Work It Wednesday #1 - Creating Neat Effects with Glue

FIRST OF ALL.... HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!!!

Welcome to The Character Cafe's first ever Work It Wednesday!! We will be hosting this event on a weekly basis and we hope that you learn something new, renew something forgotten, or just plain old have fun!!!

Each week one of our Design Team Members will be your hostess and they will discuss a topic of interest to them. It may be a technique they love, something they want to learn or found interesting or maybe a favorite/new product they've gotten. Regardless, it will be paper crafting related and might tickle your fancy (or at least we hope).

After our hostess has shared their information with you, they will pose a challenge related to
their topic of interest. You are then invited to join the challenge by posting a link to your creation. Your projects are due by the following Tuesday at 9pm EST, at which point, we will have a random.org drawing of a winner. The winner will get 1 randomly chosen image from The Character Cafe (the image will be different each week).

TODAY'S TOPIC:

On occasion, (like today), we would like to offer you freebies for joining us and being so supportive. Today, our Freebie is in honour of Canada Day, which is today! However, we know that not all (or even a majority!) of you are Canadian, and so we've created this image in a more generic version for you all to enjoy.

Meet Buck-E Beaver :) (you will be uploading the B&W image of course!) Click Buck-E to download


So, the topic I have chosen is a technique that is new to me... I'm all about trying new things, even if it doesn't quite work out how you intended. I feel it's all about the process... the learning curve if you will. The pic above shows Buck-E coloured with water colour pencils (by Kelly) prior to "playing".

I found a GREAT BLOG, by a lady who does amazing tutorials on all sorts of different topics and I contacted her to see if I might use her tutorial for my Work It Wednesday post today. Actually, I asked her if she would host today, but she's Canadian too and is away, but she did say that she may just be able to be a guest hostess in September(yay!!!). Anyway, I will add a link to her blog later in my post for you all. You're so going to want to follow it!!!

DETAILS:

The technique is creating an Impasto effect using a Matte Medium. Sounds tricky? NOT! I'm actually taking that technique and using Mod Podge to see if it works!!! So, what does "Impasto effect" mean? Well, it originally refers to a thick layer of paint. In my own definition it would imply a textured effect.

I saw Mel's blog post and thought hmmmm... I bet that might make some cool fur??? We do several animal (or animal-like) characters and there are several colouring techniques out there to imply fur and even flocking, but I thought a 3-D type effect would be a neat twist.

Now, maybe this is old hat to some of you and you're wondering where I have been?!!! Well, my "to-do" list is HUGE and I have barely scraped the surface, so here I am... a START :)

SUPPLIES:

1. An image (stamped or digital, either is fine)
2. Colouring tools (I've tested Copics, Pencil Crayons and OMS as well as water colour pencils)
3. Matte Medium (I'm using Mod Podge - you can also apparently use any other tacky white glue)
4. Paint brush
5. The rest of your embellishments to finish your project!!!

TECHNIQUE:

First off, you want to colour your image. It works best if you add the detailing you want as the glue dries clear and so you will be able to see under. (see pic above for BEFORE)

Next you want to "seal" your image with a very thin layer of the matte medium (glue) so you don't see the brush strokes and it's smooth (as best you can). This is actually a very cool effect on its own! It really made the colours pop. There didn't seem to be a difference between which method of colouring was used except that there was some slight smearing when we mod podged the water coloured image.

Then you want to add your details. This is where you add the glob of glue where you want to have a raised or textured effect (almost looks like clear embossing!). The glue dries a lot flatter than you put it on, so don't be afraid to leave blobs of it. Below, I have a sample of some glue globbing... coloured AFTER the glue dried (I think these would make neat clouds!) - I actually cut a flower out of this for my final project


Stippling the glue with the brush, like shown on the left, I tried it on this Buck-E (coloured with pencil crayons and OMS)... not bad, but really not quite the effect I was looking for... might be good as horse fur or something similar though? The tutorial I saw that demonstrated this, used a tree stump and used stippled colouring and then the matte medium was to give the bark effect. It is way cool and looked amazing as bark, just not sold on it as fur yet!


Next, I tried it with thin strokes of the Mod Podge in areas that I wanted highlighted as fur. It turned out pretty cool I think... here's the pics of one coloured with pencil crayons and OMS and the other with Copics.



So, not sure what you think, but I had so much fun playing with my glue! I think glue is fantastic, cheap and a little usually goes a long way. Now for my final project...

I ended up using my Buck-E with Copics and glue highlights...

I also used fabric glitter glue for the "EH" cut with my cricut and the George cart... punched the flower out of that glob of glue coloured with copics after dried... used my stylus to round the petals out a bit and put an acrylic rhinstone brad for the centre. I used a Happy Birthday stamp (???) embossed with black embossing powder, coloured with copics (see how similar the glue effect is to the embossing?!)... Kelly made me a flag (thanks!) that I attached with glue dots and foam stickies to a tooth pick coloured with copics. I can see that when I was taking pics, I didn't notice that I got some glitter glue on the flag and smooshed a dot of it (oh well, what can you do?!).

The paper is Bazzil cardstock and DaisyD's Maybe Baby collection.

THE CHALLENGE:

I would like for you all to show me how you like to use glue. Something neat, old, new, or experimental... whatever you like as long as it's glue related! Hey, try out my texture technique if you feel inspired!

Well, this is my first tutorial and probably not laid out the best, but it was a learning experience in itself!!! LOL I've definitely learned a few things to do differently that's for sure.

Now I want to share with you what Kelly created after reading my tutorial... She did a fantastic job, although she hasn't created anything with it yet.... Remember the BEFORE and here's the AFTER...

I hope you enjoyed my tut and if you're reading this part, thanks for sticking it out and playing along with me.

I've added Mr. Linky for the first time as well so hopefully, it works! Remember, you have until next Tues. at 9pm EST to submit your creation.

Happy Crafting!
Kendra :)

OMG... I totally forgot to add the link to my inspiration (um... guideline...) Mel Stampz. She's fantastic and her blog is wonderful if you want to learn anything!!!!