I worked on quarter sheets of cardstock, thinking I could use this size later for card fronts, or cut them down for tags or ATCs. I started with the lightest color of those I’d chosen, and inked up just about an inch of my brayer, by rolling it along the side of the pad.

With my cardstock on a slightly padded surface, I rolled a stripe from end to end. The color doesn’t seem to lay down perfectly even. That’s OK. I reapplied the ink, and rolled another stripe, working my way down the cardstock.

To make a plaid, I simply rotated the cardstock 90 degrees, and applied another set of stripes with the same color.

When I was finished with the first color, I spritzed the brayer with a little water, and wiped it clean with a paper towel.

The next color is a little darker than the first. I worked with it the same way, applying color to just a small section of the brayer.

I applied stripes, lining up the edge of my brayer with the edge of the previous colored stripes. This kept them nice and straight, and made a regular pattern. For the plaid, I rotated the paper 90 degrees, and applied more stripes.

When it was time to change color, I just spritzed and wiped again. Distress inks are water based, so clean up is very quick.

Next, I chose a dark color, and applied ink to a very narrow section of the brayer.

This made very fine stripes, which I rolled along the edges of one of the previous colors.

That’s it! Quick and easy. It took me about 10 minutes to whip together a stack of backgrounds.

I put a placemat on my work table. Any flat, hard surface will work.

I placed a sheet of lightweight bond paper over the placemat, centering it on whatever design it covered.

I swiped Distress inks over the whole piece of paper. Pressing lightly will give a delicate design with less ink, while pressing hard leaves a lot of ink behind.

I removed the paper, and wiped away any leftover ink with a damp paper towel. I also cleaned off any excess between colors if I chose to use more than one per sheet.

I ended up with a big pile of interesting papers in a very short time. It took me less than ten minutes to do all the samples for this article!

Using a bamboo placemat with alternating thick and thin slats, I created the three papers shown above. From left, pink paper swiped with Milled Lavender and Tattered Rose inks, ivory paper swiped with Vintage Photo, and pale green paper swiped with Shabby Shutters and Peeled Paint, then rotated 90 degrees and swiped with Black Soot

A placemat made of small, round skewers produced these papers. From left, white paper swiped with Mustard Seed, white paper swiped with Mustard Seed, then rotated 90 degrees and swiped with Spiced Marmalade, and tan paper swiped with Tea Dye, Vintage Photo, and Walnut Stain.

I was hoping this basketweave placemat would give me a page of tiny squares, but what I got was even more interesting—a sort of tie-dyed look when worked in bright colors, and a nice grungy look when worked with subtle tones. From left, white paper swiped with Mustard Seed, Scattered Straw, and Peeled Paint, tan paper swiped with Antique Linen and Tea Dye, and white paper swiped with Worn Lipstick and Fired Brick.

Remember, Distress inks are water based, so these papers can also be spritzed with water to create even more interesting textures.

I also chose some rubber stamps that were ideal for creating backgrounds. I’ve had a paisley stamp set sitting around unused for quite a while, so I started with that. I also pulled out some chunky foam stamps, which I like to use for backgrounds. In looking at a group of real bandanas at my local craft store, I decided that any basic shape or design would work—this is one technique that benefits from using stamps that aren’t very detailed.

Start by stamping large images in black pigment ink. Spread them out, to leave room for smaller stamps in between.

Apply black embossing powder to the designs, and give them a blast with a heat gun. This makes the black designs quite pronounced and dark.

Repeat the stamping and embossing with smaller stamps. I used three different stamps on each of the samples.

Anything can be a stamp—even a pencil eraser. This is my favorite way to create small perfect circles: just use a new pencil eraser as a stamp, pressing it onto the inkpad, then straight down onto the background. These were also embossed with black powder.

Now, the magic: add white accents to the design with a white correction pen. I found my Bic Wite-Out correction pen at Staples, but these things are sold in the office supply section of most stores. The white it produces is thick and matte, and quite bright. I liked this particular pen because it was designed to be squeezed, so I could apply a very fine dot, or a nice-sized puddle of white with ease.

