Olga's Double Layout Part 1

 

Materials

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• Canvas

• A piece of paper (scrap paper will do) I used 13@rts ‘Strength in Numbers’

• Gesso - clear and white- I used 13@rts

• Gel medium - I used 13@rts

• Semi-translucent acrylic paints - I used 13@rts

• Water-based inks or mists I used 13@rts

• Embroidery ring

• A piece of tulle

• Some fluffy filler - I used some curly moss

• Little embellishments like chipboard stars and glass cabochons

• 13@rts inks – white, black and gold glitter

• Nuvo glue pen and gold foil

 

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As this it a two-part tutorial, using different background making techniques, I initially prepared more embellishments than I would need so that I could save some for the second part.

 

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1. I started out by preparing my background. I cut some circles out of my sheet of paper and then cut some short strips from the same sheet. I used a larger puncher to cut my circles but you could cut carefully with scissors. I stuck these directly onto my background, covering the whole piece with a layer of clear gesso.

 

2. I used stencils and paints to add some shapes to the background. If you have punched out shapes to glue onto the background in the first step you could use the sheet that you punched the shapes out from as a stencil. I used different sizes of circles and triangles. I painted into the stencils with different colours; I thinned down some of the colours with clear gesso to make them more transparent. Then I used the lids from some pots as stamps to add some more circles, adding some black paint around the rim of the lid and pressing it onto the background to leave a circular mark. At this stage I also painted a small embroidery ring turquoise, stretched a piece of tulle across it and trimmed off the excess fabric.

 

3. After this, I decided that my background looked too dark so I added some white gesso, again applying it using round stencils. This gives an attractive “bokeh” effect - circles with different opacity overlapping each other.

 

4. Next I prepared my embellishments: I used NUVO glue to cover the flat bottoms of the clear cabochons and all my chipboard stars. I used this glue because it becomes tacky when it is dry. Once it felt dry I carefully covered them with gold foil and then rubbed off any excess foil.

 

5. I added my photo to the top of the embroidery ring, slightly off centre. In order to be able to attach the embroidery ring and the photo securely to the background I glued together a small stack of sections of thin chipboard to create a stable backing for the composition to adhere to.

 

6. Before I stuck it down on the background I carefully splattered the background with some splashes of white ink.

 

7. As I attached the embroidery ring I added decorative purple curly moss, tucking it underneath the rim of the ring.

 

8. I spritzed some areas with water and added some touches of colour. You can do this using acrylic or water-based paints, but it is important that you dilute them quite a lot with water. I blotted these to remove excess and dried them with my heat gun. You can repeat this step later on to add more colour to other areas until you are satisfied with the appearance.

 

9. Then I stuck on all my embellishments using gel medium, including some gold letters to spell out the word ‘sisters’. You may want to use a stick to apply the glue and tweezers to hold the smaller embellishments.

 

10. I sprinkled on a few sequins and then stuck them in place where they fall.

 

11. As the final step, I used a pen to add some faux stitches around the border and used a paintbrush to put on some additional splashes and dots of colour.