Saturday Show & Hels... Gesso Etching

...time for another Saturday Show & Hels... firstly, thank you for all those lovely comments you left me on the last one I did!! That was really kind of you. This week I am showing you a fab technique I learned from none other than THE Claudine Hellmuth, who I have to add, is such an inspiring artist... not to mention a fab teacher too. So, Gesso Etching... it is how it sounds, etching words, scribble or drawings into a nice gloopy layer of Gesso.

Ingredients
Claudine Hellmuth Studio Gesso
Claudine Hellmuth Studio Acrylic Paint, two colours
Spreader (can be a spatula or old credit card)
Water Mister
Paper Towel
Card to work onto - I used a tag

Paintbrushes (thick and thin)
Non Stick Craft Sheet (for easy wipe clean)

STEP 1
Using your spreader/credit card, generously spread Gesso onto your surface - like you are icing a cake, so you have different depths and lines in the Gesso. Leave some of the cardstock surface still showing at the edges of the Gesso.




STEP 2
Using the end of a paintbrush or a cocktail stick (depending on how thin you want the writing to look) scribble/write or draw into the wet Gesso. If you make a booboo, don't worry, simply use your spreader to flatten out your error and start again. Set the tag/card aside to dry.




STEPS 3 AND 4
Once the Gesso has dried, mix a little dollop of your main colour paint with a generous mist of water - you can also use Extra Time medium too - once you have made your paint wash, use a large brush and apply the paint right over the top of the Gesso, working the paint into the crevices.




STEP 5
Use a paper towel to wipe over the top, do this quickly before the paint dries. You will see that the paint has stained the crevices and edges of the card.


STEP 6
Mix a small dot of your darker paint with water and use Cut & Dry foam to gently smudge this around the edges of the card - if you over do it, you can wipe away with a baby wipe.



FINISHED LOOK
You will see that the darker paint has slightly stained the whole look of the tag, which I like. If you would rather have a softer look, you can leave out the darker paint steps :O))



And... I got all flowery (as usual) and finished off decorating the tag using some old book pages that I cut in the Tattered Florals die and then altered with the same paints and some stamping onto cardstock, also coloured with the paints.


If you liked this little Show & Hels, please do leave me a comment... and if you try out the technique, I would love to see your creation! Oh and... of course, a huge thank you to Claudine for her marvellously clever technique and for the wonderfully lush products (yes, I managed to make a whole thing without using Traditional Tan lol) Do pop over to see Claudine's blog where you will find heaps of inspiration and a brand new class that is just about to start this month. Thanks for looking... time for me to go and scrape paint off my nails... thank heavens for a Craft Scrubbie!! TTFN

Hels x