Thursday 7 February 2013

Gesso, Paint and Bling - A Craft Stamper Tutorial


HI. I have done a few of these little hearts lately as I picked up a bag of them damaged from my local nursery after christmas. I always have a few emails asking questions about them so I thought I would do a  little tutorial about how they are decorated and add a few photo's along the way. Hope you like it.

A full list of items used and their suppliers are at the end of this post, and I shall be giving this particular heart away to one person who comments on this post, it would be lovely if you became a blog follower to if you don't already follow me.
So onto business. The whole thing with this heart is to build up layes of colour and texture, so it may seem as if you are just covering up what you have previously done, but all the layers do add to the finished apperance so just bear with it.


This is the basic heart, after taking this photo I gave it a sand with a sanding block to remove the red wording from it's front.


I painted it with Fresco Finish paint, I just put on small blobs of colour and then blended them as I covered the heart with them using a bit of cut and dry foam, this way the colours don't tend to mix together so much and you end up with a more mottled finish. I then applied Crackle glaze to the painted heart using an old store card, you only need a very thin layer of this and you usually end up seeming to scrape off as much as you have put on, but if it takes to long to dry its a sign that you have applied to much of it, so next time try to use a bit less.


I then applied quite a thin a coat of fresco paint over the crackle glaze, because I plan to stamp and colour my images directly onto the heart I have used a very neutral colour for this. I dried this with my heat gun.


I gave this a coat of multi medium to seal the surface a bit and then stamped my images directly onto the heart, I also stamped them onto post it notes, and cut them out to use as masks.


Mask off all the stamping and using the same 3 colour paints as for your base coat, dry brush colour onto your heart, dry brush very gently, as you don't want dense colour, the idea is to add a hint of colour as a background. I put a small spot of each colour on my craft mat and applied it with a stiff brush, with very gently strokes to avoid to much colour going on at once so I could build up the colour where I wanted it.


Leave your masks in place and with the Friendship back ground stamp fill in the background. I used a stamp positioner to get the Big word of "friendship" from the plate in the position I wanted it on the heart.


Still leaving your masks in place, lay a stencil over the heart and using the store card scrape gesso through the mask, again not going for total coverage of the gaps in the stencil, to help achieve this put very little gesso on your card and really scrape around what you do have, it will seem like you are working with hardly anything and scraping off as much as you are putting on, but you are only adding tiny elements to the background with this. I tried to avoid getting it on the word "friend" that I place beside the rabbits. heat dry.


Still with your masks in place dry brush a Fresco translucent paint over the whole background. I now heat set this and when it was dry I removed my masks. I now painted my images using Claudine Hellmuth paints. I ran a black dabber round the edges and highlighting the word "friend" with glossy accents and added stickles to the rabbits crowns.

I now thought "BLING" and I knew what I wanted but it had to be subtle, so I decided to run some glossy accents randomly over the heart in a downward direction avoiding any images and then sprinkled some beadazzels over it all.
This has ended up with a lovely subtle texture to it, the gesso is just slightly proud of the background and with the translucent paint added over it, the white is not to stark and it all blends in really well.


Items I used (with links to suppliers)

Rubber stamps: CI 372, CI 370 (bunting) ,CI 052
Fresco paints & Crackle glaze
Claudine Hellmuth Paints
Stickles
Archival Ink Pad
Beadazzels

Thank you for looking and don't forget If you fancy owning this, please comment below, and it would be lovely if you started to follow me to.
I am happy to post worldwide.
Carol x

29 comments:

Maria Sabina R. said...

ohhhhhh <3 rabbits and the crackle texture!!!

Artyjen said...

Thanks for the tut! You made a lovely heart...love all the layers.
xoxo Sioux

Maggie said...

Fabulous project with a great tutorial thanks for sharing...love the rabbit stamp...mmm another one I "need" lol

Anonymous said...

