portfolio Oil Pastels and Stencils again, but this time I've introduced sand paper for texture and water for blending. Intrigued? Read on!

Paint the two tags white again, like you did yesterday, and then colour with green and blue pastels, blending as before.

Cut some small pieces of sandpaper: I've used a fine, medium and coarse grade from the DIY store.

Using different grades, scratch patterns into the coloured tag.

Then use what's come off onto the sandpaper to rub onto the blank tag. I didn't get quite as much colour off as I wanted, so I rubbed pastel straight onto the sandpaper and coloured with it. 

                Next colour round the edge with the pastels and spritz with water.

Use the pastels' water solubility to pull the colour from the edges with the sandpaper:

           You end up with two nice scritchy, scratchy tags to decorate. Don't worry if you think              they look a complete mess: there's lots to do yet!

I've then added some diluted, translucent Zesty Zing yellow paint over the lighter tag. Do this quickly or you'll start to blend the oil pastels.

Then, as I thought it was too yellow, so I "knocked" it back with a baby wipe.

I then stencilled over the top, using Snowflake on the darker tag and InkyPool on the lighter. Note how the Inky Pool has gone lighter, and opaque, as it blend with the snowflake left on the sponge from the tag to the left....Quite like that colour!

Get the sandpaper out again and lightly sand the diamonds to add to the distressed look.

LPC011

Add background stamping and then your main images from LP011. 

I chose quite small stamps here as I knew I was going to add a pop out bit at the bottom of the tag. I was a bit concerned about stamping over the top of these tags, particularly the darker one, in case the stamping didn't show up. 

So, what I did first was to stamp the image with white Fresco paint to get the right placement, then rubbed more paint over the top and then stamped the image in black on top of that. That way, the image is highlighted by the white paint.

    

Leandra Says: This is bonkers! Sanding paper to apply colour. Brilliant! I love how sanding the paint that had been put through the Harlequin stencil blends it nicely into the awesome background. And the stamps work beautifully on top after a bit of fresco snowflake under. Fabulous ideas!

Gillian Says: The colours of this project Helen are my fave .... this tutorial was completely fascinating. Who knew the endless possibilities of sandpaper. Love the addition of Zesty Zing!

Want to play along with Helen this week? Add your creative link here, and you could win something rubbery.