Use the designs on your stamps as a guide to applying the white accents. For example, I colored in flower centers, or applied dots around the outer edges. I also added random white dots scattered around the stamped designs.

I was surprised at how effective this was. The design looked sort of boring when it was just stamped, but the addition of the white elements really made it all pull together. I also discovered that it didn’t matter whether I applied my white with machinelike precision, or was somewhat sloppy.

How’s that for an end of summer idea?

Roll the craft sheet out on your work table. Mine is the 18×24 inch one, big enough to do large sheets of paper. Grab a Distress inkpad, and pat it randomly all over the sheet. With all but the palest colors, you’ll see the little squares of colored ink appear on the sheet. Don’t worry, the sheet is made of Teflon, so nothing sticks to it.

Now mist the sheet with water. I use a very find mister for this. A little water will make the ink start to bead a bit. A lot of water will make it runny enough to mix around, and will also make the ink more pastel.

Smoosh the paper onto the wet ink, and press.

Roll the paper off the craft sheet, and set aside to dry.

Here’s the result of using just a single color of ink, and not a lot of water:

Where’s the fun of just using one color, and not splashing around a bit? Let’s try something else…

Start with a clean craft sheet. Pat a color onto it. Then pat another color onto it, overlapping just a bit. It’s OK to leave some parts of the sheet all one color if you want. I usually do this from light color to dark, so I don’t get the surface of the lighter pads gunked up with other colors.

Now drip some ink from a reinker onto the sheet. This stuff is much more intense than the ink applied from the pad. A little goes a long way.

Now mist with water. A little water or a lot—it’s up to you. Remember, more water means fading the color down a bit.

I used more water on this sheet, and got the ink really runny. I could sort of slosh it back and forth on the sheet. A little sloshing makes ripples in the color. A lot blends everything into one color, which might not be such a good thing.

Now smoosh and press the paper onto the sheet.

Roll the paper back off the sheet, and set it aside to dry.

Since there’s plenty of wet ink left on the sheet, why not press a few more papers into it? I keep pressing papers onto wet spots until the craft sheet is almost dry. There’s no sense in wasting all that lovely ink, so have plenty of text paper ready.

class=alignleft>Does your paper have too many white spots on it? No problem—just mist it with water while the ink is still wet, and let the ink bleed a bit.

Here’s the result of using two colors of inkpads, plus some drops from the reinkers:

Cleaning between colors is pretty simple—just wipe down with a paper towel, mist with water, and wipe again.

I decided on a color palette of yellow, orange and pink. I have a pretty large collection of really cheap acrylics that are perfect for this technique. Cheap paints have a lower pigment to binder ratio, so they’re often more transparent than opaque. That’s a bummer if you’re trying to paint something a solid color, but ideal if you want some of your background to show through. Since my goal here is to let some of the Spanish text show through the color, cheap is good!

I started by squirting out a line of yellow at the top of my page.

Using an old credit card, I quickly dragged the yellow paint over the surface of the page, covering it completely. The goal is to get the whole page wet with a very light coat of color.

I quickly added a small dot of orange paint to the top of the page.

I dragged the orange over the page in random streaks.

Next, some pink streaks. It doesn’t take much paint to create these papers, since the page is always wet.

While I had my paints out, I made these papers:

Pink base coat with lavender and royal blue streaks over old dictionary pages.

Red base coat with gold metallic streaks over Korean text pages.

Ochre base coat with raw umber streaks, and ochre base coat with burnt umber streaks, over old map index pages.

A few tips:

• To keep the coats light, I usually wipe off any excess paint left on the credit card. If I’m thinking about it, I toss some plain white cardstock ATC blanks on the work table to use as wipers—these can be used as ATC backgrounds later.
• I keep all sorts of leftover papers for backgrounds. If I cut niches into altered books, I keep the portions of the pages cut out of the niche. This gives me a good variety of text papers to work with later.
• Don’t waste your expensive artist colors on this technique! They’re too dense, and will obliterate your text background. The brands I use when I talk about cheap paints: Plaid’s Apple Barrel Acrylics, DecoArt Americana Acrylics, and Anita’s All Purpose Acrylics. Some or all of these brands should be available in any craft store.

