Sunday, January 24, 2016

An experiment by Astrid

Hello Shimmerz friends, thanks for dropping in!
I have been wanting to try for ages how Shimmerz paints and sprays would work on Black gesso, - so today finally I am sharing my first experiment...
What you are seeing here is the cover of one of my journals, but this project started life as a simple tag.
I used a large G45 Kraft tag and started my adding some textures with the help of some stencils and texture paste. I also added some embossing powder.

Next I covered the tag with black gesso and then adhered some embellishments, chippies, die cuts and some flowers. The colours at this point are irrelevant, as everything will be covered with more black gesso anyway.
For my colour palette I chose the following paints and sprays:

I started by putting down a first layer of colour with the Ruby lost her slippers paint and the Chocolate and Diamondz, I also gave it a few spritzes with the Snowstorm to lighten it all a bit in the centre. The Snowstorm gave it a subtle shimmering layer.

At this point I noticed that the tag was exactly the right size for the cover of my journal, so I started to prep that.
Now this particular journal is actually an old hardback book. (If you want you can see one of the pages inside that I did for Shimmerz, just click HERE )
The book had the title printed in gold on the linen covered front, so I covered the entire thing in black gesso too and then added some old book paper and some embossing powder for more texture. Next I adhered my tag with gel medium.
Here finally you can see how I completed the tag and pulled it all together. 
As I wanted to lighten it all a bit further, I mixed some of the Ruby paint with gesso, this made it slightly more opaque and made it possible to create high lights here and there.

I added some darker shadows with the Night Moves Coloringz and a paint brush and finally added a bit of gilding paste here and there to add further highlight.
Below are some close ups still:

The heart was done with the help of texture paste and a stencil, I stamped into it with a text stamp before the paste had dried.
Here you can see the colour changes going from Chocolate and Diamondz, to the Ruby Lost her Slippers to the same paint mixed with a little gesso.
The sentiment was a Tim Holtz sticker, mounted on the little label die cut coloured with the Ruby paint. You can also see the shadows created with the Night Moves Coloringz.
Well that's it for today. I will definitely continue experimenting on black gesso in a different palette too. Meanwhile, thank you for your visit, and like usual, don't forget, you can order Shimmerz products directly from the Shimmerz Paints Store. If you do, mention my name (Astrid Maclean) in the «Instruction to Merchant/seller» part of your order form (just below your name and address). After clicking «add», you'll get a FREE product in the color of your choice. And for people from outside the US, Shimmerz do a really good deal on postage!

19 comments:

Deb said...

Wow Astrid, your experiment was a great success! Love the Shimmerz on the black gesso and the tag was the perfect embellishment for your journal cover. Deb xo

froebelsternchen said...

Fantastic Astrid!

sarascloset said...

Fabulous! Thank you for sharing all your steps with this successful experiment!

fairyrocks said...

Lovely technique. thank you for the step by step photos. It was fascinating to see the layers unfold. Would love to see this one in real time, so tactile, just begs to be handled. Keep smiling and creating

Unknown said...

STUNNING... just so INTRICATELY ALLURING... making you want to touch the cover and then look inside to see more.... it's ART. j.

Dorthe said...

Yes ,so stunning Astrid, I am blown away with the end result, and never knew embossing powders could create a result as this, looking like something between sand and pearls , wonderful.
xx

Rita said...

Wonderful journal cover Astrid and the textures on the tag are unbelievable, so so beautiful. Love the colours of Shimmerz paints. Hugs Rita xxx

experiments in paper said...

Gorgeous, Astrid! The various Shimmerz products work beautifully here, and brilliant to add a bit of gesso! Love the book pages peeking out as well - marvelous cover!! xxx Lynn

rachel said...

stunning work Astrid - amazing texture and fabulous colours - beautiful! Hugs Rachel x

Words and Pictures said...

Wow - such drama with those gleaming colours over the black - it creates such depth and detail. What an inspired idea to employ the tag as the cover to your journalling book - beautiful.
Alison x

Meggymay said...

A stunning project Astrid, awesome textures and colours.
Yvonne

Craft Addicts - Tracy Evans said...

Lovely Astrid, love the rich opulent colours. Fantastic textures and layered elements. Tracy x

Kathy Bradley said...

Astrid,
Gorgeous journal cover - love how the colors worked so well over the black gesso.

Maryann Laursen said...

Absolut stunning result Astrid, and if this is just an expiriment I would love to see, how it´ll look, when you´ve learned it to the fullest?? This is just amazing and sooo beautiful, and I LOVE how the spritz look on the black Gesso. It´s just wonderful. I´m definitely looking forward to see this album, when it´s all done, cause with this stunning cover the rest has to be outstanding too.

mamablitger said...

Astrid this turned out just fabulous. Love what you did here. How lovely to have a new journal cover that pretty.
Thank you so much for sharing this experiment.
Hugs from Monica... Spain

Annie said...

Absolutely stunning journal cover Astrid x the textures and colours of the Shimmerz paints and sprays are beautiful.

Thank you for sharing and I look forward to viewing more experiments

Hugs
Annie x

pearshapedcrafting said...

Wow! Fabulous texture and I love the way you have layered the paints and sprays to achieve those gorgeous colours! Chrisx

Pawsitively Creative said...

What a wonderful journey youbhave taken us on with the process of this lovely book. Gorgeous design and the textures are amazingly layered. Wowzers!

Jackie PN said...

The results of your play are stunning Astrid! Love black gesso!! xo