2015 #15 Acrylic Tag {by Lauren Hatwell}

Topic 15: Gels and Mediums

Hi everyone. Lauren here, joining you this evening with a project using a few of my favourite Gels and Mediums for a JOFY inspired acrylic tag. 

I love working with acrylic as you can build so many layers onto both sides and still see them all at the end. Gels and mediums add some great texture and sparkle for added interest. To me, they are the (non-surgical) enhancers of the art world. Think of an effect you want to create and there will be a raft of great gels and mediums to make it possible.

I've used JOFY37, JOFY38 for my project...

and Stencils PS007 and PS011

NB: Acrylic tags and ATC's usually come with a removable sheet of plastic on one side, which I left in place to protect the front of my tag while I worked on the background (I had my #10 tag cut for me at That's Crafty. They offer a range of acrylic items and will also cut bespoke items to order).

On the back of the tag I stenciled a layer in Snowflake using JOFY stencil 011. I then stencilled a layer in French Roast using JOFY Stencil 07 and 011. When it was dry I brayered over some acrylic gel medium to protect the stencilling before adding the background (because I'm going to move the paint around a bit and I don't want to smudge or remove what I've already done).

When everything was completely dry I mixed a pea sized amount of soft matte gel medium with about a dessert spoon of each Fresco paint colour to extend the drying time a bit and get better movement with the paint. The colours I used were Chalk, Nougat, Antarctic, South Pacific, Space Cadet and Blue Oyster. I dribbled several lines of each colour across my tag before tipping the tag to let the paint lines spread and merge together. I then used a cocktail stick to move the paint about a bit and create some lines. When I was happy with it I laid the tag flat and left it overnight to dry. Pretty cool but it bears no relation to the other side, which is the side you will be able to see...

When the tag was dry I turned it over to reveal the pattern on the reverse side and peeled off the protective sheet. It looks like one of those bottles you fill up with different layers of coloured sand doesn't it.

You can see that the two stenciled layers show through nicely against the backgound paint technique. Now to build up the layers on the front. I've used flock for an interesting but understated layer of texture. I made my own paste by mixing a teaspoon or so of Matte Medium with a half teaspoon of Snowflake Fresco Paint. I stenciled the mixture onto my tag using a palette knife and then sprinkled on the white flock powder (I used Fun Flock by Stampendous. It has a nice fine texture that doesn't clump).

One of my favourite gels is Glass Bead Glitter Gel by Faber Castell. Golden has glass bead gel too here. It adds a really beautiful sparkle and texture to a project. I've used it in its raw state here as I wanted it to dry clear, but as with all gels and mediums, you can add colour to them if you want to.

Last but not least I stamped the Bloom sentiment from JOFY37 and the gorgeous "paving stones" stamp from JOFY38 in white Archival ink and heat embossed using white fine detail embossing powder. It shows up really while still allowing the detail behind to show through.

I really enjoyed this project and I hope you can get a sense of how versatile the many gels and mediums on the market are. Maybe you could try this yourself mixing colour with the different mediums or using stamping rather than stencilling. It doesn't have to be on acrylic. You could easily translate this onto other substrates. Just have fun with it.

Lauren Hatwell
Marvellous Mechanical Mouse Organ

Ohhh, that's a really interesting idea Lauren. Funky double sided use of paint that can be awesome from both sides! I love how you don't exactly know what its going to really look like underneath until its dry and you peel back the protector (depending on how opaque the protector is). Thanks for another fascinating post! ~Leandra

We would love you to join in with challenge #15: Gels If you are inspired by any of our guests who blog with us over the fortnight, then please join in and link up your creativity HERE. 

All links go in the draw to win a voucher to spend on products of your choice from the PaperArtsy online store. The Gels link will close 17:00 (London Time) Sunday, Aug 23rd winner will be announced 2 hours later at 19:00.