UTEE Resist background technique

Today my friend and neighbor Sally had major surgery and I was her advocate. Basically, that means I had to spend the day at the hospital. So yesterday I made some backgrounds using my nearly defunct hand potato stamps. I want to get as much use out of them as possible before I have to pitch them. I call this UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel) resist stamping.

Supplies clockwise from lower left:
Substrate (I used card stock)
Versamark or any embossing ink
Cheap acrylic paint (I used dark green)
UTEE (I used clear)
Gesso
Foam brush
Stamps of your choice, preferably foam or anything solid (of course I had to use my potato hands)
Heat tool (not shown)

Begin by stamping all over your page in any fashion or design of your choice. I could have eliminated this photo, but had to take a picture of the "stamp" for posterity.

Stamp a few images, then cover with UTEE. Do this so the ink doesn't dry.

This is my sheet of hands that have been stamped.

Add UTEE, remove any excess and return it to the jar. At this point, you can leave the piece as is until you are ready to emboss. I like to put my ink and embossing powder away at this point, so I don't accidentally heat set one or the other. Melt the UTEE using your heat tool.

When set, the UTEE will be bumpy. You actually want this texture.

Apply gesso, brushing first horizontally, then vertically on the page. This will also provide texture.

When all the gesso is on the page,

add the paint color of your choice and smear on the page, both horizontally and vertically, allowing the paint to blend into the gesso. Remember the gesso will lighten your paint, so you might want to start with a darker color.

The UTEE doesn't show through much on the smaller image. You will need to click to enlarge the scan to see all the texture of this piece. Although hard to see in scans, you can feel the UTEE and it shows up much better in person. The big problem is, you can't really tell I used the hand stamps. I think they were probably past their prime and the next time I'll use a foam stamp to see if I get better definition and coverage.

I'm still happy that it will make a nice background or embellishment. The texture is really great. Now I must prepare for Tuesday when all my "stuff" comes back.