Now, the ideal is to find things that have rusted naturally, but that’s not always possible. When Mother Nature hasn’t had her way with something yet, there are various ways to help her along.

A word of caution before we go on: the techniques I describe here all use chemical processes. Take the reasonable safety precautions!

• Wear gloves.

• Work in a well ventilated area.
• Do not breathe fumes.
• Do not allow children in the work area.

I decided to try a variety of techiques on some items laying around the house, to see what would happen. On the metal side, I raked together a couple of pieces of tin that I bought at my local craft store, some junk metal minis, and some picture wire.

I also included some non-metal items, including a wood box frame, and one of my favorite cheesy art materials—the corrugated cardboard that comes wrapped around lightbulbs. More and more lightbulbs are coming packed in plain cardboard, so this stuff is now a hot commodity. If you come across it, save it!

Here are the techniques I tried:

Technique #1:
Rust on real tin or iron using peroxide and salt.

This technique works on real tin or iron. Be sure your metal has no sealer or finish on it. For this project, I used some lightweight tin craft sheets from my local craft store.

What you will need:

• Tin or iron pieces

• Hydrogen peroxide – available at any drug store in the first aid section.
• Table salt
• Spray bottle – I used an old plant mister bottle.

Working in a well ventilated area, pour the peroxide into the spray bottle. Spray the tin or iron with peroxide, misting generously. While still wet, sprinkle with salt. Rusting should begin almost immediately, and is sort of fun to watch. Allow items to dry completely, and then rub to remove salt. Different effects can be achieved using more or less salt. I also achieved some nice rusting by letting the items dry, and then remisting them with peroxide to start the process all over again. Rinsing the rusted item in cold water removes some of the rust, and gives a smoother surface. This is definitely a technique to experiment with fully before you plunge in with a big piece.

This technique worked great on the tin from the craft store. Nothing happened to the junk metal minis. It took the shine off the picture wire, but didn’t rust it.

Technique #2:
Rust on real tin or iron using vinegar and bleach.

This technique also works on real tin or iron. Be sure your metal has no sealer or finish on it. For this project, I used some tin sheets from my local craft store.

What you will need:

• Tin or iron pieces

• Household bleach
• Vinegar
• Plastic mixing container – I used the bottom half of a gallon water jug, so I could throw it away when I finished.

Mix 2 parts bleach to 1 part vinegar in the plastic mixing container. Mix enough to cover whatever you are working on. Drop tin or iron pieces into solution. Wait at least 30 minustes, then carefully remove the items from the solution and let dry. Discard used solution. When items are dry, brush off as much or as little rust as you like to achieve the desired effect. Seal with spray finish—I used a matte spray sealer.

This technique gave a nice crunchy rust finish to my tin pieces. It took the shine off the picture wire, but didn’t rust it. It did nothing to the junk metal minis. I dried my rusted pieces on paper towels, and it gave a great rust finish to the paper—it made me wish I had put some mini newspapers underneath, to age them as well.

On that note, here’s some paper that has been created by pressing it between sheets of metal rusted using this technique. Spray the rusty metal sheets with water, lay the paper between them, and walk away. Come back in a few hours and peek. If you like what you see, remove the paper. If it’s not rusty enough, give it another spray. Your mileage may vary, depending on how humid it is where you live.

Technique #3:
Rust on any item using commercial faux finishing products.

There are several good commercial rusting products on the market. The best known is the one put out by Modern Options called Sophisticated Finishes. Used alone, their Rust will react with iron. They also sell Iron Metal Surfacer, which will coat almost any item with a paint infused with iron flecks, making the surface reactive. With these two products, you can rust virtually anything. Modern Options also makes a variety of other finishes, including my all-time favorite, Patina Green, which creates a wonderful verdigris effect. The one big drawback to these products is the price—the little tiny kit of two bottles I purchased cost $9.99.

