2015 # 23 Jingle Bells {by Kassa Hayselden}

                                        2015 Topic 23: Christmas Gifts and Cards

Hi there everyone, Kassa Hayselden here, joining you this evening with a (mixed media) post. I love mixed media art full of colour and yummy texture, I am drawn to creating 3d art incorporating totally different mediums and techniques, the fun is getting them to 'mash' together and look kool! And what a bonus cos I adore creating little mini pieces of Christmassy art like this diddy hanging printers tray filled with a joys of decking the tree and double bonus as I got to play with Clare Lloyd's new and very beautiful Christmas stamp!

Step One: Using Eclectica {Clare Lloyd} Collection (ECL08)  My first job after stamping out the 'face' image onto 'artist' quality paper was to colourise this most beautiful face with my colouring pencils, I went with a rosy-cheeked, fresh faced angelic look (the huge doe eyes inspired the angelic look)

ECL08

Step Two: I squirrel away leftovers from other projects all the time and I had the perfect piece of pre-painted dry wax deli paper for the dress and hat, all I had to do was simply stamp out the images.

Step Three: Before building the mini printers tray I applied Golden Fiber Paste -  through a stencil onto all the printer's inside panels (let dry then proceeded to build up) I then gave the whole of the printers tray a coat of Fresco Chalk Acrylic Paint in Stone , once dry, I applied a thin layer of Fresco Finish Crackle Effect with my spatula  and quickly dried this layer with my heat gun before applying a thick layer of a mix of the following paints to create my own bespoke coral colour: Fresco Chalk Acrylic Paint Claret and Tango  and Candy Floss I soooo love watching the crackles appear - I will never tire of this magical spectacle!

Once everything is bone dry I sanded over the paint and the white Golden Fibre paste stencilled patterns start to magically appear - love these PaperArtsy  Sanding Blocks - they get nicely into the nooks and crannies.  I dust all the debris away and paint in the 'now' white bits with Fresco Chalk Acrylic Paint  in Zesty Zing.

Step Four: Now being that I am a mixed media artist and being that I only had a limited number of these amazing PaperArtsy Fresco Chalk Acrylic paints (which I have now totally fallen in love with btw and NEED to get my hands on more more more!) I did the mixed media thing and decided to go with a 'mash-up' and oh boy did I enjoy 'mashing-up' my non chalky paints with the PaperArtsy Fresco Chalk Acrylic paints - everything jelled together like a dream, layer after layer of the various paints gave more and more depth and vibrancy - I especially love the PaperArtsy 'Translucent' Chalk paints for layering, they allow the colour you are covering to glow through perfectly! 

Step Five: Once everything is dry it is time to start popping everything together and add finishing touches, ie. A wire from a ring binder makes a pretty great loop to hang your tray with, ribbons and glitter are a must for christmassy cheer! One of my 'go to' touches is using the Golden Fluid Acrylic - Iridescent Copper fine fluid -  and the Golden Fluid Acrylic - Iridescent Bronze fine fluid you can see it in the picture below glimmering and twinkling away and a thin application with a paintbrush allows the paint colours sat beneath it to still glow through I totally love this very thin and fine fluid paint! 

Another finishing touch is dry brushing (a dry paint brush with a minute amount of paint on, wipe off excess) a thin coat of Fresco Chalk Acrylic Paint in Nougat  over the outer casing of the printers tray and the inner side panels pulling a little of the paint in towards the centre slightly, giving a dusty coat of snow which ties in the frosted jingle bells and 'twig' tree both also coated in 'Nougat' and glass glitter!

For that exta Va Va Voom 'PoP' we all adore and crave for (having already doodled with your favourite white and black or coloured water resistant ink fine liners/ball pens) why not like I have for your very final layer (I call it an extra 'cheeky' layer!) get out your Faber Castell Gelatos or Portfolio Oil Pastels to doodle with or rub in - it gives more body and depth makes your art simply come alive and sing (especially the bright hues in the Gelatos, they are like magic sticks!)

So if you would like to give this merging/mashing-up of paint colours a go then here are some pointers that may help: Whilst applying wet paints side by sideit is easier if the colour sit closeby/next to eachother on the colourwheel ie. reds, yellows, oranges, pinks etc are great to apply next to eachother cos if they smear/contaminate eachother they create pretty colours - if you sit blues and red tones next to eachother when wet they can create beautiful purples BUT say if you sit greens, purples, and orange tones next to eachother when wet this can result in a muddy mess when they smear and contaminate each other! (to be recovered from with a coat or 3 or 4 of whire paint/gesso when the muddy mess is dry) - So basically if the colours you want to use sit opposite each other on the colourwheel ie clash simply give each layer of paint a blast with your heat gun between layers to avoid the mud and a very thin layer of white paint (dry brushing) can almost seemlessly blend the contrasting colours together (again make sure the paints are dry before applying the white paint!) 

Hugs

Kassa Hayselden

Mwah xoxo
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Thankyou so much Karen, this is a wonderful way to use a printers tray. You are so right about the translucent paints, they add such a punch of vibrancy to the colours beneath. I adore that you call your final layer a 'cheeky layer' , such fun, and yes the blendable crayons add life, making this such a happy project.