Surface Treatment Workshop - weeks 14 and 16

As the gel dried, it became clear and the paint and print beneath could clearly be seen.  After a while, it set hard and I was able to peel it off.  A "skin" is basically a "peel off".  This is how it looks on the top of the skin ...

 
and this is the back of the skin with the paint and newsprint ...


The sample below is more Liquitex gloss gel with gilding flakes embedded in the gel.  It starts out white and dries clear.


I pushed the gilding flakes into the paste with a soft paint brush and added some watered down mica powder which collected around the flakes.


This is the finished skin ... it's translucent but against a white background this doesn't show up well.


This is my peeled off molding paste skin with image embedded, finished with phthalo turquoise and glazing gel.  The skins made with Liquitex gloss gel and molding paste are pliable and thin enough to stitch into, if desired.


Below, I used white acrylic paint, thickly applied, to make this skin.  I swirled a little gold acrylic into the white.  This one took ages to dry out, before I was able to peel it off.  I'm not really keen on it either, as it has a plastic feel and appearance, but it is thin enough to stitch into if desired.


I discovered that molding paste takes rust very well.  I spread the paste on the piece of rust and left for several days.  When it had dried out thoroughly, I was able to peel the molding paste skin from the rusted metal and with it came quite a lot of the rusty texture!  If rust is your thing, this might be a useful technique as the skin is pliable and could be stitched into for layering in art work.


The last skin (paynes grey thinly applied) resulted in lots of tiny peely bits which I decided to keep for adding texture in collage.



I decided to use some of these bits in one of my samples for week 16.  The acrylic "peels" adhered on this "pulled paper" sample quite easily with a common or garden glue stick.


So, week 16 is "pulled paper" which is a way of adding text and texture to collage and artwork to give it the grungy, layered appearance of old ripped posters.  It's a lot of fun building up layers ... with interesting and unexpected results.  You never quite know what's going to happen when you rip it off!

I used mod podge, but PVA glue or other mediums work just as well.  Brush the glue of your choice onto a painted surface and then apply some paper with text or an image, text side down. Leave the text on for about a minute or so and then pull the paper off.  Mod podge is quite a cheap product to use and I like it's matte appearance which is great for the layering part.

Here are some of my finished pieces and some details ...







These book samples tie in quite nicely with the next challenge, so here is a little glimpse of what's coming ...




In case you're wondering, there was no week 15 as the material to try was Krylon "spray webbing" and I have found it's pretty hard to come by in the UK.  I especially wanted to try silver spray webbing but I couldn't get any.  I have given up with it for the time being.

Finally, if you follow my posts on your mobile phone you may have noticed a different format which I hope you may find easier to read.  If you prefer to read the website version with all my links and twiddly bits down the side bar, then there is a link at the bottom of each post for you to click on and read in the old way.  These days, there are so many techno things to consider.  Personally, I prefer to read and write on my laptop but we all seem to be "on the go" these days that I had a review of things.  Thank you, always, for reading and I would love to know what you think.