Michelle Webb #2 .... Printing With Fresco Paints

Leandra Says: Here's another project from the painty one, Michelle Webb! As you will see, being experimental certainly pays off, and the combination of printed layers, and a wash of paint produces a delightful vibrancy from Fresco Chalk Acrylic Paints. My limited experience of printing in this manner is you deffo end up thinking inside out! Enjoy.
 

I got a Gelli Plate for Christmas and I couldn’t wait to try it out, so I went straight for the PaperArtsy Fresco Paints as I thought they would perform brilliantly, and they did! There is nothing better than starting off with something blank and adding layers to see the dimension start to appear. After a couple of practice runs on plain card I decided to use Tim Holtz’s Alterations envelope die from plain card and to alter it along with an ATC to put inside.

I love trying out new crafty products - this was going to be a steep learning curve, it could potentially go wrong, but I wanted to try it out anyway....so here's what happened...

I started by using London Bus red, spreading it across the GelliPlate with an old credit card then leveling it off with a brayer. I put some sequin waste over the top of the paint on the gelli and placed my card on top of the sequin waste and pressed down evenly. I peeled back the card to see my first layer of red. So, from the gelliplate you get the first 'print' of red paint masked by the sequin waste onto the Envelope blank.I repeated the process using Sky Blue.Again, the paint is brayered onto the gelliplate, a numbers stencil is laid on the wet paint, and then you press the envelope blank on.

Oh but look at what was left behind on the Gelli after lifting up the stencil, a little bonus!!

It would seem a waste to wipe this off the Gelli, so I used a spare die cut envelope to print what was left on the Gelli Plate onto the card. Oh winner, love this, the numbers look great! The stencil kind of protected the wet paint, so if you are quick, it stays wet long enough to get a second impression. I’ve saved this one for later.

I did one more layer using Zesty Zing bright neon yellow. Remember, if you use a translucent layer over opaques, you will see through the layers, so Zesty Zing still lets the colours below come through. You get an orange where it is over the red, and green tones where it is over the blue areas.

I bet you’re thinking; 'where is she going with this'? I was asking myself the same question!

Out of curiosity I wanted to know how the colours would change if I painted another semi-translucent paint over the top. I chose Inky Pool deep blue, and I’m so glad I did, the transformation was amazing. I loved the effect it had on the layers of colour. Those 3 layers looked garish, a bit like they didn’t belong with each other, but with the Inky Pool paint over the top it just brought them all together in painty harmony.

{Leandra comments: Michelle has totally captured here the accidental magic of paint, and the entire reason we added some translucent colours to the collection. Notice how the red gets some purple tones, the zesty zing sections pops to a grassy green, and of course, you can always use a sanding block to sneak back to reveal the layers underneath in a few areas if you want to. A wash of colour over the top is a perfect way to bring harmony to all the layers. And remember, satins glaze mixed with opaques also creates translucent shades across the entire paint range}

So I dried the background thoroughly, and then, using a permanent ink, I stamped over the 'envelope' section with the following stamps:

Ink and The Dog: Clocks Plate 7 (C7) which has some bold numbers on the plate

 

Ink and the Dog: Mini 54 (MN54), par avion (bottom left)

  

Ink and The Dog: Dolls Plate 1 (D1) – Impress numbers man (side right)

The final touch was to add a finishing touch on the front of the envelope, the words printed onto white card “Create art it makes....” This refers to the stamp used on the inside on the ATC that says 'a smile...that sets everything straight' (coming up below).

And this is the back. Once folded some of the stamped images wrap around. Remember, over acrylic paint, it's appropriate to use a permanent ink like Ranger Archival (Jet Black or Sepia) or Tsukineko Versafine (Onyx Black, Vintage Sepia) and heat set thoroughly once stamped.

I added subtle 'rings' and 'lines' using Snowflake, Little Black Dress, Eggplant and Old Gold paint, then distressed the edges with Pitch Black Adirondack dabber. It’s an amazing colourful finish. I’d like to try this kind of printing on a larger scale now.

As mentioned above, on the 'ATC' insert I stamped the numbers from:

  Ink and the Dog: Eclectic Plate 4 (E4) 

 

Ink and the Dog Mini 12 (MN12) the rocket scientist

and the smile quote (masked) from Hot Picks Xtra Plate 4: HPXT04

 

And on the inside I stamped the Rocket Scientist Mini in Black ink. 

To use the Hot Picks sentiment HPXT04 “a smile is a curve that sets everything straight” the Fresco Paints are perfect for this technique, I needed to lighten off part of the rocket scientist image in the lower left corner before stamping the sentiment. Because the paints are so chalky, it worked perfectly as a base for stamping the quote onto. I want to try this again. 

Note I blacked out the words “is a curve” off the quote with a pen. So from the outside of the envelope to the inside on the ATC it reads “Create art it makes....a smile that sets everything straight”  

Finally I attached some TH ideology and stapled some folded tissue tape across the bottom of the ATC.

I hope you have enjoyed today's project.

Leandra Says: Well I am in love with the sheer vibrancy of colour that you have achieved here Michelle. I have dabbled with a gelli, but I was trying to use it differently to you, and I must admit I got a bit frustrated, I think Claudine's extra time medium may be a good option to use here. But by golly, I think you have cracked it! As Fresco's are a chalky, fast drying paint, the 'paint-stencil-print' is a great fast method. I can't wait to have another go now!

Gillian Says: Michelle seriously the depth of colours you achieved with this technique is amazing. Makes me want to crack open my Gelli Plate!

 I have two more projects up my sleeve to share with you this week .... :)

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