Tag Archives: Texture paste

Creating your own mixed media design paper

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There are of course hundreds (probably thousands even) of different design paper collections on the market. Still, sometimes you feel you’re in need of another sheet of a particular color scheme to really perfect your project. You could of course purchase (or shop your stash) for a sheet from another collection but: you did you realize you can also create your own? And I don’t mean by becoming a graphic designer yourself and printing some cool computer-generated design you came up with.

No, I mean by applying some very easy mixed media techniques. Here’s how.

  1. Ink, paint or spray a piece of white paper that is suitable for mixed media (so no printer or copy paper please; you can use actual mixed media paper, or paper meant for water painting). Spread several colors randomly; make sure the colors coordinate with the design paper collection you’re using for your project. A stencil can add some fun patterns to the mix.

2. If you want, you can even print an image – or in my case a graffiti-style initial – on your colored paper. Wait until everything is dry though, before you run it through your printer.

3. Add some stamping. You can choose actual images, or just some random patterns. Use an oil-based ink like Archival ink, to make sure your stamping ink does not react to the other mediums you’ve used so far.

4. Add some texture with texture paste. I used Tim Holtz’s Distress Grit paste because that is translucent (so the inking underneath will show through) plus it’s heat-stable so you can emboss it. Which is exactly what I did after I added the paste: I sprinkled it with different colors of Embossing Glaze (which is a translucent embossing powder), let the texture paste dry, and then embossed it.

5. I (of course) forgot that I needed more than one mat, so I had to repeat steps 1-4 to create a second mat. It would have been easier had I just taken a larger piece of paper, did the mixed media techniques, and only then cut it to size. Oh well.

6. Mat your mini album page! As you can see in the pictures below I made sure to choose colors that would coordinate with the rest of the design paper I used.

Same page, with left-page flap opened. The smaller mixed media strip has turned into a mat for the top pocket.

Want to see the entire album? Check the video in this blog post!

Gift Idea: Altered Wooden Initial

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Wooden alphabet letters are always great embellishments for gifts. Add the letters of the first and/or last names of your friend, co-worker or loved one to any card or mini album page, and the result will be instant success 🙂

For the front cover of my most recent paper bag mini album I altered such a wooden initial.

I first added two colors of Distress Oxide ink to color its base. I also chose several Distress Crayons to decorate later, after the second step.

Once the letter had a base color, I added a texture paste and let it dry. I chose Distress Grit Paste by Tim Holtz, but you can use any paste as long as you choose one that can be colored (some pastes act as a resist, avoid those for this type of project).

I added the paste in random spots, to give the letter a dimensional texture. Distress Grit Paste is semi-translucent, which is why I colored the letter first.

Then I used the Crayons to color the paste. (Crayons work best to color Distress Grit Paste,)

Lastly, when everything had dried, I added it to the album cover as an embellishment.

So you see how you can add a very personal touch to any of your gift projects without it taking a million steps! 🙂

Coloring with embossing glaze

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This week I’m sharing a nice way to color your texture paste with Distress Embossing Glaze – or frankly, any set of colored embossing powders. This technique is demoed by Tim Holtz by the way, on his blog.

First, I created a background with Distress (Spray) Stains and added some splatters with a Distress Oxide spray.

Then I used a stencil to add some texture paste. While the texture paste was still wet, I sprinkled several colors of Distress Embossing Glaze over the tag, and gently tapped underneath to get rid of the excess and at the same time prevent all of the colors mixing together.

The texture paste I used dried opaque white; you’d get even greater effects if you use a translucent paste, together with the Embossing Glaze, because this way your tag would still show some of the background colors through the layer of paste & glaze.

The final step: melt the embossing powders with a heat gun. You now have colored your texture paste!

Using Transparent Texture Paste to Seal Color

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In one of my previous blog posts I showed you some backgrounds with Ranger’s Texture Paste, which dries white and matte, and is porous like paper. Ranger also has a Transparent Texture Paste, which has some significantly different properties.

By the way, both of these pastes have now been rebranded as a Tim Holtz Distress Texture Paste, in case you’d like to go shop for them.

Properties of Transparent Texture Paste (Ranger/Distress)

This paste has a lower viscosity (it’s thinner and not as ‘pasty’ as the regular texture paste) and though it’s semi-opaque when you apply it, it will dry completely clear. Also, it will dry glossy, and is not porous at all. So in fact it will act as a resist, instead of taking color like the regular paste does.

This gives you the opportunity to apply texture but with different techniques, compared to the regular Texture Paste by Ranger.

Technique: Transparent Texture Paste as a color sealer

I created an Indian summer-themed background with this transparent glossy paste, using the following steps:

  1. Ink up the entire tag with four different colors of Distress Stain – I did use the dabbers this time, instead of spraying the Stains by pouring them into spray bottles;
  2. Place the tag upright and spray generously with water, almost drenching it, to get a heavy flow of color going from top to bottom. Then heat dry.

3. Apply Transparent Texture Paste through a stencil, and let air-dry for a couple of hours (drying time could probably be shorter but I wanted to make sure).

4. Since everything underneath the Transparent Texture Paste was now sealed, I could spray anything over it. So I sprayed it with two of the same colors of my palette, but this time with Distress Oxide Sprays: Oxides always dominate dye inks – except where the dyes have been sealed.

Using a splatter box whenever you spray a color medium prevents a lot of cleaning duty…

5. So I removed the Oxide from the textured leaf pattern with a damp cloth, revealing the leaves in bright dye colors, in the midst of a now more chalky colored background.

Because I used the same color palette in Oxide, the effect was subtle. You can imagine completely different effects if you use more contrasting colors, or even black!

All in all I like the ‘seal-in’ effect this transparent paste brings; however, if you were to apply it to uncolored paper, you’d never be able to color it afterward, since it’s a resist. Something to think about, and especially: play around with!

Two Backgrounds: Inks, Oxides & Texture Paste

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The two backgrounds I’m sharing today I created with one technique, but with different color schemes, generating a completely different atmosphere.

I added some texture paste through a stencil and let it air-dry for about an hour to make sure it was dry. Then I sprayed with Distress Stains and heat-dried. The next layer consisted of several droplets of Distress Oxide, since I knew Oxide would always dominate dye ink – which I learned from the Tim Holtz demos I watched recently.

What I really like about Ranger’s Texture Paste is that when it’s dry, it reacts to color mediums the same way as paper: it takes color really well, and gives it up when you want to lift it off with a damp paper towel.

I chose a warm autumn palette for the first tag, with Peeled Paint, Twisted Citron and Wild Honey, with some splats of Cracked Pistachio on top.

For the second tag I aimed at a vintage look, using Old Paper, Frayed Burlap, Bundled Sage, and Hickory Smoke, with some drops of Tim Holtz’s latest color Speckled Egg on top. I also sprayed some Brushed Pewter Distress Mica Spray, which is the silver color, over the entire tag once everything else had dried.

The stencils were both by Tim Holtz, one small and one large.

All in all I really liked this technique: it was easy, relatively quick and ideal to create some great looking backgrounds.