The heart with the rabbits is really too gorgeous!! You are so creative! I would really be honoured to get it ;-)!
Best wishes from snowy Germany,
Jutta

Michelle Webb said...

Awesome altered heart, it looks 100% better now. Love those rabbits Carol. Michelle x

Unknown said...

wow, thanx Carol this is so nice! I want that bunnies, so lovely

groetjes Coby

whyducks said...

What a lovely piece this is, thank you for telling us all about it!

Disco Queen said...

Hi Carol, I absolutely adore your heart. Thanks for the tip of sealing the crackled surface with multi-medium I've been stamping & colouring directly over top. Hopefully this will give me a flatter surface to work on. Love & admiration, Theresa

Paperfanatic said...

fantastic project Carol. I love the way you achieved the background. Fingers crossed my name comes out of the hat!

Handmade by Elaine said...

helloo, i've only recently bought some of the fresco paints and i've fallin in love with them...this is fab how you have done this. thanks for sharing Elx

Craft Addicts - Tracy Evans said...

Absolutely gorgeous, I love hearts and rabbits so perfect for me lol. Love the background and the colours too. A lovely mixed media piece. Tracy x x

Annie said...

What fabulous hearts they have all been! And this is a wonderful tut! Thanks for sharing with us. I don't see where to become a follower of your blog, but I follow you as I have added you to me "must see" blog list on my blog.

darcydaydream said...

those rabbits keep hopping up lately...lol...great tut...thanks for sharing...x
Christine in Essex

Unknown said...

Thank you so very very much for doing this tutorial for us and sharing the techniques you use. I can see that this will be perfect for jewellery boxes and a door hanger thingy that I have, which I bought on impulse but have been 'stumped' on how to decorate.

I have been an avid follower of your blog since it began, and your inspirational and original work is truly inspiring.

Good Luck to everyone else who enters for the chance of owning this fabulous heart

Linda Wareham said...

What a gorgeous heart; thanks for the easy to follow tutorial. I love the background, definitely something I *need* to try! Thanks for the chance to win :)

Lura said...

the bunnies are soooooooooo cute and you did a great job making a really cute heart with them. thank you for sharing the techniques. I would love to win the prize of course, so heres to hoping for that but I really enjoyed your blog and the projects you made. thank you so much for the chance to win. xoxo

trisha too said...

Carol, all that texture is YUM, what a great piece!

:)

Linda said...

This is just fab. I love this new stamp (must put it on my shopping list!)and your finished heart is stunning. Love all the detail and texture. Brilliant tutorial and thanks for the chance to win (Just become one fo your latest followers too!) xx

Cazzy said...

That is wonderful and I would love to win it!

Terry said...

Gorgeous heart, Carol! Thank you for sharing such a detailed tutorial! Always nice to see the steps! Hugs!

Words and Pictures said...

Fabulous heart, Carol, and a great tutorial, thank you!
Alison x

Ellen Taylor said...

Fantastic and easy to follow tutorial! I have just the spot to hang your fabulous art! Thanks for the chance to win and the inspiration!
Ellen

Redanne said...

Loving your gorgeous heart with those wonderful bunnies. Thanks for the excellent tutorial and the tips too. Love this! Anne x

Rossella said...

I can't wait to have a go, thanks for the inspiration
Rosie x

pearshapedcrafting said...

Beautiful! Just bought myself some Fresco Paints so will be having a go! Love those bunnies - they are on my list! Chris

Nan G said...

So cool! And pretty! Great tut about adding layers. Hmm have to find some translucent paints. Thn
Ankhs!

Claire said...

I love that new rabbit stamp from CI, think I might have to buy it! Great tutorial - thanks for sharing it, Claire x

Cocofolies said...

Woow, I almost missed that, and this heart is just wonderful... Happy to have time to look at, especially since I LOVE this stamp I have too ! And thank you very much for the tutorial Carol. Have a very nice Sunday and week to come ! Coco xx

ionabunny said...

Love those CI rabbit stamps. Thanks for the fab tutorial