What you will need:

• Sophisticated Finishes Iron Metal Surfacer

• Sophisticated Finishes Rust (I bought a kit that contained both products)
• Paint brushes or sponges
• Paper towels
• A blow dryer, if you are impatient

This is pretty simple. Paint your piece with the Iron Surfacer, then wait for it to dry. Don’t worry about getting it on completely even, or about using too little paint—I dry brushed my frame, and got great results. Paint again with the Rust, then wait again. Be aware that the Rust is a reactive agent—it’s actually a liquid chemical compound that is going to react with the flecks of metal in the surfacer. Although this process is significantly faster than Mother Nature, it does take a little time. Don’t worry if you don’t see rust the moment you put Rust on your piece. Walk away. Make a cup of tea.

If the piece is sufficiently rusty after one coat, you’re done. If not, apply more Instant Rust. When the piece is rusty enough, seal with a matte sealer. Be aware that some sealers change the appearance of the rust—this is something you want to test on a spare board before you commit on a piece.

I am not the Princess of Patience, so I use a blow dryer with this stuff. It’s hard to tell how rusty the piece will be until it is completely dry. On the plus side, this will make ANYTHING rusty, as long as it is paintable. It looked great on all the pieces I did, making them very rusty.

Technique #4:
Rust on any item using commercial faux finishing products, peroxide and salt.

On a whim, I decided to try using the Iron Surfacer as a base coat, and then applied Technique #1 to it—I sprayed it with peroxide, and then sprinkled with salt. The result was a lightly rusted piece, with a great deal of texture from the salt. Rather than remove the salt completely, I left some of it, which made great dirt in my grooves. This might be a good way to cut the cost of using the more expensive prepackaged products, and still get a good result.

This altered book layout uses a variety of rust techniques. Some of the items, such as the license plate and the some of the metal pieces in the niche, have been rusted by nature. The background papers were created using the rusty metal sheet method described above. Some of the items in the niche have been rusted using commercial products.

The same is true of the art doll at the top of the page. It’s a metal tea tin that’s been burned to remove the finish, and treated with rust solution. The plastic baby doll body has been painted with surfacer and then treated with rust solution. The iron stakes surrounding the doll were pulled from a muddy vacant lot around the corner—they were rusted by nature, as were the keys hanging in the front of the piece. The metal cord holding the keys was soaked in a vinegar, salt and water solution for a few months—I keep a glass container of rusty things going out in the garage, and just toss stuff into it each time I refill the water.

Now, go rust something!

]]> http://gomakesomething.com/ht/age/rust-guide/feed/ 0 http://gomakesomething.com/ht/background/monoprints/ http://gomakesomething.com/ht/background/monoprints/#comments Sun, 07 May 2006 16:42:56 +0000 Lisa Vollrath http://gomakesomething.com/?p=100 While I was contemplating the wonderful pieces of painted paper sent to me by Lazzelle Parker, I started thinking about how I might make my own fun painted background papers when waste paint wasn’t on the menu. I tend to go for long periods without painting anything, but I can always use backgrounds for small projects. I did a little reading about monoprinting, and combined what I learned with what Lazzelle described. These background papers are the result.

A few things before we start the step-by-step instructions:

• First, I used cheap acrylic paints, available at any craft store. I did this because they’re what I had a lot of, and because of all my art supplies, they’re the most expendable. For under 50 cents, I can pick up another bottle of acrylic—but that’s not the case with some of the inks and paints I have. Having said that, there’s no reason not to try this technique with other things: metallic paints, inks, liquid watercolors, or whatever else you have in your arsenal today. Don’t feel you have to confine yourself to what I used.
• I tried two methods of paint application here: pouring the paint in squiggly lines, and combing it. I skipped over other things I had laying around: applying paint with chunky stamps, either to the glass or to the finished print, spraying with water, splattering paint in drops. These papers can be as layered and textural as you like. Don’t feel you have to stop where I did.

