Infusions Mini-Album–Various Textures

A fun session this evening playing with different textures on my sample pieces.

Getting stuff out to start – a couple of textured gel mediums, gesso and Polyfilla, some palette knives and my little glue applicator, and some blank sample cards.

To begin with I selected two Infusions from set 2, Violetta and Frankly Scarlet. Here they are sitting on their original sample pieces.

I spread a thick layer of gesso onto one of the sample cards with a palette knife, and then used my glue applicator to create vertical bands all or part way down.

I added the two colours of Infusions.

Some time later, the sample looked like this.

The Infusions have spread a little, but not much. I want to add something further to this sample once it is dry. The gesso should have fixed the Infusions so they won’t reactivate when I add more water.

The second sample was spread with Polyfilla after I’d spritzed the card lightly with water to help the Polyfilla to stick. I had to add some more water because it wasn’t spreading well – possibly because the Polyfilla at the top of the pot was rather dry. Once I was satisfied I’d got a nice layer on the card, I dried it slightly with the heat gun until a skin had formed on the surface, and then took my home-made bubble wrap stamp and spritzed it with water to prevent it sticking, and lightly pressed it into the Polyfilla.

This time I used Lemoncello and Black Knight Infusions from Set 1. This is what it looked like immediately after applying the Infusions.

I spritzed it fairly heavily with water and waited for it to spread and mature.

For the next sample, I got out a few of my texture makers – a crochet doiley, some fruit net and a piece of metal mesh.

Again I spread Polyfilla on the card and dried it slightly. I then pressed the texture makers into the surface – the doiley top right, the mesh at the bottom, and somewhat disappointingly, the fruit net top left – it didn’t produce as much texture as I’d hoped.

Time for the Infusions – this time Royal Blood from set 1. I used plenty of water, to encourage the Infusions to flow into the texture. The metal mesh is well defined, and the doiley slightly less so. I blotted off the circles formed by the doiley and used a brush to paint some more infusions into the surrounding texture of the doiley to try and emphasise it a bit better.

Here’s a detail shot.

For the next couple of samples, I applied different materials to the surface, using regular matte gel medium, to create interesting textures.

The first one used bleached mulberry bark. I’ve got quite a bit of this, which I bought from a craft show a few years ago.

Here it is being applied to the card.

I used Orange County from set 1 for this one, spritzing it well with water. I love how the gel medium has acted as a resist.

Here’s a detail shot.

For the next sample, I used Violetta Infusions from set 2, after applying a piece of fruit net to the surface of the card with regular matte gel medium.

Once this sample is dry, I shall trim off the excess net. Again, I am pleased with how the gel medium acted as a resist in places.

The next sample used coarse pumice gel medium – I love this stuff – really gritty! For this one I used The Sage Infusion from set 1.

Again, a great resist effect, and I love how the Infusions have spread at the bottom of the sample, reminding me of a receding wave on the seashore. Here’s a detail shot. Once it is dry, it probably won’t look so white.

For my final sample tonight, I used Slime from set 2, and glass bead gel medium, another favourite textured medium of mine. This one has come out really well.

A detail shot. If you look carefully you can see the glass beads which look a bit like tapioca! I shall be very interested to see what this one looks like when it’s dry, as the gel dries crystal clear.

Finally, all the samples I made this evening.

Very much a work in progress. Some of the pieces need further work once they are dry. It will be interesting to see what they look like after drying overnight.