Sunday, March 11, 2012

Doodle backgrounds for my altered book

Since this is the week we are working on our Altered Book lessons, I thought I would try a couple of backgrounds in preparation of the next class. Instead, I got sidetracked by


Bleubeard, where he normally sits when I am working in my main floor craft room. For those who visit often, note that I have changed his scratching pad. This one is starting to shed already, as is evidenced by the pieces he has gleefully spread around the living room.


You normally see the other side of my craft table, but today I was in a hurry. I wanted to finish these bits of art and get the photos off my camera. It was hard, too, because we had one less hour in the day today. I was thrilled to be able to use some of the white tissue I saved when I unwrapped my gifts from Annette (shown here). My supplies are simple: tissue paper and various colored Sharpies.


I colored two pieces of tissue paper using the Sharpies. This is a play on the graffiti background I found in Doodles Unleashed by Traci Bautista. If you missed my review, you can see it here.

About that time Bleubeard decided to actually move around and stretch. The lighting was so bad, I had to lighten the image to the maximum so you could see him. Yes, the lighting was that bad!



One more view in a close-up and I was ready for the next phase of this background.


Out came my mica powders. I already had glue mixed (50/50 glue to water mixture) and was ready to get started.


Oh wow! I have not only gotten my mica powders out, I have gotten my Twinkling H20s ready for a different project. Talk about a day for making art!

Before we precede, I want to explain that these mica powders are made by LuminArt. There is no binder in them. You have to apply your binder to the colored minute mica flakes. Your binder can be just about anything that "binds." Sorry if this sounds simplistic, but when I first got these powders, I was told you HAD to use certain binders, most craft store bought, or alum, which you can get at some grocery stores/food markets. Not to seem redundant, a binder can be paint, glaze, glue, alum, or any binding agent that will encapsulate the mica chips when dry.

For this project, I used a foam brush that I dipped into a bit of the glue/water mixture, then dipped one edge of the brush in dark green mica powder and the other edge of the brush in apple green mica powder. I wanted to show Maggie at Silvercrafter how I used Elmer's glue/water mix as the binder for the mica powder. I tried to answer a question about them for her, and think I did a horrible job. Maybe this will help Maggie understand what I was getting at.


Here I have just added the two greens to the first tissue, and after


moving the mica powders out of the way, I dipped my glue laden foam brush in two colors of lavender, then a combination of bright pink and gold. I didn't clean my brush between the pink/lavender combinations, but I did clean it after I was finished with the greens. Once these are dry, they will make great backgrounds. It won't be difficult at all to cut them into bits the size I need them. These are truly mixed media using Sharpies, tissue paper, a glue/water mix, and various mica powders.

Thanks for visiting this week. I'm glad you had the chance and time to drop by. Here's hoping you have a stunning art filled week.

16 thoughtful remarks:

voodoo vixen said...

How lovely to see your art and Bleubeard!! I must admit, I amazed at the resiliance of the tissue paper - I was imagining it tearing and becoming unusable with so many treatments going on, but you have created a very bright background with it so now we wait with baited breath to see what it turns into!!

I am playing at niches... boy is it hard work to cut through all those pages, especially with tendonitis in one elbow and choosing to make a very fat niche!! LOL

Dianne said...

this is a cool technique... simple, colorful, and sparkly too! And Bluebeard looks rather self-satisfied with his new scratching pad...

Dandelion and Daisy said...

I really like using tissue paper for backgrounds. I've never tried the Twinkling products, I've seen them in stores but I've not ever seen a them used on something...in REAL life!!! It sounds like they make for a beautiful sparkly finish. So, whatcha' going to do with the lovely tissue paper you just made??????

Harvest Moon by Hand said...

Looks like a fun day with all the inks, powders, and painting!

Currie Silver said...

Very curious and intriguing. I have done many things with tissue paper for backgrounds in my collages. What I love about it especially is that it will disappear with varnish when I add it in and all the colours etc. you've "doodled" would magically land in amidst everything.

These mica powders would BE very cool, I think, to try. I am wondering, I have some Perfect Pearl stuff and no clue how it is used. Do you think this might BE the same sort of thing?! I don't even remember where they came from or what I was thinking, but here they sit and I'd love to experiment with them...

Unknown said...

This is such a fun background- can't wait to see it "installed"!

Currie Silver said...

Thanks for the insight on those Perfect Pearls. I might just start playing with them today!! Thanks, too, for your kind words about Gracie.

Monica said...

For a moment there i thought you were about to explain that bluebeard is now Glitter beard!

Carolyn Dube said...

This is fantastic! You have done a great job with the photos and the step by step! I too was doodling with sharpies today- must be something in the air!

Jill Zaheer said...

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by and comment on our 31/31 Pulse of Mixed Media tour. It's been so much fun and one of the best parts is meeting so many wonderful and talented artists! Just love reading about the process on how you did your work today- with the mica powders and how you bind them for your work. Never saw this before- this is what it's all about! Thanks very much again for this treat to meet!

~*~Patty S said...

that's quite a project...always fun when you get busy E!

Bleubeard sure is handsome!
oxo

Unknown said...

That looks like fun :)
and Bleubeard is surely pretending to not be interested - right?
he's so regal looking!!!

Halle said...

Love the end results. Good choice of colors. :)
"gleefully shredding his new scratch pad"--HA!

Margaret said...

Lovely background and a great combination of colours! Bleubeard looks totally mesmerised, no doubt with his own artistic plans... Mx

Craftymoose Crafts said...

This looks really interesting! Since I am new to making backgrounds, I'm also checking out some of your other tutorials!

505whimsygirl said...

Some of the teas sound really nice. I tried to post a comment earlier today and my computer was acting up... not a good sign!

I like the play you had with with tissue paper - very interesting.

Hugs,
Kay

Not participating this week but still wanted to pop in and visit.