Started with a sheet of plexiglass from an old picture frame, and some cheap acrylic paints. The plexi could have easily been real glass, or a piece of laminate like countertop material. The glass from a large dollar store frame would be fine. Cheap acrylics can be found at any craft store, or at Wal-Mart for less than a dollar a bottle. Don’t bother forking out more than that—the cheap paints have less pigment in them, and act more like glazes, which for this project is a good thing.

I simply squeezed out a few colors randomly onto the surface of the plexi, making sure that my paint area was larger than the size of my paper.

For paper, I used some white index stock leftover from another project. It’s heavier than bristol, but lighter weight than cardstock. I cut the sheets in half to make them easier to handle, so what you’re seeing here is 5-1/2 x 8-1/2 inches.

I pressed a sheet of paper onto the paint squiggles. letting the paint squeeze around under the paper. Some of you might want to roll over this with a brayer—I just pressed with my fingers.

Peel the paper up from the glass slowly, rolling it back slightly. When the sheet is completely clear of the paint surface, move to another area of your work space, or move the paint surface and set it aside for a few minutes.

This first sheet has way too much paint on it, so here’s a way to quickly make a second print: lay your painted sheet down on your work surface, paint side up, and press a second piece of paper down on it.

Roll your second sheet off your first one, and you should have a mirror image of your original print. Set these pieces aside to dry. I usually put mine on some newspaper, away from where I’m working so I don’t disturb them.

If your glass seems to have plenty of paint on it, go ahead and make more prints. At a certain point, it will either start to dry up, or you will have used up most of the paint.

If you have paint around the edges of your paper pieces that isn’t being used, you can smoosh it to the center of the glass with a brush, and create another print with a totally different look.

Just press your paper down onto the smooshed paint to create your next print.

Once you’ve used up your paint, clean your surface by rinsing it with water. I usually do this by wiping it down with paper towels, then squirting it down with the hose in the backyard. Dry the glass well if you’re going to move on with other colors.

While I had the paint out, I decided to try some prints that looked more like the paste papers I made for an earlier article. I squeezed out a few lines of paint onto my glass.

I dragged a comb through the paint to create lines. Mine was a faux finish comb, but a plastic hair comb will create a similar effect. So will cutting a piece of cardboard or an old credit card with pinking shears.

Press the paper down onto the paint. I found that this technique needed more paint than I expected, and that the lines weren’t as defined as they were on paste papers.

Roll the paper back from the paint surface and set it aside to dry.

]]> http://gomakesomething.com/ht/background/monoprints/feed/ 0 http://gomakesomething.com/ht/background/polished-stone-on-metal/ http://gomakesomething.com/ht/background/polished-stone-on-metal/#comments Tue, 14 Jun 2005 16:37:33 +0000 Lisa Vollrath http://gomakesomething.com/?p=99 Last month, I told you how I prep my metal tins to be altered. This lesson will show you one way to get some sheer color onto them, without adding bulk that will keep them from closing. This is a variation of the technique usually referred to as polished stone.

You’ll need:

• Tins or other metal surfaces. These should be bare, with no coatings or paint on them. My burnt Altoid tins worked great. So does bare metal flashing from the hardware store. The non-plastic coated side of bottle caps will take this technique, as will the inner surface of juice lids. I don’t know what’s on the outer surface—some kind of coating that makes the alcohol inks bead instead of lay flat.

• Alcohol inks. I use Ranger Adirondack inks in the little dropper bottles. They come in lots of lovely decorator colors.
• Alcohol Blending Solution, also from Ranger. I have a sneaking suspicion that this is just alcohol in a convenient dropper bottle. If you’re using another brand of inks, use whichever extender is offered with that line.
• An applicator. I have a wood block with a piece of the hook side of Velcro attached to it. On this goes a strip of plain old kid’s felt. It’s cheap and it works. Ranger sells a tool like this with a handle—I’m not sure what the real name of it is, because we always refer to it as Tim’s Tool at the office, because it was designed by Tim Holtz. I think a cotton ball would probably work for this, or a little piece of sponge.

I’m starting with a pair of nicely burned and buffed Altoid tins. There’s no paint left on these—if you need a lesson on how to get them to this lovely metallic state, try this lesson on how to make Altoid tins flambe. These were brushed off with a soft cloth after being burned and scuffed with sandpaper, to remove all the dust and ash.

