Getting Messy with Gesso by Jennie

Hi, and welcome to another one of my blog posts. This time I thought I would show you a  step by step how to "gesso your way" into the world of altering books or journals, or just a plain old tag!!
This is one of those techniques where I get more on my hands than on the page, and don't tell my husband, but I got it on the camera too! Luckily it did come off!
I used a journal to show you how to do this technique , but you could easily do a smaller piece like a tag or ATC.
Start by laying the Stencil - I used a Dylusions 9 x12 one, and take a small amount of gesso  I used Claudine's studio gesso, which is lovely and thick), and spread it over the stencil with an old credit card or craft scraper. I do spread it quite thin, but not perfectly, if you know what I mean? Important tip, wash your stencil almost immediately as it does dry very quickly, and will be difficult to remove.

I also used a background stamp, and using a small piece of one of those household sponges, (the type that cost pennies in the supermarket) to dab gesso onto the stamps and stamp it immediately. I also stamped it a couple of times to get a sort of shadowy effect. Wash the stamp quickly to remove all the gesso.

I allowed it to dry naturally, and then sprayed over it with Dylusions sprays in greens, yellows and a touch of turquoise.

I love the effect the sprays have on the gesso, showing through some of the white. I just let it dry naturally, but, if you have no patience, use the Dyan technique of rolling a kitchen towel roll over the entire piece, or heat dry.

I added stamps by stamping them with Archival , which dries quickly. I also cut up one of the background stamps so that I had a strip of dots to stamp randomly with :))

I do hope you like this technique, and if you haven't any gesso, you can use any thick paint and get a similar effect.
I have linked all the products here:

InLinkz.com

Have a creative day, and thanks for looking
Jennie