Second Thursday Tutorial: a review

This post is going to be a bit different from most Second Thursday Tutorials.  It will be a review of 2018's second Thursday tutorials.  I then hope to put a few of these together into one cohesive journal page or altered book spread.

In January of this year, I focused on four resist techniques.  For the most part, these involve using acrylic craft paints.  From left in the back clockwise:

Salt (use various salts if you have them, because they each produce different effects)
Petroleum Jelly (either Vaseline or a store brand)
91% Isopropyl Alcohol (best to use stronger than 50% if you can find it)
Bleach pen (I have two, one a store brand and one by Clorox, and I decided to use the Clorox because it has two tips)

This background used acrylic paint and rock salt I ran through a grinder.  When dry, the salt was easily removed from the page.

For February, I created shaving cream paper.

I got a little carried away, but these are so addicting, they are like eating potato chips.

In March, I compared water soluble crayons to water coloring pencils.  My favorite is still the water soluble crayon, but the water color pencils had more color choices.

In April, for my tutorial, I recycled everything on this spread.  Of course, I recycled everything for 22 days, leading up to Earth Day, or as I call it bEARTHday.  There are always lots of tutorials every year in April.

In May, I created a couple of backgrounds using foil, gesso, and paper (kitchen) towels.

These were the final backgrounds.  As I explained, these should flatten out nicely once they are attached to a substrate.

For June, I showed how to use napkins as backgrounds.

Many of you have seen some of these napkins in my art challenges.

Some months things don't work out as planned.  That was the case for July.

August's tutorial was far more successful.

This turned out even better than expected.

September was another of those disasters.

Huge disaster.

Not quite as bad,

but nothing to be proud of, either.

October was marginally better when I used one stamp and one color dye ink to create a masterboard.

I made a second one, too.  You can never have too many butterflies.

Because my November tutorial involved making herbal vinegar, that won't enter into my project today.

This page is also for Bleubeard's and my themes, My Favorite Season, or 'Tis the Season that we are hosting at Art Journal Journey. 

I began by cutting the 12 X 12 inch (30,48 X 30,48 centimeters) heavy weight scrapbook page down to a mere 8 X 10 inches (20,32 X 25,4 centimeters).  When I did, I realized I didn't have room for the butterfly napkins I intended to use.  Plan A had to be rethought.

I was very happy with the way the butterflies showed beneath the napkin.  That's the beauty of napkins, especially if they have been backed with Wonder Under.   It reminds me of digital art where layers can be stacked and some can show through.  

Plan B wasn't working out as well as I had hoped.

I was sure when the paper or kitchen towel was saturated with PVA glue, all the wrinkles would smooth out.  Sadly, the gesso was incredibly thick and the paper towel was thicker than most I've used in the past.  Trying to smooth the paper towel out once it was on the page, caused it to rip and create holes in the towel.

Even worse, trying to write on this mess was even more of a disaster.

I can barely read it, and I wrote it!   It reads: Season of HOPE, DREAMS, and Butterflies.

When I realized I wasn't going to be able to use the butterfly napkins, I grabbed some stickers from my stash, along with these beautiful butterflies made from handmade paper die cuts that Susi sent me for my birthday this year.

I liked how the color of the butterfly nearly matched the words on the napkin. I wasn't sure what the first word was, but I made out 30 Sept.

For this page, I used pieces I created during various Second Thursday tutorials, stickers, and lovely butterflies punched or die cut from handmade paper.

Bleubeard, my fearless and welcoming co-host and I are delighted you stopped by to check out my second Thursday tutorial which can be found on my Tutorials page as soon as this post goes live.   We also invite you to join us at Art Journal Journey where our themes are My Favorite Season, or 'Tis the Season.