Here’s my handy little felt tool, laying on its back. Onto the felt goes a quick dash of alcohol ink. For these tins, I used Red Currant and Caramel. Any combination of colors that floats your boat is fine. Do a little blob of each color on the felt, right next to each other.

Flip the tool over and pat the inks on the tins. Be blotchy and random about it—don’t worry about getting nice, even coverage. Since this is a textural technique, we’re going to embrace all the weird imperfections along the way. Turn the tool this way and that as you’re patting the color on. If you seem to be drying out, flip the tool back over and apply more ink to the felt.

If I use this technique on paper, this is where I usually add a few dots of metallic, using a leafing pen from Krylon. Because this is being done on metal, I skipped that step—but if you’d like more fun in your finished piece, do a few dots here and there. They’ll be blended into the inks in the next step. (Psst—Tim tells me that he’s just put the finishing touches on some metallic alcohol inks for Ranger—I’m thinking those will be fabulous in place of the Krylon pen. Watch for them at your local stamp store this fall.)

Alchol inks dry very quickly, so let’s move along…

Here’s my little tool, back on its back, getting a quick dose of blending solution. This is applied right to the dirty, inky felt. The solution will reactivate any color left on it, adding to the mix.

Pat the blending solution onto the inked tin. Watch the colors—they’ll do a sort of sunburst thing as the ink is applied. If you like the pattern, stop patting. If you’d like something a little more blended, pat more. This is a trial and error sort of thing—you can see that my two tins at the top look completely different, even though I did them at the same time. One got very little blending solution, and is really blotchy, which I prefer. One got a little more solution, and is smoother.

Let the tins dry completely before you handle them too much. This shouldn’t take too long, even in humid places—let them sit for an hour or so, and they should be ready for whatever else you have in mind. Some folks like to stamp on top of polished stone, or layer transparent images over it. I’m not sure what my tins will get yet, because they’re going to be drawers in an altered book.

]]> http://gomakesomething.com/ht/background/polished-stone-on-metal/feed/ 0 http://gomakesomething.com/ht/background/paste-papers/ http://gomakesomething.com/ht/background/paste-papers/#comments Sun, 14 Nov 2004 16:35:09 +0000 Lisa Vollrath http://gomakesomething.com/?p=98 I’ve always loved the look of homemade paste papers. However, I’m not the Princess of Patience, so the endless recipes that require boiling of starch or paste and waiting for them to thicken or set up have always put me off. Being an adventurous girl, I decided to find a faster way to get to the fun part—the actual making of the papers—while still preserving the look I love. Here’s the method I used to make all the papers shown at right (in about half an hour, excluding drying time):

You’ll need these materials:

• Freezer paper, plastic wrap, or plastic grocery bags to work on

• Masking tape
• Concentrated liquid starch: I used Sta-Flo, available at Wal-Mart. It contains no dyes, so it’s clear.
• Cheap acrylic paints: I use mostly the low end paints: Anita’s, Americana Acrylics, Folk Art. There’s no point wasting money on the more expensive paints, since they contain more pigment, and the goal here is to get a semi-transparent look.
• Cheap bristle brushes: I buy these at the hardware store. They take a ton of abuse, clean up easily, and if one gets so nasty that it’s time to toss it, I’m only out 50 cents. Don’t ruin your good brushes—get cheap ones for the dirty work. I used one brush for each color.
• Small containers: I used the small plastic containers that single servings of applesauce come in. In a pinch, paper or styro cups cut down will work, too. Mostly, you want something that won’t tip over, and that will hold your brush when not in use. I used one container for each color.
• Paper: I used two papers for the examples shown at right. One was a 28 lb. Hammermill Color Copy paper—it’s just a little heavier than your average printer paper, and not very absorbant. The other was a 110 lb. Exact Index stock—basically, cover stock. I’ve seen paste papers done on lightweight text paper, cardstock, construction paper, and watercolor paper. Pick a paper that you like, and try it—if it falls apart, don’t use it. I worked on 8-1/2 x 11 paper, but any size that is comfortable for you is fine. Some people like to work on big 24 x 36 sheets, and make lots of paper at once. You choose.
• Combs: For my papers, I used two combs. One was a cheap plastic one from the dollar store. The other was a professional faux finish comb with several different texture edges. You can drag anything through paste to make a pattern: paper clips, your fingernails, old credit cards that have been cut up. If my dog was a few pounds lighter, I’d probably drag him across the paper. I also used a sea sponge to dab color here and there. Paper towels will work for this, and so will wadded up plastic wrap.
• Paper towels (especially if you’re a messy worker)
• Newspapers, and a place to spread them out

Place freezer paper or plastic wrap on your work table, and tape it down so it won’t shift around. I worked on two 8-1/2 x 11 inch papers at a time, so my piece of freezer paper wasn’t too big. If you’re working on large paper, try using a piece of plastic dropcloth from the hardware store, or a big plastic trash bag. You want plastic rather than newspaper, because you’ll be dragging some of your paint out onto your work surface—and also, because no matter how dry your paper gets on plastic, you’ll still be able to peel it off.

To mix up a batch of blue, I squeezed a bit of blue acrylic paint into one of my applesauce containers. This blob is roughly the size of a quarter.

Next, I added a bit of starch—a little less than a quarter cup. This wasn’t something I measured out—I just sort of poured a little bit in. You’ll find that once you start making these papers, you’ll come up with your own idea of the perfect amount of pigment and starch.

I mixed my paint and starch together using a cheap bristle brush. One brush for each color, to keep the colors from getting muddy. Notice that I store my brushes laying across the container, rather than stuck in it—that’s to keep me from sticking the brush I have in my hand in the wrong color, and also to keep my brushes from getting overloaded with paste.

Apply some mixed up paste color to a piece of paper. Don’t be shy—this isn’t a drybrush kind of technique—but don’t get your paper sopping wet, either. A nice, liberal coat of color is what you want. Don’t worry about streaks and blobs (or in my case, bubbles from shaking the starch before I poured it). Think of those things as texture, and encourage them if they seem to look interesting. Notice that I’m painting right off the edges of my paper—that’s a good thing, because I’ll end up with color from edge to edge when I’m finished.

I worked back and forth between two pieces of paper. After applying color to my other sheet, I came back to this one, and painted on a second, darker blue. The first coat wasn’t dry yet, so it went on as a streaky coat—that’s OK, because the streaks are going to work for me. Again, I painted right off the edges of my paper, to get a full sheet of color.

Now for some texture. On this piece, I used my faux finish comb, which gave big, bold stripes. Starting just above the edge of my paper, I placed the comb into the color, pressed lightly, and dragged in a straight-ish line down the full length of my sheet and off the edge, giving stripes from top to bottom of the paper. I repeated this until the full width of the paper was striped. Then I went back again, and dragged a second time. What you’re doing with this step is sort of displacing some of the paste, revealing what’s underneath. On my paper, that was a very pale blue, since my first blue coat had dried just a little.

In the samples below, you can see some wide stripes, and some narrow ones. The narrower lines were done with a cheap plastic men’s comb from the dollar store. You’ll notice that some of my papers have straight lines—I did those as I described above. Some have curvy lines—I simply dragged my comb in a wavy line across my paper, and repeated the curve all the way across. Sometimes, I dragged both down the paper, and then across it, creating sort of a plaid effect. Sometimes, I did the plaid effect using curved lines. This is the fun part, so experiment a little—anything you do to create a pattern on your paper is fair game. If your papers curl, pull the dry sheets over the edge of a table to straighten them, or stack them under some heavy books overnight.

Once you have a paper finished, you’ll want to move it off your workspace and let it dry. Gently lift one corner and peel it off your plastic, then lift the corner diagonally opposite, and lift it. Place your wet paper onto a stack of newspaper and let it dry. Mine took about an hour to set up.

Everything cleans up with soap and water, but do this before the paste sets up for the least amount of scrubbing.

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